Charles Stewart

Charles V. Stewart advises business organizations regarding the legal implications of deferred compensation, executive compensation, retirement, medical, life insurance and other welfare benefit programs provided by those organizations to their employees in the areas of employee benefits or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Charles has designed, drafted and advised on the administration of:

• Qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation and stock compensation plans
• Stock option plans
• Early retirement window programs
• Cafeteria and other welfare plans
• Excess benefit plans
• Executive employment contracts
• Supplemental executive retirement plans
• “Rabbi” trusts, and other plans and arrangements providing similar types of benefits.

He assists employers in the recovery of mistaken contributions to multiemployer plans, as well as employers who are secondarily liable for a bankrupt employer’s withdrawal from such plans. He works with clients to determine and implement the best approach to employee benefits in corporate transactions, and he has negotiated collectively bargained employee benefits, as well as handled employee benefits issues in connection with strikes.

Charles helps multinational clients resolve problems relating to the provision of equity-based and other benefits in multiple jurisdictions and problems arising from executive transfers. He has advised on litigation matters, including cutting-edge litigation on the scope of ERISA’s anticutback rule and ERISA’s prohibition against interference with protected rights.

Charles also counsels clients on the appropriate structure of investments with regard to providing multiple services and avoiding ERISA fiduciary liability and with regard to the prohibited transaction rules involving party-in-interest dealings. He is familiar with and, in some cases, has been responsible for obtaining, individual and class exemptions, information letters and advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Charles frequently works with the Internal Revenue Service to establish and maintain a plan’s tax-qualified status and is particularly familiar with the special rules applicable to governmental and nonelecting church plans.

Experience:

• Advises clients on the legal implications of deferred and executive compensation and all types of welfare benefit programs provided by businesses.

Education:

• J.D., Duke University School of Law, with honors, 1985
• Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1974
• M.B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1966
• B.A., Haverford College, 1964

Bar Admissions:

• District of Columbia