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Open Enroll ESS Help plz!

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Sarah
Advanced Member
Posts: 33
Advanced Member
8/27/2012 5:03 PM
    This year we are changing our FTE requirement from .20 to .40 for an employee to be eligible for any benefit. This changes the employee groups that are nested within benefit plans AND employee groups that identify what rates employees can see when they go thru ess.

    Here's the issue: Since employee groups are not effective dated, how can we have new hire and open enrollments going on at the same time?

    The 2012 benefits have an fte of .20 but 2013 benefits have a minimum fte of .40; if I change employee groups to reflect the new fte minimum new hires will not be able to elect benefits for 2012.

    From what I understand, I have two choices:
    1. Create new employee groups, benefit plans and deduction codes which would be an administrative nightmare or
    2. Pick a date to update existing employee groups with the new fte .40 and any new hire from that date forward would have to fill out a paper application.

    Is there another way to handle this that I am not thinking of doing?

    TIA,

    S
    Karen Sheridan
    Veteran Member
    Posts: 141
    Veteran Member
    8/27/2012 5:35 PM
      While employee groups are not effective date driven, benefits are. I believe you will need additional employee groups, but not benefits plans or deductions. You can set-up all the 2013 rates with the new EE groups to run your benefits enrollment.

      Karen
      Karen Ploof
      Veteran Member
      Posts: 118
      Veteran Member
      8/27/2012 10:16 PM
        I agree with Karen. You will need to create new groups and contribution records using the new plan year start date, but you don't need to create new deductions.

        1. Create new groups that use the 0.4 FTE criteria.
        2. Create new Contribution records using the new plan year start date and the new group names. (Go to BN15, inquire on the plan, click the Contribution button at the bottom of the screen.)

        The only thing that could make this tricky is if you end up with overlapping Contribution records. I recommend that you create a matrix showing all the employee groups for the new plan year and compare them to the groups on the current plan year contribution records to verify that there are no "surprises". Very often, over time, special groups are created to handle grandfathered clauses or one-off agreements. If you're not careful, your new groups will include some of these special cases and will result in duplicate contribution records, causing an error when trying to enroll them for the new year.

        Hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions.
        Karen Ploof
        Sarah
        Advanced Member
        Posts: 33
        Advanced Member
        8/31/2012 7:15 PM
          Great idea ladies!

          I did that but I'm having an issue when I try to change the BN15.1 screen with a new date of 01/01/2013 and the new employee group. It keeps giving me "Plan start date cannot be > than premium start dates."

          I have gone to Contrib button, BN18 and updated the employee groups (new ones) with 01/01/2013 dates and new premium amounts. All that saved fine; I've updated my BN16 entry rules because I had an entry rule employee group that I had to create new there too.
          Ran the HR155 so employees can correctly populate in the new employee groups. The system still will not allow me to change the bn15 with a 01/01/2013 row and new employee group. Any ideas as to why?

          TIA,

          Sarah
          Karen Ploof
          Veteran Member
          Posts: 118
          Veteran Member
          9/1/2012 8:39 PM
            The new plan start date should not be entered on BN15.1, it should be something like BN17 or BN18 (depending on the contribution type). You get to those forms by clicking the Contribution button at the bottom of BN15.1
            Sarah
            Advanced Member
            Posts: 33
            Advanced Member
            9/5/2012 3:49 PM
              Unfortunately, this won't work because the BN15 eligibility employee group has to change too and since the system will not allow me to add a new date there even if I change it with the new employee group:
              1. Employee with existing coverage that have a qualifying event now can not make a change on BN32 because they are "no longer eligible"
              2. This changes our entire history which we do not want to do.
              Creating all new benefit plans is not feasible either so I am back to square one on this.
              Karen Ploof
              Veteran Member
              Posts: 118
              Veteran Member
              9/5/2012 4:30 PM
                Ah... now I get it. I think that you still go ahead and add the new groups to Contribution (and Eligibility) tabs now (again, making sure that none of them include the 0.2 FTE). Then you will change the eligibility group on BN15 after the new effective date.

                Since new hires are eligible at the 0.2 FTE for now, adding the new groups (0.4 FTE) with a future date will not affect them. If a 0.2 FTE person tries to enroll in benefits with an effective date after your new plan starts, they will get an error because there will be no Elilgibility/Contribution group that includes them.

                Are you using ESS for open enrollment? If so, I believe you can enforce the 0.4 FTE group in the set up screens.

                Hope that helps, Karen