Responsibilities of a Benefits Plan Administrator (BPA)

Background

The administration of group benefits (and investment) plans requires strong integration with HR and payroll processes.  Only when this coordination happens do employees enjoy a convenient and frustration-free access to their plan, and are the risks to employers of errors and omissions mitigated.

BPA Duties & Responsibilities

Below is an overview of the duties and responsibilities of the Benefits Plan Administrator (BPA).  There are two main categories: those owned by WorkforceWins as a part of the WorkforceLogistics subscription; and those owned by the client unless they have made WorkforceWins the primary BPA.

Owned by WorkforceWins

• Maintain a clear company policy on all relevant perspectives of benefits plans - with special attention to eligibility criteria.
• Integrate plan eligibility into employment agreements.

Owned by WorkforceWins OR the Client

• Maintain access of employees to the master summary of the benefits plan (a.k.a the benefits booklet’) for the plan to which they are enrolled (if not provided directly by the insurer via an online portal).
• Enroll employees within the required window of time.
• Make profile changes and updates as required by employees - directing them to any self-serve portal where possible.
• Terminate plans for employees for whom changes to their terms of employment to make them ineligible (ex. schedule, seasonality, fixed terms).
• Plan terminations per standard separation agreements.
• Approval and management of plan terminations per non-standard separation agreements ex. when coverage extend past end of employment.
• If there is more than one class of benefits, move employees among the company’s various plans based on each plan's parameters.
• If there is an Employee-paid portion of the cost of benefits, employee contributions must be initially set up in payroll and then perpetually reconciled for alignment with overall benefits cost changes.
• If any insurance based benefits require employee compensation data in their profile with the insurer, this information must be kept up to date.