Page 29 - 3Q 2017 Reporter
P. 29

The BackPage






                             COBRA Administration



                                   Questions? We have

          Hillary                                                                                       Bob
           Meyers                                 answers.                                          Penwell





            In today’s complex and data intense                   healthcare coverage.  Is the employee
        business climate, it is no easy task for                  eligible for COBRA?  Are the employee’s
        a  Benefits Officer or Human Resource                     dependents eligible for COBRA and for how
        professional to remain 100% current on                    long?  What notices must be sent to the
        changing  regulations and deadlines  within               terminated employee and what are the time
        a group benefits program.  The job of                     frames and deadlines for notification?  What
        administering all aspects of a benefits program           are the employer’s legal responsibilities
        is challenging for a full-time Director,  but many        regarding: required notifications forwarded
        smaller banks and businesses cannot afford                to the employee, the collection of premiums
        an employee(s) to exclusively manage the                  and meeting COBRA eligibility periods, etc.?
        intricacies of a group benefits program.                  Rest assured the ILFI group insurance Trust
            HR Directors are accustomed to the                    provides complete COBRA administration as
        regulatory conditions placed on an employer               part of our service provisions to Trust members
        that require action or notifications within               at no additional cost to your account.
        the workplace.  Keeping current of those                     COBRA administration is just one of the
        requirements is an essential job function.                value-added services provided by the ILFI
        Those agencies include:  the Equal                        Trust group insurance program.  This article is
        Employment Opportunity Commission (the                    the first in a series designed to communicate
        EEOC), the Illinois Department of Human                   the suite of services provided by the Trust. As
        Rights (the IDHR), the National Labor                     always, should you have questions specific
        Relations Board and the State and Federal                 to your institution, please contact our Trust
        Departments of Labor. As noted in a previous              Manager, Hillary Meyer’s at 217.522.5575 x
        edition of the Illinois Reporter, (see Illinois           216 or hmeyers@ilfi.org.
        Reporter Vol. 32,  No.2, second Quarter
        2015 article by Aaron R. Gelb).  We strongly
        encourage Trust members to continue to                                 Warm Up
        utilize our assistance when questions or issues
                                                                             to Wellness!
        surrounding benefits administration arise.

            COBRA questions are some of the main
        complications HR professionals may face.
        The termination of an individual triggers a
        number of questions regarding their continued


                                                             26
        Third QuarTer 2017                                                                           IllInoIs RepoRteR
   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32