Monthly Compliance Calendar Alert – Keep Your Company Compliant in November: Benefits and COBRA

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If you are in HR, you’re no stranger to compliance management, forms, and deadlines—though keeping them all in order may be a different story. We want to be sure you are equipped with the right information to keep everything on track throughout the year, from ACA to FLSA.

That is why we put together the HR compliance calendar, to bring you an important list of dates and deadlines you need to know to keep your workplace on track.

In this month’s compliance calendar, you will find the key topics to keep your Company up-to-date including employee awareness and required or recommended training.

*NEW: Monthly Compliance Calendar Consultations – A monthly phone consultation with a Compliance Consultant to guide you through HR compliance tasks and topics and how they apply to your Company. Includes state, local, and industry requirements. Reach out to your dedicated HR Consultant to find out how to schedule your monthly Compliance Calendar Consultations!

  • Not applicable to HUB100 or GHR Hotline Clients

Holidays

  • Veterans Day – November 11
  • Thanksgiving Day – Fourth Thursday in November

Important Dates and Deadlines for this Month

November 1

  • Daylight Savings Time Ends
  • Enrollment begins for 2020 health insurance plans for individuals through the Marketplace.

November 3

  • Election Day

November 10

  • Employees are required to report tips of $20 or more earned during October.

Topics to Discuss and/or Review

  1. Review what benefits the Company offers, check for ERISA compliance, and discuss benefit options and premiums with appropriate management to determine if any changes are to be made.
    • You may want to contact your benefits administrator for guidance and plan details.
  1. Review which classifications of employees are eligible for specific benefits (i.e. non-exempt, exempt, management only, full-time, part-time). For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folders, “Affordable Health Care Act (ACA)”, “Benefits”, “Exempt vs. Non-Exempt.”
    • Make sure when reviewing health benefits to check for ACA compliance, if applicable. Please check with your benefits administrator for ACA requirements.
    • Does if Company falls under ALE determination?
      • If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year, the employer is not an ALE for the current calendar year. Therefore, the employer is not subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions or the employer information reporting provisions for the current year.
      • If an employer has at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year, the employer is an ALE for the current calendar year and is therefore subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions and the employer information reporting provisions.
      • To determine its workforce size for a year an employer adds its total number of full-time employees for each month of the prior calendar year to the total number of full-time equivalent employees for each calendar month of the prior calendar year and divides that total number by 12.
    • Review ACA definition of full-time or full-time equivalent employee:
      • A full-time employee for any calendar month is an employee who has on average at least 30 hours of service per week during the calendar month, or at least 130 hours of service during the calendar month.
      • A full-time equivalent employee is a combination of employees, each of whom individually is not a full-time employee, but who, in combination, are equivalent to a full-time employee. An employer determines its number of full-time-equivalent employees for a month in the two steps that follow:
        1. Combine the number of hours of service of all non-full-time employees for the month but do not include more than 120 hours of service per employee, and;
        2. Divide the total by 120.
      • An employer’s number of full-time equivalent employees (or part-time employees) is only relevant to determining whether an employer is an ALE. An ALE need not offer minimum essential coverage to its part-time employees to avoid an employer shared responsibility payment.  A part-time employee’s receipt of the premium tax credit for purchasing coverage through the Marketplace cannot trigger an employer shared responsibility payment.

 

  1. Send out notices to employees regarding open enrollments into the Company’s benefits (if applicable). For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folders, “Affordable Health Care Act (ACA)” and “Benefits.”

 

  1. Conduct an employee meeting to discuss and describe new or current offered benefit summary plans and distribute benefit summary plans to employees to make their determinations to enroll. Discuss any applicable COVID-19 information with respect to Company benefits. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folders, “Benefits” and “CORONAVIRUS.”
    • Review the documents, “Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Benefits” “Help Employees Use Employer-Provided Benefits during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Checklist”, “Remind Employees of Employer-Provided Benefits During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Letter” found in the Forms Library in the CORONAVIRUS Folder.

 

  1. Review current COBRA laws and collect applicable information (including and State-sponsored COBRA plans/information) to distribute to employees when necessary. (i.e. election forms, initial notice, right to elect continued coverage). For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder “COBRA.”
    • Review documents, “How to administer COBRA” and “Administer COBRA Checklist”, “COBRA Qualifying Events, Qualified Beneficiaries and Continuation of Coverage Periods” for clients in CA see: “CA – How to administer Cal-COBRA.”
    • See the chart, “Health Care Continuation Coverage (Mini-COBRA) Laws by State.”

 

  1. Distribute COBRA general and extended notices to plan participants. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder “COBRA.”
    • See “Model Election Notice” and “Model General Notice.”
    • Provide any applicable unemployment information. (State laws vary). See the chart, “Documentation for Separation of Employment by State” found in the Forms Library Termination Folder.

 

  1. Ensure all employee protected health information is filed securely and separately from Personnel File. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folders “Privacy and Confidentiality” and “Personnel Files.”

Tips

More information in reference to the topics discussed in this month’s compliance calendar can be found in our comprehensive online Forms Library, which is available to members 24/7.

Note: This calendar is designed to help our clients review the key human resources-related reporting and notice requirements that may apply to their organizations. Please note that this list is for general reference purposes only and is not all-inclusive. Many of the compliance requirements are complex ERISA or other statutory legal filings and responsibilities may vary depending on your company’s plans. We encourage you to consult with your insurance brokers, plan administrators, and/or your ERISA and tax advisors for further guidance.

For the most current information on certain tax-related or benefit-related documents or forms provided by the IRS, or other sources, please check with a tax professional, benefit professional and/or the correlating websites (i.e. irs.gov/LatestForms, etc.).

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