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Don't Get Bitten By COBRA
Second in a three part series
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Social Security
Whose Number Is It? more...
How to stop losing money on HCSO
San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance more...
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Don't Get Bitten By COBRA
Did you miss a qualifying event?
One of the areas employers are often out of compliance with COBRA regulations is missed qualifying events. Most group health plans sponsored by employers must comply with ERISA (Employee Income Security Act of 1974), one of the protections of ERISA is the right to COBRA continuation coverage, a temporary continuation of group health coverage that would otherwise be lost due to life events like termination of employment. There are several circumstances, known as qualifying events, in which an employee is eligible for continuation coverage.
The following are the most common qualifying events:
- Termination. An employee terminates employment, voluntary or involuntary.
- Reduction in hours. An employee's hours are reduced so he no longer qualifies for the company's health plans.
- Entitlement to Medicare. Covered employee becomes entitled to Medicare and family members lose coverage.
- Death of a covered employee. The covered family members no longer qualify for the group health plans.
- Divorce. A spouse covered on the employee's health plan loses coverage on the company plan following a divorce.
- Over age child. A dependent child covered on your company's health plan loses coverage at the end of the plan year in which the dependent reaches the age of 26.
Each of these are qualifying events requiring notification of COBRA eligibility with the option to enroll in continuation of benefits. Failure to provide COBRA notification to these benefit plan enrollees following any of these qualifying events could result in DOL and IRS fines or unpaid claims that the employer is now responsible for paying. Contact our COBRA department for more information.
See also
Department of Labor Employer’s Guide to COBRA.
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Social Security
Whose Number Is It?
There are several ways for an employer to verify an employee's social security number (SSN), including the Social Security Administration Business Online Services, Immigration's E-Verify, or a background screening. Below is an outline of one of the most common ways: Social Security Administration's free verification service.
Purpose: allows employers to match their record of employee names and SSNs with Social Security's records before submitting W-2s. This is important because unmatched records can result in uncredited earnings for employees.
What employers can do: allows employers to verify up to five social security numbers per day via a 1-800 number or use the online service to verify names and social security numbers of up to 250,000 employees.
What employers can't do: It is illegal to use the service to verify SSN of a potential new hire or contractor.
It's all or nothing: Employers should decide company policy and apply to all employees. If you verify a SSN of a new hire, do so for all new hires. If you verify for one group of employees, do so for all employees.
Note that Social Security Administration is no longer mailing personal statements to individuals. Personal statements allowed employees to detect possible problems with the reporting of their wages. SSA eliminated this service in 2011 due to budget cuts.
See also
Social Security Number Verification Service for more information
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How San Francisco's employers save thousands with an HRA
In 2010 our San Francisco customers saved an average of $65,000, while staying compliant with the City's Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO). Here is how it works:
A typical San Francisco employer with 30 employees may pay up to $51,000 annually into the city's Healthy San Francisco option. However, that same employer with a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) can save over $46,000 on premiums and remain compliant with the HCSO. Our HRA administration service calculates allowances, processes claims and reimbursements, fulfills the annual reporting requirement with the City on behalf of the employer.
Remember:
If you have employees that work in the city, you must spend a minimum amount of money each quarter on your employee's health care. Calculate your company's total size (including non-San Francisco employees) to find the rate that applies to your company:
100+ Employees $2.06 per hour
20-99 Employees $1.37 per hour
1-19 Employees Not applicable, exempt
Non-profits with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the Employer Spending Requirement.
See also City & County of San Francisco for more information.
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Faster Service with direct dialing.
Reach Sales, Payroll or Benefit Specialists faster with extensions:
x 101 Susan Di Fraia, Payroll Specialist
x 103 Rainer Spekner, Payroll Specialist
x 104 Diane Pantera, Payroll Specialist
x 105 Dana Ugrinich, Payroll Specialist
x 108 Tim Engstrom, Sales & Marketing
x 111 Casey Statmeyer, Sales & Marketing
x 113 Karla Sanders, Director Client Benefits
x 114 Kellye Dykeman, Benefits Specialist
x 115 Liz Ecke, VP Business Development
x 119 Angela Butler, Payroll Specialist
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