During these transformative times, we wanted to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information on how benefits premiums work for employees that are laid off, terminated, or have a reduction in hours changing them from full-time to part-time employees. Due to Senate Bill 51, an employee’s benefits must be carried through the end of the month in which they worked their last day or had a change in eligibility. For example, if an employee is laid off on the 15th of the month, then they will have coverage through the end of that month even if they had not been deducted enough to pay the entire premium for the month. This means that, in order for Integrity HR Management to pay the monthly insurance invoices, you, the employer, will be invoiced for the difference that was not collected via deduction from the employee.
The only exception to this will be for any of our clients that function a month in advance (MIA). For those MIA clients, this means that we deduct from the employee for coverage in the previous month before coverage begins. For example, if an employee’s coverage began in May, then Integrity HR Management would have deducted the employee in April to ensure that enough premium was collected to pay the bill. If you are unsure if you function as MIA, then please ask us and we’ll be happy to let you know.
It is vital that Integrity HR Management is notified immediately when an employee’s employment status has changed. If not, then you, the employer, will be responsible for paying the premium shortage. For example, if an employee is laid off on the 27th of the month, but Integrity HR Management isn’t notified until the 5th of the next month, Senate Bill 51 will not permit for an employee’s coverage to be retroactively terminated to the end of the prior month. The employee will have coverage through the end of the month in which Integrity HR Management was notified. Therefore, it is imperative that Integrity HR Management receives labor release forms as soon as possible.
We are here for you to answer any questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at benefits@integrityhrm.com and one of our staff will respond to you quickly and effectively.
Kelley M. Bendele
Benefits Director
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