Roger is a partner in the Benefits Service Line concentrating his practice on ERISA and employee benefits, including qualified retirement and health plans. He’s worked extensively with a wide range of clients across multiple construction industry disciplines, including electrical, painting, wall covering, drywall, heat and frost, plasterers, cabinet makers, sheet metal workers, laborers, iron workers, teamsters, floor coverers, cement masons, and bricklayers, as well as the hotel industry.
Roger works daily with clients and their plan professionals to assist them in finding cost-effective solutions to the issues they face in an ever-changing and complex world of employee benefits. His depth of experience allows him to understand his clients’ concerns, engage with them to determine their goals, and then work through the complexities of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code to effectuate solutions for his clients.
Clients often express their appreciation for Roger’s seasoned counsel, measured approach, and his ability to work with all sides to facilitate consensus when necessary to help his clients move forward.
Multiemployer Pension and Health and Welfare Plans
Roger is particularly versed in the intricacies of the multiemployer benefit world, routinely working with boards of trustees of collectively bargained plans. He represents numerous boards of trustees of retirement, health and welfare, and apprenticeship funds. His broad experience in this area allows him to bring about cost-effective and best practices solutions for his clients.
Specifically, Roger is experienced in all aspects of the design, drafting, and operation of defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, health and welfare plans, dental plans, life and disability insurance plans, and pharmacy benefit programs. He has represented boards of trustees and their pension, health, and apprenticeship plans in their interactions with the United States Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service related to plan audits and investigations, as well as correction of plan operational errors.
Roger has a long history of eagerly diving in and absorbing the enactment of new statutes and regulations that impact the pension, health and welfare, and apprenticeship funds he works with and, in turn, clearly breaking down and communicating these new requirements to clients and plan professionals in a way that allows them to be comfortable in their decisions and actions.
Roger has also worked with many single-employer health and welfare plans and their plan professionals and human resource departments. He is particularly versed in the areas of consumer driven-health care plans, cafeteria plans, heath reimbursement accounts, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Outside of his law practice, Roger enjoys spending time with his wife and two adult children. He has a long history as a youth hockey coach and skills instructor. These days, he is a fan of all things Minnesota hockey and an avid golfer. Like many Minnesotans, he enjoys getting his boat out on the lake in the summer. He is also an accomplished and award-winning author of mystery thrillers, starting with The St. Paul Conspiracy in 2006. He has two ongoing mystery series and publishes at least one new novel each year.
Media Mentions:
06.14.2023 Shumaker Adds Employee Benefits Team From Two Firms, Law360