Theodore P. "Ted" Stein

Ted brings more than 30 years of experience in employee benefits, ERISA and employment law and litigation to the firm. He represents private and nonprofit employers and their plans on numerous employee benefit matters.

He advises employers on designing and improving qualified and non-qualified pension and deferred compensation plans. This includes drafting documents for 401(k) plans and deferred equity and non-qualified deferred compensation programs for executives, including advice on compliance with Section 409A and for nonprofits, Section 457. Ted’s practice also focuses on advising clients on compliance (and if needed, correction) issues under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, the Affordable Care Act, COBRA, HIPAA and other federal statutes.

Ted also focuses on resolving and defending ERISA complaints. He represents employers that are plan sponsors and plan administrators, as well as individual plan trustees, in audits and investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor and the IRS and in litigation in federal court.

In March 2020, Ted won for an employer qualified plan sponsor in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, VA. The Fourth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment that Ted had won in U.S. District Court dismissing a claim under ERISA for breach of fiduciary duty against his client, a nonprofit that sponsored a group welfare benefit plan for its employees.

Ted regularly advises clients on the following employee benefit/ERISA topics:

• Representing a buyer or seller in sale of business to evaluate benefit plan and employment agreement disclosures and representations and existing plans and agreements
• Representing employers in IRS and Department of Labor audits and investigations
• Devising correction plans when document or operational errors occur
• Drafting and amending pension and health insurance plan documents
• Terminating or merging 401(k) and other pension plans
• Advising employers on SECURE 2.0 Act pension plan changes
• Defending against breach of fiduciary duty claims under ERISA
• Defending against denial of employee benefit claims under ERISA
• Representing employers and trustees in ERISA litigation
• Advising on Affordable Care Act compliance
• Solving problems with defined benefit plans
• Drafting and amending Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation or Top Hat Plans
• Solving problems with multi-employer and multiple employer plans
• Drafting Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs)
• Representing clients in the administration of complex estates and trusts
• Handling complex estates and trusts case in Orphans’ Courts and Circuit Courts in Maryland, including defense of creditor claims against Estates and representing Estate beneficiaries in claims based on an executor’s breach of fiduciary duty
• Representing clients in civil and business litigation in federal and state trial courts and in federal and state appellate courts

Ted represents clients in a wide spectrum of employment law and litigation matters, including defending discrimination and sexual harassment claims before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, state and local administrative agencies and in trial and appellate courts. He defends overtime and minimum wage claims, both individual and in class action cases, in administrative agency and court proceedings; and represents employers before the U.S. Department of Labor and state agencies in audits, investigations and other proceedings.

Drafting and enforcing employment agreements are among his main areas of expertise. Those contracts include covenants not to compete, not to solicit and to maintain confidentiality and to enforce trade secret statutes.

Ted handles estates and trusts administration and litigation matters. He also has served on numerous occasions as a court-appointed personal representative and trustee. He maintains an extensive and diverse business law and civil litigation practice in federal and state trial and appellate courts.