ERISA requires plans to provide participants with plan information including important information about plan features and funding; provides fiduciary responsibilities for those who manage and control plan assets; requires plans to establish a grievance and appeals process for participants to get benefits from their plans; and gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty. Attorneys may represent employees or they may represent the company in the design, preparation, and review of plan, trust, and employee communication documents to implement pension, profit sharing, employee stock ownership, fringe benefit, flexible benefit, and all types of employee welfare plans.
Binghamton is a city located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. "The Parlor City" and the "Home of the Square Deal", it is the county seat of Broome County and the principal city and cultural center of the Greater Binghamton region. The population of the city, according to the 2000 census, is 47,380. A small city in upstate New York located near the New York - Pennsylvania border, approximately 60 miles south of Syracuse. Binghamton is situated in a bowl shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, and at the crossroads of Interstates 81 and 88, as well as New York State Route 17 (also known as The Southern Tier Expressway and the future Interstate 86). It is home to Binghamton University of the State University of New York system. After a mild presence, at the turn of the 20th century, as a manufacturing center of shoes and cigar materials, Binghamton suffered a precipitous decline in fortunes beginning with the loss of its core manufacturing base in the years following the war and consummating in the closing of its high-tech industries in the late 1980's and early 1990's. From a post-war population high of about 80,000, Binghamton has now shed nearly half of its population. Binghamton was the home of Rod Serling, host of the 1960's now cult-status television series "The Twilight Zone". The city and region suffered a devastating flood in the summer of 2006. The Binghamton Metropolitan Area includes approximately 252,000 residents in all of Broome and Tioga (NY) counties. Binghamton is part of the "Triple Cities", along with Endicott and Johnson City (which are actually villages). The region is collectively referred to as Greater Binghamton. In 2007, Binghamton was named the ninth-greenest city in the U.S. by Country Home magazine. Greater Binghamton is home to Binghamton University, a driving force in the community as an academic, athletic, and arts center. Binghamton has the largest public observatory, the Kopernik Space Center, in the northeastern United States. The region is further recognized as the birthplace of the IBM Corporation, Dick's Sporting Goods, Endicott Johnson Corporation, Raymond Corporation and the Link Trainer flight simulator. The city's American Civic Association is the location of the April 3, 2009 shootings, known as the Binghamton shootings, which left 14 dead.