AFLAC

jimmyperez07

I have a meeting tomorrow morning with our benefits consulting company and a representative for AFLAC. We already offer AFLAC to our employees. I want to be prepared to talk about the cancellation policy they have. Pre-tax penalties will apply to any cancellations they receive from our employees. The employee is held liable for breaking the Pre-tax laws set by the IRS. What questions do you all think should be asked?

-Jimmy Perez

 

ERISAmaven

I presume that is employee paid disability insurance, but I'm not sure what you mean by pre-tax penalties in this context.

jimmyperez07

It is paid by the employee. However, we deduct the premium from the gross amount of their paycheck. The employees agreed to enroll without being able to cancel for a full year. If they tried to cancel, they couldn't.

IT HR

I am going through something similiar right now.  We offer Aflac to our employees as well.  One of my employees is saying that he never signed up for Aflac.  There is a dispute between this employee and our Aflac rep because of how the paperwork was filled out and what was originally said.  When I tried to cancel Aflac for this employee I was told that if we do this then we void our pre-tax coverage for all of our employees and are out of IRS compliance.  I usually don't get involved in the individual enrollment of this plan because it is an employee decision and we are offering it as a service to the employee.  It is not something that the company makes a decision on (if that makes sense).  I can tell you that I will be more involved next year so that I know what the rep is telling each of my employees. 

ERISAmaven

If the premiums are being paid through a Internal Revenue Code Sec. 125 plan so that they are pre-tax, an election may not be revoked mid-year except for limited reasons that have to be provided for in the plan. A plan that allows an employee to revoke an election is not a Sec. 125 plan and pre-tax treatment of the premiums of all employees is voided. However, if an election was not actually made, there is nothing to revoke. Unless AFLAC can prove that an election was made, no premiums for the employee in question were ever owved. If that's the case, the coverage should be canceled and all premiums should be refunded to the employee.

jimmyperez07

I got my answer... Thanks guys. I really appreciate the help.