All Brokers Are Not Created Equally Part 1

Today we begin a series of conversations discussing how to understand and assess if your broker partner is delivering, what we believe to be, critical support service items, industry-leading education, and truly acting as an advisor in the health and benefits industry.

Our first topic stems from many recent encounters with new or prospective clients, where our team has identified critical compliance items that, if left unattended, could cost employer groups thousands of dollars in fines and legal headaches.

If your advisor isn’t involved in the discussion and administration of services, such as COBRA, FMLA, preparation of Summary Plan Documents, and section 125 plan documents, then it may be time to have a discussion. You may have a large army of Human Resources professionals and manage these items in-house, or you may be the HR department of one! Regardless, you attempt to manage many of these items in-house, not knowing the nuances of what is truly required to properly administer the required benefits.

Are the folks handling these functions trained properly? Are general notices properly posted or delivered to your employees? Do you have written documentation identifying the 12-month period in which the employer is determining uniform FMLA benefits?

Hopefully the items mentioned above are not consuming too much of your day, but in order to avoid unnecessary risk and absentee waste, they need to be properly managed and should be something your advisor is helping you with.