leevena

Yes, the employer can remove the benefit. The stipend is just like any other employee benefit. As for if the other out-of-state employees are still receiving this under some kind of a grandfather clause, again, this appears to be ok. I do not have the handbooks or the background, which is why I say it appears. Your third question is more complicated. Discrimination of benefits occur when someone in a recognizable "group" is not given something that others in that group can receive. Are there multiple classes of employees? And yes, an employee can negotiate anything they and the employer agree to. Hope this helps.

Your plan document is the sole source of information for you and your employees. Changes such as definition of dependents need to be addressed via an amendment. As for the the issue of "electronic format", I don't know what you are asking.

If the owners dependents are not employees of the company, and are on the benefit plans as just dependents, then you cannot run them through. The rules do not allow the sole prop to participate, and that includes any dependents they have on their plan. If the dependents employees, that is a different story.

I don't know if I fully understand your questions/situation. It sounds like you have 1 employee, a sole prop, and no other employees. This owner is not eligible for HRA or section 125 coverage (if there are other employees they would be eligible) and neither is the dependents they may have.

I agree wholeheartedly with the previous reply. There is no reason to expose any client to that kind of a risk. Part of the "confusion" is the source...a payroll rep. While there are many very good payroll reps in the country, they are not usually very knowledgeable about employee benefits. Payroll reps should stick to selling payroll and employee benefit reps are who you should speak with about this.

Don't think so. It sounds like the employer will decide what amount goes into the FSA, as opposed to the employee electing an amount. Additionally, you will be limiting the eligible expenses, which you cannot do either. There are other ways you can achieve your goal of going to in-network providers, but I would not suggest this way.

Employee submits a claim for unreimbursed medical. The employee pay is then reduced by that amount, with all the regular tax savings included, and the savings for the employer included. The point behind what they are doing is that no one who participates is required to identify a certain amount of dollars to put at risk. Rather, they just submit the claims when (and if) they are incurred. Then the administrator makes the adjustments to income and taxes.

I'am sorry. URM is unreimbursed medical. The employee elects unreimbursed medical fsa but does not select an amount. During the plan year as that employee incurs an eligible expense, they simply submit it to the administrator who then books it in their FSA account. The idea is that everyone can enroll in an unreimbursed medical FSA without placing any dollars at risk.

A local 125 administrator is allowing members who choose unreimbursed medical to not include a certain dollar amount. Rather, the select to participate in the URM FSA and submit claims as they are incurred. This eliminates the at risk componenet.