ERISAmaven

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ERISAmaven
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  • 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 rev…
  • I presume that is employee paid disability insurance, but I'm not sure what you mean by pre-tax penalties in this context.
    in AFLAC Comment by ERISAmaven October 2007
  • I think the answer is not quite so simple. State continuation rights are provided through state insurance laws and are requirements for insurance policies. Thus, the law of the state under which the policy was issued will generally determine what ha…
  • For purposes of the small-employer exception to COBRA coverage, all "common-law" employees are counted to determine if the employer meets the 20 employee threshhold. This means that some individuals who may be covered under an employer's group healt…
  • I know that it seems like a problem when an employer aska employees to fill ot new I-9s every year; but I don't know that it can't be done. The collection of I-9s is the employer's responsibility; the law doesn't require employees to fill them out; …
  • What a mess! I don't know of any rule that limits the number of times an employer can ask for a new I-9. In fact, USCIS recommends that employers who have aquired an existing business do so even though they aren't required to because the new employe…
  • It would appear that the Department of Defence is going to issue a rule for TriCare supplements that is similar to the CMS rule for Medicare supplements. According to the CMS, an employer cannot offer, subsidize, or be involved in the arrangement of…
  • ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code require that, with certain exceptions, all employees with 1 year of service who are at least 21 years of age must be included in a retirement plan. A year of service is a calendar year, plan year, or any other con…
  • There is no requirement that employers provide long-term disability insurance. Any health insurance coverage that must be provided will be governed by the business's health insurance policy, state insurance law, and COBRA if the employer has 20 or m…
  • There is no information that has to be provided when distributing the SAR. The cover letter or email could say that enclosed or attached is the Summary Annual Report for the (Name of the Plan).
  • There is some controversy about whether using certified mail for COBRA notices is a good idea. While certified mail return receipt requested is an acceptable means of delivering COBRA notices, and if the receipt is signed and returned, it is excell…
  • You need to be careful here because the HIPAA regulations that bar pans from discriminating based on a health related factor provide that a plan may not establish a rule for eligibility or set any individual’s premium or contribution rate based on …
  • I think that the insurance company is right because becoming entitled to Medicare is a qualifying event when it occurs before a termination of employment or reduction in hours. It can never a second qualifying event because any qualifying beneficiar…
  • I don't think that there is any set way that this has to be done. The end result should be that the employee should have the same amount of matching conributions, deferrals, and earnings on each that he or she would have had if the mistake had not b…
  • What you can do to make the employee happy, what you have to do to reduce the chance of being sued for a fiduciary violation, and what you have to do to protect the plan from being disqualified by the IRS are all the same thing. You have to put the …
  • I think that the idea is two-fold: 1. To make sure everyone is covered so that they take care of minor problems before they become major, and 2. To aovaid adverse selection. If enrollment is a condition of employment, doesn't it avoid the problem of…
  • The thing that I'm worried about is how to get employees to move out of default contributions and investments.
  • Yes this is true for plan years beginning in 2007. In fact the contribution may be the lesser of 3 percent or the same percentage as is allocated to the key employee receiving the highest percentage contribution.
  • I was just reading an article which said that the last resort for employers trying to reduce costs is co-insurance where a beneficiary pays a percentage of the cost of the services being provided rather than a fixed copayment. This way employees kno…