Hrishikesh (Hrishi) Shah is a trusted advisor to employers and plan sponsors, providing practical, actionable guidance on a range of employee benefits and executive compensation matters. His ability to distill complex rules into workable solutions tailored to each client’s needs and risk tolerance sets him apart.
As a partner in Gould & Ratner’s Corporate and Tax Practices, Hrishi focuses on the design, administration and compliance aspects of retirement plans (both qualified and non-qualified), welfare plans, executive compensation arrangements, and fringe benefits.
Hrishi has extensive experience helping plan sponsors navigate complex regulatory frameworks, including ERISA, the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA, COBRA and the Internal Revenue Code. He also advises employers on crafting and administering executive compensation and incentive arrangements, ensuring compliance with applicable law, including Code Section 409A, and mitigating risks, including under the “golden parachute” rules of Code Section 280G. In addition, Hrishi provides benefits support in corporate transactions, including due diligence, risk mitigation, and negotiating purchase agreements. Finally, Hrishi also represents employers before regulators during benefit plan audits and inquiries and helps clients negotiate and review benefit vendor service agreements.
Hrishi’s career highlights include:
- Advised a large multiemployer plan in conjunction with correcting decades of incorrectly calculated retiree pensions.
- Helped an employer navigate complex welfare plan nondiscrimination testing issues and retain favorable tax status for benefits offered to employees.
- Overhauled a Fortune 200 company’s benefits claims and appeals process.
- Identified and resolved decades-old compliance issues for a hospital system’s retirement plan.
Before joining Gould & Ratner, Hrishi worked in the in-house legal department of a Fortune 200 energy company. He also worked in the benefits and compensation practice groups at several large international law firms.
