An ‘EZ’ Solution for your Employee Benefit Plan Reporting and Disclosure Requirements Our past two blog posts were about the requirement to report and disclose information on employee benefits plans. If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by this, especially if you didn’t know about these requirements before, we have a solution to help! OA’s Platinum Partner status with EZ ERISAPlan makes it easier than ever for you to meet your obligations and comply with the rigors of ERISA and HIPAA and related laws, all with the industry leading warranties. We can provide you with the solutions in an EZ and cost affordable way. If you need all of these, there is an All-in-One Subscription that provides all of these to you at a bundled price! No Worries It’s Warrantied! The EZ ERISAPlan tool provides our clients with an industry leading written warranty. Unlike other providers that have wishy-washy contract provisions to protect you, we protect you with our two-part Warranty: $1,000,000 of Penalty Protection! If you are penalized on a document that is produced on the EZ ERISAPlan site, the Warranty covers those penalties to $1,000,000. Legal Services Warranty! If you are audited by the government on an EZ ERISAPlan document, EZ ERISAPlan will send you a lawyer for free! This is a simple and complete solution to solve your compliance requirements…contact us today to learn more and ensure your plans are covered!...
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Reporting and Disclosure Guidance for Employee Benefit Plans… Part 2 The Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee Benefit Plans provided by the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is an excellent tool for both employers and employees when it comes to understanding reporting rules under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 [ERISA]. The Guide provides information on the following topics: Basic Disclosure Requirements for Pension and Welfare Benefit Plans Additional Disclosure Requirements for Welfare Benefit Plans That Are Group Health Plans Additional Disclosure Requirements for Pension Plans Pension Insurance Premiums – single employer and multiemployer defined benefit plans Standard Terminations and Distress Terminations Overview of Form 5500 and Form M-1 Annual Reporting Requirements The starting point of basic disclosure requirements for pension and welfare benefit plans is the Summary Plan Description [SPD]. This document informs participants about their plan and how it operates, which includes all benefits, rights, and obligations under the plan. All participants or beneficiaries receiving benefits of the plan must receive this document and it must be disclosed to participants within 90 days of becoming covered by the plan or within 90 days after first receiving benefits for plan beneficiaries. For the complete list of disclosure requirements and all other information regarding retirement, health, and other workplace related benefits, visit the Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration. Do you need assistance with your workforce strategy or other Human Resources consulting needs? Contact us and check out our blog for more helpful...
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With the beginning of a new year, employers that offer employee benefit plans have many reporting and disclosure requirement deadlines that will be approaching before you know it. Employers often focus on reporting information on the retirement plans such as the pension, 401k, or 403b plan they offer, but are often unware that the same reporting and disclosure requirements may also apply to the welfare benefit plans, which include your medical, dental, life, disability, and other similar programs. For more assistance on reporting requirements for your employee benefit plans, refer to the Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee Benefit Plans provided on the Department of Labor’s website. Do you need assistance with your workforce strategy or other Human Resources consulting needs? Contact us and check out our blog for more helpful...
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Just a quick note to let you know that Ohio’s Fair Employment Law poster has been updated. These postings should be displayed in a conspicuous place in the workplace for all employees to see, such as a break room, copy room, or other common areas for employees. If your organization has multiple facilities in Ohio, postings must be displayed in each facility. For employees that work remotely from an office location, these policies and regulations should be sent to the employees, provided in hard copy form, or provided electronically for these employees to access as well. You can download your own copy here. Your payroll company may provide posters as part of their service at little or no cost. Check with them to see if they can provide these to you. There are paid services you can use that provide these posters. An internet search should be able to turn up a number of options…just be aware that while it may be more convenient to pay a service to provide these posters, especially if you operate in multiple jurisdictions, you can always find them for free at the local, state, and federal agencies. Do you need assistance with your workforce strategy or other Human Resources consulting needs? Contact us and check out our blog for more helpful...
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It has been our privilege to work with several public libraries, and this month’s success story is about our latest collaboration. Cleveland Public Library is the driving force behind a powerful culture of learning that will inspire Clevelanders from all walks of life to continually learn, share and seek out new knowledge in ways that are beneficial to themselves, their community and the world. They are the People’s University, the center of learning for a diverse and inclusive community. OA was recommended to CPL based on the work we had done for another large system. CPL needed to recruit a Chief Talent Officer, and wanted to work with a firm that understood the landscape of both top HR talent and also the public sector. The team of Mark Fiala and Ryan Sheehan worked together on behalf of the selection committee at CPL. Our project partner was Tena Wilson, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff for Cleveland Public Library. She said: OA was recommended to us by trusted colleagues in the public library space. We were aware of their success sourcing and screening public sector HR talent, and their strategic approach to recruitment. Like most recruiting consultants, they spent time with us to understand our expectations for the role, the characteristics we sought in the ideal candidate, as well as drafting for the job description, job posting, and screening questionnaire. Of great significance, they provided valid and reliable benchmark compensation data. Just as important to us is how they treated candidates. CPL has a sterling reputation in the community and we wanted our values demonstrated in the recruitment process. The OA team worked hard to make the candidate experience meaningful and respectful. No finalist candidate wants to find out that they will not be offered the position, but Mark and Ryan made sure that communication was open and direct. On top of all of that, they were fast!…they jumped on this project and soon we had a number of quality candidates to choose from. It made our final selection easy, and we are excited to welcome our new leadership team member. Do you need assistance with a strategy for effective recruitment? Contact us to learn how we can help and check out...
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This month’s success story features our work with the Mandel JCC. The J builds, connects and strengthens the Jewish community and the greater Cleveland community through exceptional life-long programs and services that reflect the richness of Jewish life and enhance physical, intellectual, and spiritual well-being. OA was approached based on our experience working with not-for-profit organizations to benchmark compensation and recommending approaches to enhance compensation program administration. Vice President of Human Resources Sara Hodgson said: OA was recommended to us by one of our trusted advisors to assist us with understanding how competitive our compensation was, and how we could be more effective at managing our programs. They worked with us to understand what our goals were and then developed a plan to address our needs. Throughout the project they spent time with us reviewing data, asking questions, and making sure they were providing the analysis we needed to make decisions about our program. They provided data from both general and also industry-specific sources and qualified them to make sure the data was valid and reliable. We needed a comprehensive review and OA provided analysis on our staff compensation and made recommendations regarding compensation philosophy, program administration, and pay structures. Additionally, they helped me present the findings to my leadership team in a way that was clear and meaningful to them. Not-for-profit organizations are one of our specialties. Whether you are large or small, we can help with your compensation planning needs. Contact us and check out our blog for more...
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