Profile
Stephanie D. Ahmad strives to help employers navigate complex benefits issues with confidence and peace of mind. Her practice focuses on employee benefits and ERISA, including health and welfare and retirement benefits. Stephanie has been recognized as a Rising Star by The Legal 500 in Benefit Plan Design. She has helped teams at Greenberg Traurig obtain recognition as a highly regarded firm in Benefit Plan Design and in ERISA Litigation. Stephanie works with a team of talented benefits and compensation practitioners, always with the goal of providing high quality support to clients.
Stephanie represents companies undergoing health benefits audits before the Department of Labor. She works with clients to meet compliance obligations and reduce the likelihood of or impact of an audit. Stephanie litigates ERISA cases in federal court, utilizing the GT platform to work in jurisdictions across the United States. She seeks to secure favorable outcomes for clients and is mindful of managing sensitive employee relations issues. Stephanie also supports mergers and acquisitions by performing employee benefits related transactional due diligence.
Stephanie has experience in the design, implementation, restatement, amendment, and review of health and welfare benefit plans, cafeteria plans, fringe benefit plans, and retirement plans. She regularly counsels clients on compliance with health care reform, laws impacting benefits and benefit plans, and related tax implications. She also regularly advises clients on U.S. leave laws.
Before joining GT, Stephanie served as a law clerk to Judge Harry Pregerson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where she gained experience with ERISA. She graduated from Stanford Law School where she was a student attorney in the Youth and Education Law Clinic, a Senior Editor of the Stanford Law and Policy Review, and a board member of the Stanford Latino Law Student Association. Prior to law school and after graduating with a B.A. from UC Berkeley with distinction, Stephanie taught for two years at a Montessori elementary school in the Caribbean. In addition to her work as an attorney, Stephanie has twice been elected to local office as a school board trustee and she is currently serving her second four-year term.
Concentrations
- Department of Labor audits of health and welfare plans, retirement plans, and mental health parity compliance
- ERISA litigation brought against health and welfare plans and retirement plans in jurisdictions across the U.S.
- Transactional due diligence for employee benefits in mergers and acquisitions
- Fiduciary compliance (e.g. training, prohibited transactions and conflict of interest issues)
- HIPAA compliance (e.g. policies and procedures, notice of privacy practices, training, Business Associate Agreements)
- Design, implement, restate, amend, and legal review of:
- Health and welfare plans
- Section 125/Cafeteria plans
- Fringe benefit plans
- Summary plan descriptions
- Provide guidance on ERISA, tax, and related laws and regulations pertaining to:
- Health care benefits (e.g. self-insured or fully insured medical, dental, vision, EAP benefits, wellness programs, high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), health care flexible spending accounts (FSAs), and required notices)
- Welfare benefits (e.g. life, disability, AD&D, legal services, funded vacation, severance)
- Health care reform (e.g. Affordable Care Act, No Surprises Act, Transparency in Coverage Rules, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, additional CAA of 2021 requirements pertaining to health benefits, SF Health Care Security Ordinance)
- Other federal laws impacting health and welfare benefits and plans (e.g. HIPAA/HITECH, COBRA, Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code, USERRA, FMLA)
- Fringe benefits (e.g. dependent care assistance, commuter benefits, educational assistance, adoption assistance)
- Tax qualified retirement plans
- ERISA disclosure requirements and developing cost effective systems for compliance
- Compliance with U.S. state and local leave laws and agency inquiries related to protected leave, paid family leave, paid sick leave, and paid time off
Capabilities
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Labor and Employment - Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans: Design, 2022-2024
- “Rising Star,” 2022-2024
- “Recommended Lawyer,” 2022-2024
- Elected school board trustee serving second four-year term, 2018-Present
Credentials
-
J.D., Stanford Law School, 2011
- Senior Editor, Stanford Law and Policy Review
- Student Attorney, Youth and Education Law Clinic
- Board Member, Stanford Latino Law Student Association
- B.A., with distinction, University of California at Berkeley, 2006
- Hon. Harry Pregerson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2012-2013
- California
- Farsi, Conversational
- Spanish, Conversational