Employee Benefits Issues In a Recession

Some tips for employers coping with the economic slowdown and viral complications thereof: Keep state privacy laws and HIPPA regulations in mind when you collect employees’ health information. Some state laws, for example, require businesses to provide a formal privacy notice before collecting health information. In respect to Tax-qualified Retirement Plans, partial plan termination rules are triggered if a business has a large reduction in the size of its employee workforce. Employees often ask if they can use their Flexible Spending Account Funds after they’re laid off. Most plan documents will specify a period of time during which an employee can submit reimbursement requests for eligible expenses. As daycare centers shut down due to COVID-19, plan participants may seek alternative arrangements so they can work. Employers should confirm that dependent care claims are for eligible expenses – generally, services obtained so that they can work, not for other purposes. Employees often have questions about health care payments during unpaid leaves of absence or leaves of absence where wages are not sufficient to pay for premiums. Employers may allow the employee to pay the employee’s share of premiums under either a pre-pay option, a pay-as-you-go option or a catch-up option.