Discriminatory plan?

[Guest schoeppel]

A large group (400+) excludes a class of FT employees from core benefits (medical, dental, life and DI) but offers the excluded class a mini-med plan, plus other voluntary benefits and offers all on the 125 POP plus full flex. The employer contributes to the core plans but does not contribute anything toward the voluntary plans, including the mini-med. The core employees (management and office) have a 90 day wait for benefits, the excluded class must be employed 6 months before voluntary benefits and flex plan are offered (due to high turnover in this class). Is this type of carve out plan considered discriminatory under the Section 125 rules? If so, what recourse does the employer have if they want to continue the 125 plan, which they do. They cannot afford to pay for benefits to the currently excluded class, and in the past when they did offer to pay a portion, they could not get participation from this class and it jeopardized the whole medical plan.