Meg Hunter heads Dykema's Employee Benefits Practice and is the former Assistant Practice Group Leader of the Firm's Tax Practice Group. She focuses on the design, implementation and administration of pension plans, welfare plans, fringe benefit plans, stock compensation plans and executive compensation arrangements for publicly owned, nonprofit, private and governmental employers. She also performs compliance audits on employee benefit plans and counsels clients regarding voluntary and involuntary compliance programs sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor. She works closely with automotive suppliers in the negotiation of unfunded liability securitization claims by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). In addition, Ms. Hunter advises clients on employee benefit plan issues in the context of mergers and acquisitions. A significant portion of her practice involves executive compensation. She counsels both employers and compensation committees on Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. Clients quoted in Chambers USA 2021 noted Ms. Hunter “is an outstanding lawyer in the employee benefits area; she is smart, organized and very knowledgeable."

Bar Admissions

Michigan, 1984

Virginia, 1981

Education
Vanderbilt University, J.D. Duke University, A.B., magna cum laude

• with distinction

• Michigan State Bar
• Virginia State Bar
• IRS Great Lakes Tax Exempt/Employee Plans Council - Employee Plans Liaison Member from Michigan
• National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP)
• Michigan Employee Benefits Conference (MEBC)

• 2006 - "Use of Equity Compensation in Emerging Businesses"
• 2006 - "Hot Topics - Five 409A Issues"
• 2005 - "Change in Control Benefit Plan Tax and ERISA Issues"
• 2005 - "Deferred Compensation Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 "
• 2004 - "Future of Early Retirement Programs"
• 2003 - "Fiduciary Duties Under Tax-Qualified Retirement Plans"
• 2001 - "Primer on Employee Stock Options"
• 2001 - "EGTRRA Changes to Defined Contribution, 401(k) and 457 Plans"
• 2000 - "Is Your Severance Pay Policy Subject to ERISA?"
• 1998 - "Negotiating Executive Contracts and Compensation"
• 1998 - "Impact of Recent Legislation on Governmental Employee Benefit Plans"

• The Ins and Outs of the Income Tax Deadline Extension—Which Returns, Deadlines Are Affected, and Which Aren’t?

  By Margaret Hunter |April 2021

• How Does The American Rescue Plan Affect Welfare Benefit Plans?

  By Margaret Hunter |March 2021

• The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021: Congress Adds a Few Tax Surprises to Its Rescue Package

  By Margaret Hunter |March 2021