"Before ERISA went into effect in 1974, many business owners and high-income professionals routinely provided themselves with extraordinary retirement and health benefits while their rank-and-file employees received substantially less. ERISA, with its draconian nondiscrimination rules, appeared to have changed all of that forever. ERISA, however, also created opportunities for owners to continue providing an array of exclusive executive benefits under certain codified exclusions[.]"  MORE >>