Be Part of the Ultimate Safety & Compliance Community
Trending news, knowledge-building content, and more – all personalized to you!
Employers use many means to keep good employees in their employ. One is a fair wage. Another is to offer benefits beyond a fair wage. There are many different types of benefits from health plans to child care.
Employers that offer these benefits are required to follow certain laws in regard to their plans.
Many of the laws employers must follow are protected by the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA).
PWBA. The PWBA is a branch of the Department of Labor (DOL) that protects the integrity of pensions, health plans, and other employee benefits for more than 150 million people. It does this via the following:
The PWBA is responsible for administering and enforcing those provisions of ERISA that provide protections for participants and beneficiaries in employee benefit plans (participant rights), including providing access to plan information. Also, those individuals who manage plans (and other fiduciaries) must meet certain standards of conduct under the fiduciary responsibilities specified in the law.
ERISA. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It protects the assets of millions of Americans so that funds placed in retirement plans during their working lives will be there when they retire.
For example, if an employer maintains a pension plan, ERISA specifies when an employee must be allowed to become a participant, how long they have to work before they have a non-forfeitable interest in their pension, how long a participant can be away from their job before it might affect their benefit, and whether their spouse has a right to part of their pension in the event of their death. Most of the provisions of ERISA are effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 1975.
ERISA does not require any employer to establish a pension plan. It only requires that those who establish plans must meet certain minimum standards. The law generally does not specify how much money a participant must be paid as a benefit.
ERISA does the following:
COBRA. Congress passed the landmark Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act health benefit provisions in 1986. The law amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code and the Public Health Service Act to provide continuation of group health coverage that otherwise might be terminated.
COBRA contains provisions giving certain former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses, and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. This coverage, however, is only available when coverage is lost due to certain specific events. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer pays a part of the premium for active employees while COBRA participants generally pay the entire premium themselves. It is ordinarily less expensive, though, than individual health coverage.
There are 3 elements to qualifying for COBRA benefits. COBRA establishes specific criteria for plans, qualified beneficiaries, and qualifying events:
Of course, employers may offer other benefits such as legal insurance, disability, paid time off, discounts, education funds, and child care. These should be offered in a non-discriminatory fashion.