Interestingly enough, there is more to implementing and managing a Benefits Program than just making sure that the plan design and rates are competitive and fair. In fact, there is a whole world of potential hurt out there, if you don’t have certain business practices in place for administering your group insurance plan.
As a Small Business Owner, how well have you fortified your Benefits Program?
By far, the most compelling reason that you want to make sure that you dot your “i’s” and cross your “t’s” is because you don’t want to end up being liable for claims that your Carrier won’t pay for.
An example of this would be your Plan Administrator forgetting to add an employee within 30 days of eligibility and then a death, disability or health event occurs to that employee. If circumstances dictate that your Carrier isn’t going to be very accommodating, you could actually become the Carrier and have to pay that death claim, that disability claim, or ongoing high cost health claims. Scary stuff!
One of the ways to help guard against this, is to ensure that you have Plan/Benefit Administrator Liability coverage – this is a simple rider to your General Business Liability coverage. It should be available free of charge…your General Insurance Broker would be able to help you in this regard. It is basically Errors & Omissions Insurance for your Plan Administrator should they forget to,
- Enroll an employee.
- Make a family status change.
- Enter salary increases.
I imagine that you don’t want to have your Plan Administrator and, in turn, you and your company get dragged into litigation and then end up being liable without protection. Call your General Insurance Broker and confirm that this E & O coverage is in place.
If you would like to hear more about what other ways Sharkey Group Insurance can provide Risk Mitigation advice & counsel…and the list isn’t short (Taxation, Liability, Privacy and Confidentiality, Administration, and Human Resource Issues), then contact us for a no-obligation consultation.
Located in Cambridge, ON Sharkey Group Insurance provides independent Employee Benefits advice & counsel for Small Businesses across Ontario.