Three questions you should be asking your COBRA administrator.
The IRS has determined that over 90 percent of employers are currently non-compliant with the administration of COBRA (The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). Due to the complexity of COBRA compliance many companies choose to outsource COBRA administration to reduce the chance of being found non compliant. How can an employer ensure their COBRA administrator is following the rules and regulations? Paycom has published a white paper titled, “Is Your COBRA Administration Leaving You Exposed?” that focuses on three important questions a company should ask their COBRA administrator to ensure that they are the best choice for keeping the employer in compliance.
According to the staggering number of recent court cases related to COBRA, the employer, not the COBRA administrator is the liable party. The white paper is designed to encourage employers to question their current processes even if they outsource to a COBRA administrator. It also provides information on the new COBRA audit guidelines.
The COBRA white paper stresses the importance that when choosing and/or retaining a COBRA administrator an employer should question how the administrator stays current with COBRA rules and guidelines and what compliance processes are automated to help reduce the employer’s exposure by ensuring they stay compliant and COBRA audit ready.
Paycom is one of the largest COBRA administrators in the U.S. and offers the only single-application solution for Payroll and HR with automated COBRA compliance. Because of their unique single application technology, COBRA compliance is much easier and eliminates the duplicate efforts required when maintaining employee data in multiple systems. When a user of Paycom adds a health care deduction for an employee or enters a COBRA qualifying event like an employee termination, the system automatically prompts the user to send the required correspondence.
“We find that our customers don’t have the time or resources to manage all the steps needed to remain COBRA compliant,” said Brad Richardson, vice president of operations for Paycom. “We keep up on all the latest changes in the law, send the notices and letters, keep records, receive the health insurance premium payments, reconcile payments on a daily basis and send monthly statements detailing all the activity, giving our customers the assurance they are COBRA compliant.”
You can download the white paper and view a Paycom infographic here.
