Emily E. Friedman

With over 18 years of experience, Emily distinguishes herself through her comprehensive approach to ERISA litigation avoidance, compliance, and day-to-day employment counseling, helping clients mitigate risks and align benefit plans with business objectives. Her expertise spans complex class action lawsuits and diverse employee benefit plans, offering clients clarity and efficiency in navigating regulatory challenges and litigation risks.

With a focus on ERISA Litigation and Litigation Avoidance, Emily represents plans, plan sponsors, and fiduciaries in a wide range of matters involving qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, retiree medical plans, executive compensation arrangements, and bonus plans.  Emily has significant experience litigating ERISA matters and providing day-to-day employee benefits advice to employers, ERISA plans, and ERISA fiduciaries to ensure compliance with ERISA and to help mitigate risk of litigation.

Emily’s ERISA litigation practice includes defending ERISA plans, plan sponsors, and plan fiduciaries against a wide range of claims, including wrongful-denial-of-benefit claims, claims for breach of fiduciary duty, prohibited transaction claims, claims alleging disclosure violations, claims brought by out-of-network and other healthcare providers, claims alleging discrimination and interference with ERISA rights, and coordination of benefits and subrogation issues.

Emily’s ERISA advice and counseling practice includes counseling plan fiduciaries to ensure compliance with ERISA disclosure obligations and the proper adjudication of benefit claims and appeals, including severance, health and welfare, and pension benefit claims. Emily also assists her clients in formulating and revising benefit plans and plan designs to mitigate litigation risks and position her clients for the best possible business results in the event litigation ensues.  In addition, she regularly conducts training sessions and other compliance workshops for plan fiduciaries to assist them in discharging their ongoing obligations, and counsels clients through Department of Labor audits and investigations and with respect to negotiating settlements.

In addition to her ERISA practice, Emily has extensive experience with labor & employment matters.  Emily advises employers on workplace matters such as leave administration, compliance with federal and state employment laws including Title VII, ADEA, ADA, and the WARN Act, and best practices for internal investigations, employee discipline, and restrictive covenants.  She drafts and negotiates employment agreements, separation agreements, offer letters, and workplace policies and codes of conduct.  Emily also represents clients during administrative investigations and governmental audits.  When litigation ensues, Emily defends her clients in federal and state courts against claims involving discrimination, harassment, FMLA, ADA, wage violations, trade secrets, defamation, wrongful termination, and breach of contract.

Emily's Practice

Representative Matters

• Defending a regional healthcare system in a mass action brought pursuant to ERISA alleging entitlement to retiree medical benefits, fiduciary breaches, and other violations of ERISA. Successfully removed the case to federal court and obtained the dismissal of two out of the three ERISA claims pleaded at the motion to dismiss stage.
• Defending ERISA plan sponsor against claims brought by out-of-network provider alleging wrongful reimbursement of claims under ERISA and various state-law claims, including breach of contract, promissory estoppel and quantum meruit. Successfully obtained dismissal of ERISA fiduciary breach and state-law claim at the motion to dismiss stage.
• Defended a regional healthcare system in an ERISA class action alleging ERISA fiduciary breaches and prohibited transactions arising out of the plan’s alleged underperforming and expensive investment options, as well as payment of alleged excessive fees to plan service providers. Successfully obtained the dismissal of two out of the four claims pleaded at the motion to dismiss stage, and negotiated a favorable settlement of the class action.
• Represented the employer/sponsor of an ERISA defined benefit pension plan. The plaintiff sought enhanced retirement benefits as a result of alleged misrepresentations and other contractual promises made by a former employer. Successfully obtained the dismissal of the entire lawsuit on summary judgment.
• Responsible for all benefits-related litigation in the United States for the past 10 years for a national publicly traded company with 280,000 U.S. employees providing healthcare at 2,000 sites in the U.S.
• Handles all aspects of ERISA litigation for privately-held international IT and manufacturing firm with approximately 25,000 employees in North America. This includes litigation involving all of the company’s employee benefit plans and their respective plan fiduciaries, and disputes concerning the company’s retirement plans, severance plans, and health and welfare plans.
• Obtained the successful dismissal of an ERISA lawsuit filed against a client, following multiple iterations of a complaint, alleging claims for ERISA breach of fiduciary duty, claims for benefits due under the plan, and equitable estoppel in connection with a series of labor-related contracts. Obtained the dismissal of a putative class action brought by retirees against the company’s pension plan. The complaint alleged, among other things, misrepresentations made by plan fiduciaries to retirees regarding enhanced retirement benefits.
• Successfully defended against and negotiated settlements of ERISA actions involving disputed behavioral health claims on behalf of many clients.
• Successfully defended a client in a retirement benefits dispute arising out of a collective bargaining agreement entered into in connection with a corporate transaction. The case involved ERISA claims as well as claims under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA). Successfully obtained the dismissal of plaintiffs’ ERISA claims on a motion to dismiss filed early in the case. Following discovery, negotiated plaintiffs’ voluntary dismissal of the remaining LMRA claim, without any agreement to pay the disputed benefits or provide any other forms of relief.
• Represented leading global manufacturer client in action by plaintiff alleging entitlement to disputed retirement benefits. Successfully removed lawsuit to federal court and, following removal, filed a motion to dismiss the entire action on various grounds, including preemption under ERISA and failure to exhaust required administrative remedies. Secured plaintiff’s voluntary dismissal of the entire case. As a result, saved the client the costs associated with discovery (including expert discovery on damages) and additional dispositive motion practice.
• Successfully defended a client against claims by a former employee who left to work for a competitor. The former employee asserted an ERISA claim for benefits allegedly due under a deferred compensation plan and also asserted various state law claims. The Court granted motion to dismiss and dismissed all claims against the client.
• Filed a successful interpleader action on behalf of a client and its 401(k) plan to avoid completing claims over disputed survivor benefits payable under the plan. The defendants counterclaimed against the client for ERISA fiduciary breaches. Obtained the complete dismissal of all counterclaims asserted against the client at the motion to dismiss stage. Later in the litigation, defeated the counterclaimants’ motion for attorney’s fees.