By September and October of 2010, the new ERISA went into law along with HCR Notifications. What was is no more, it must now be an ERISA document and insurance companies do not provide this. For those who are interested, here is a checklist for the ERISA requirements.
In year 2010 new ERISA (summary plan descriptions) SPD was passed. Now the new ERISA document is not provided by any ERISA consulting firm. Below are few points in the checklist for the requirements.
- Do you provide ERISA welfare and health benefits to your employees? (e.g. health, dental, vision, AD&D, life, employer-paid STD and/or LTD, Wellness/EAP, severance insurance policy, and/or voluntary benefits that are pre-taxed under a 125 plan). Yes or No
- Have you got ERISA plan document with you?
If your answer to point number 1 is ‘yes’ then ERISA-Title-1 requires that Employer and/or Plan Sponsor should have a Plan document written in place even if they provide one or more benefits to only 1 -2000 2000 employee(s). Yes or No - Do you have a Summary Plan Description? ERISA needs that all participants receive a Summary Plan Description. Participants are imposed up to $110 penalty evaluation for every day if he/she fails to receive a summary plan description after requested that in writing. Yes or No
- If the answer to the point number 3 is ‘yes’, have you disseminated the Summary Plan Description to every participant within 90 days of period of his/her first day of coverage? Most Plan Sponsors or Employers assume that the EOCs or certificates of coverage from the carriers of insurance must meet all these requirements. If they do not, a separate ERISA summary plan description must be wrapped around the certificates to meet the requirement of ERISA. Yes or No
- Have you ever made changes to your ERISA plan or SPD document? Yes or No
- If 5th point’s answer is ‘yes’ then did you provide a Summary of Material Modification (SMM) to employees? ERISA requires an SMM to be dissipated to all other participants whenever there is a change to the benefits like carrier change, benefit structural change, eligibility change or any other change. Yes or No
- If you have more than hundred participants enrolled in any type of benefit, ever you have filed a 5500 with applicable schedules? ERISA entails $1100 penalty for every day this filing is late to maximum of penalty for bigger employers (over 100 of employees) of $30,000 once a year. Yes or No
- If point 7th answer is ‘yes’, have you completed and disseminated a Summary Annual Report (SAR)? Yes or No
These are some of the points that are covered by ERISA Mandate checklist. To see complete document or to take Goldleaf ERISA consulting, you can contact professional service
