Mark Wincek concentrates his practice on qualified retirement plans, welfare benefits and flexible and executive compensation. Mr. Wincek is a frequent writer on employee benefits matters. He has contributed to the Benefits Law Journal, the Journal of Pension Planning and Compliance, the National Law Journal, the Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, Tax Notes, the Journal of Pension Benefits and the Proceedings of the New York University Annual Conference on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (NYU Annual Conference). He is also certified in flexible compensation instruction.

Mr. Wincek was the developer of a widely imitated VEBA pre-funding strategy for collectively bargained employees (the only pre-funding strategy that has survived IRS challenge). He served as counsel to the Cafeteria Plan Coalition, an employer group that worked to protect cafeteria plans in Congress and with the IRS and founded the Cash Balance Practitioners Group, a group that had worked for reasonable rules for cash balance plans. He has assisted the Coalition to Promote Employee Stock Ownership to achieve enactment of the Worker Economic Opportunity Act, which exempts certain stock compensation programs from the overtime provisions of the federal wage and hour laws.

In addition, Mr. Wincek played a lead role in the coalition that successfully sought relief for the pension funding pressures caused by recent declines in 30-year Treasury bond yields. He has assisted the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) on cafeteria plan and welfare benefits matters, including representing ECFC in the IRS hearing on the section 132(f) transportation benefit regulations and leading the discussion with Treasury and IRS regarding HRAs at the ECFC’s July 11, 2002 conference and worked with IRS and Treasury to fashion reasonable rules for using debit cards to make payments under HRAs and FSAs. 

From 1976 to 1981, Mr. Wincek was on the staff of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, serving as Senior Subcommittee Counsel to the Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee in 1980 and 1981. While on the Hill, Mr. Wincek participated in the initial drafting and enactment of Code section 125, the Code provisions on dependent care assistance, as well as provisions that still govern health and welfare plan nondiscrimination.

Mr. Wincek is listed in the 2009 and 2010 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Law, as well as, in 2005 as both a “Leading Individual (Employee Benefits)” and as a leading member of one of only four Washington, D.C. benefits practices receiving Chambers highest rating (“Band 1”). He was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America ^® for Employee Benefits Law in 2011 and the three years immediately preceding. Mr. Wincek has been named a Washington, D.C. "Super Lawyer" in Employee Benefits and ERISA Law in 2009 and again for Employee Benefits Law in 2010 by SuperLawyers magazine. He is AV^® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.*

*CV, BV, and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedure's standards and policies.