A couple of weeks ago, I accepted a contract where one of my responsibilities is to answer employees' general benefits questions. I am, in effect, the benefits "help desk." In addition, I am training a new employee for the client on benefits issues. I discovered that the two go hand in hand, as some of the questions that have come up don't happen often.
For example, a new employee had retained coverage from his former employer for the first month of his employment with my client. Not realizing that there was a time limit for enrolling in a health insurance plan with us, he came in one day expecting to walk out with his insurance plan in place. The problem was that he did not have any documentation from his previous employer or carrier (which are both located outside the United States and, therefore, are not subject to providing HIPAA certificates). To add to the problem, that day was day 29 of the 31-day enrollment window since the qualifying event of the loss of his coverage. He left armed with the fax number and e-mail address where he could have his former employer or carrier get us the information as quickly as possible. Hopefully, they'll cooperate with him – he was such a cheerful fellow, I'd hate to disappoint him! This was not only a lesson for the employee, who learned not to wait until the last minute, but also for my trainee, who is only just learning about things like Section 125 windows.
A sadder training issue occurred when we were notified of the death of an employee. There is a specific individual who is responsible for setting the appropriate chains of action in motion, but it was still a good review for my trainee in case a situation ever occurs when she needs to know about life insurance claims, checking for dependents to be notified of their COBRA rights, notifying Payroll, etc. Hopefully, this is an exercise that won't have to be used too often!
We had a particularly interesting question from an employee who wanted to add an over-age, disabled child to her insurance policy. It took some research to determine that it will depend on whether or not he is "deemed disabled" by the health insurance carrier; with that assurance, he would qualify as an eligible dependent under my client's definitions. This is one lesson that may not carry from employer to employer for my trainee, but was nonetheless an intriguing research project!
All in all, the "help desk" has been an effective way to help the employees and to help educate my trainee — and me, as well!
Catherine Bannon is an HR consultant in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting practice.
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