Employee Benefits - System Features
The Employee Benefits System is designed to assist you in administering the benefits your organization provides to employees. Besides allowing you to maintain information on your regular benefit offerings, the system includes a separate set of options for setting up and maintaining records on COBRA benefits for employees and their dependents.
Following are the Employee Benefits System's general features as well as those specific to regular benefits and COBRA benefits.
General Features
The Employee Benefits System, like other applications, uses a single integrated database to ensure the integrity of your records.
Employee Benefits utilizes the same security system as other application software. This enables you to restrict access to specified menu options and records on a userbyuser basis.
Employee Benefits is specifically designed to interface with the Human Resources System. The connection between the two systems saves considerable time by eliminating the need to enter redundant information, while ensuring the consistency of your records.
Employee Benefits provides data verification tables for checking the accuracy of the information you enter, such as employee numbers, record identification codes, and benefit assignments.
The use of tables also allows you to change a large number of records by simply modifying a single record in a related table.
Drop-down lists and table help pages are available for tableverified fields, so that you can look up and select records easily when assigning and changing benefits.
Employee Benefits enables you to access options using folders, favorites, and keyboard shortcuts, depending on your preference.
The system also allows you to keep multiple pages active for entering, looking up, and maintaining records.
Employee Benefit Records
Where benefit records in Human Resources are intended to facilitate payroll processing and accounting concerns, in Employee Benefits the focus is on benefits administration.
The system enables you to create separate but parallel records containing benefit information on employees, dependents, and beneficiaries, including projected costs.
Employee benefit records display header information taken from Human Resources. This data includes employee ID numbers, last names, first names, departments, Social Security numbers, status codes, and birth dates.
Benefits assigned to employees in Human Resources default to the Employee Benefits System when you initially create a record. You can supplement this data by adding, changing, and deleting benefits as needed.
You can also add information to your benefit records, such as start and stop dates, codes identifying notices sent to employees, insurance coverage amounts, and codes referencing insurance benefits secured through secondary employment or a spouse.
When you assign a benefit to an employee, the system uses payroll information to automatically calculate the projected cost.
The Benefit Record Updates option allows you to create or update benefit records based on employee payroll deduction records, rather than updating them manually. The option also creates benefit records for dependents.
Records on employees' dependents and beneficiaries include their names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates, as well as coverage data.
The Insurance Forms report provides complete data on the benefits assigned to employees and their dependents. These reports can be generated either individually or for groups of employees.
The Benefit Birthday report lets you track coverage for dependents whose eligibility is set to expire based on their ages.
The Insurance Census report allows you to track the number of employees and dependents per benefit and their related coverage amounts.
Attachments regarding benefits can be added for employees, dependents, and beneficiaries. The files that can be attached can be in any format, though users must have the appropriate security and software to view them.
For more information, refer to Employee Benefit Records.
COBRA Benefit Record
Employee Benefits' COBRA options enable you to administer benefits for employees and dependents who fall under the COBRA rule. The records created and maintained with these options address two central issues: eligibility and payment.
COBRA records contain benefit start and stop dates, as well as identification codes. They also include dates of notifications and qualifying events, such as birthdays and graduations.
When you create a COBRA record, the system automatically creates the initial billing. You can then perform ongoing billing and payment functions for subsequent periods.
COBRA payment records maintain a record of outstanding balances. An employee's balance is automatically cleared when you post a payment that satisfies the current amount and any delinquencies from past billings.
You can adjust incorrect payment amounts and generate an audit trail of these changes.
Four reports can be generated on COBRA activities: COBRA Status Report, End of Eligibility Listing, Payment History Report, and COBRA Activity Report.
For more information, refer to COBRA Information.