Employee Benefits: Lessons from the Law
An employer checklist:
| Ensure employee applications for benefits are properly completed and submitted on a timely basis. | |
| Follow up with employees and inform them of the consequences of a late or incomplete application. | |
| Confirm employee elections in writing or electronically. | |
| Where coverage is waived, ensure a signed waiver has been completed and retained in the employee's file. | |
| Periodic administration audits can reveal sloppy benefits administration practices that could result in employer liability. | |
| Audits of ASO arrangements can ensure the administrator's practices are both consistent with the benefits promised and legally compliant. | |
| Review current insurance contracts to ensure that adequate indemnification provisions exist to capture negligent actions of benefits adjudicators and providers. | |
| Ensure benefits promises in collective agreements, booklets and other communications are consistent with the coverage provided by the underlying insurance policies. |
Taken from Employment Benefits News Canada – January/February 2006
Source : Hicks Morley
