January 23, 2023

Should I care about benefits compliance?

Why employers are realizing the need to follow compliance guidelines:

Organizations are facing more pressure than ever to strengthen their employee benefits packages to stay competitive in the marketplace, find top talent, and retain their best employees. But there’s more to consider than just offering a variety of benefits. When organizations fail to factor in compliance, the fines and penalties are steep.

Encouraging organizations to take it seriously isn’t a scare tactic or sales strategy. The penalties are real. The US Department of Labor reported that in FY 2022, the Employment Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recovered $931 million in investigations. Of the 907 civil investigations, 66% resulted in financial results for plans or other corrective actions.

The bottom line is that if your organization hasn’t considered the compliance aspect of your employee benefits, now is the time.

First, let's cover the basics:

What is compliance?

In the world of employee benefits, it means meeting or exceeding compliance law requirements for each benefit as established by the governing agencies.

Who has to follow compliance regulations?

All organizations with employees must stay up-to-date and informed because the regulations are fluid and forever changing.

Where do I start compliance planning?

Decide whether your employee benefits plan administration will take place internally or externally with a third-party administrator. The plan administrator will need to take charge and be responsible for managing benefits requirements on a day-to-day basis. This includes maintaining plan documents, filing and reporting requirements, deadlines, and avoiding conflicts of interest.

What are the compliance requirements?

Planning, notification, documentation, and filing requirements may vary depending on your business size and the benefits offered. It’s crucial for the plan administrator to be aware of and follow these closely. It’s a long list, so to dig in deeper, here’s an overview:

As 2022’s high percentage of corrective actions indicates, organizations can handle it internally, but it can be overwhelming to maintain effectively.

For this reason, choosing a third-party-benefits administrator (TPA) benefits administrator like Ameriflex has its advantages:

Mitigates the liability of having an internal administrator
Helps to avoid conflicts of interest.
Eliminates the overhead of an internal administrator and related office expenses
Personalized customer service
The expertise gained from years of experience

Ameriflex has been an industry leader for 20-plus years and provides expert compliance services and benefits administration. We will create a plan to best serve your employees and keep you on top of the requirements.