AmeriHealth Casualty: FMLA administration program

Federal regulations under The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) contain the employer’s responsibilities and procedures with respect to the handling of specific leave situations. An employer is required to provide written notification of an employee’s rights and obligations in connection with the FMLA, as well as provide the appropriate medical certification form.

 

On May 2, 2008, New Jersey joined California and Washington to become the third state to require companies to offer paid family medical leave to employees. The family leave insurance law allows employees to take up to six weeks of paid leave a year beginning July 1, 2009. The program is paid through employee payroll deductions costing about $33 a year. The legislation is designed to run concurrently with the New Jersey Family Leave Act and the federal FMLA, not consecutively.

 

While the FMLA, New Jersey Family Leave Act, and New Jersey Paid Family Medical Leave protect your customers’ employees, they also impose administrative burdens on HR departments.

 

Why outsource FMLA administration?

According to a survey by the Integrated Benefits Institute, the most common type of integrated program involves managing disability and absence across nonoccupational benefits [e.g., short-term disability (STD) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)] and occupational benefits (i.e., workers’ compensation) in an integrated disability management (IDM) program.

 

Since FMLA is almost universal, FMLA liability is increasingly on employers’ integration “radar.” If FMLA eligibility is not tracked — especially when employees use different benefits programs — employers are concerned they will extend their liability to offer FMLA entitlement unnecessarily. Over all types of integrated programs, more than 90% integrate or coordinate FMLA coverage into their integrated programs. Almost all IDM programs (96%) include FMLA tracking and eligibility determinations.

 

Why AmeriHealth Casualty?

The AmeriHealth Casualty FMLA administration program fairly and consistently administers even the most complex leave policies and concurrency rules, over any tracking period, across the entire organization including:

• FMLA
• Other local, state or federal-mandated leave
• Company leave policies
• Long-term disability
• Short-term disability
• Workers compensation
  

 

Many organizations have rules that vary by location, or that extend leave granted by the law. The AmeriHealth Casualty FMLA administration program allows your customer to implement policies containing an unlimited number of rules and elements. This allows for flexibility in calculation methods, accuracy in administering concurrent leave policies, and the reduction of risk associated with non-compliance. Customizable documents allow your customer to maintain consistency with corporate or legal requirements. All rules and workflow are performed automatically. AmeriHealth Casualty is alerted when responses are due or action needs to be taken. The required documents are generated and emailed to employees and supervisors.

 

The AmeriHealth Casualty FMLA administrative package is comprehensive and includes the following key service elements:

• implementation
• call center
• entitlement review
• ongoing communications
• case management
• leave tracking
• reporting
• management information system
  

 

The AmeriHealth Casualty FMLA administration program has been designed to reduce the administrative burdens associated with the FMLA and other local, state, or federal-mandated leave programs, and improve employee satisfaction. Just as important, the services have been designed to reduce both the direct and indirect cost of employee absence.

 

For more details regarding the AmeriHealth Casualty FMLA administration program, please contact your AmeriHealth broker representative.