October is Benefits Tune-Up Month!

By Jan Gartner

Is your congregation an employer? In other words do you pay folks to do work? Be it a minister, religious educator, custodian, musician, administrator or some other position? Are any of those folx participants in any of the UUA plans? Retirement, health insurance, etc?

If so—please read on!

Are you confident that you are following all of the rules associated with the UUA's Retirement Plan, Health Plan, and Group Insurance Plans? Do you know who is eligible for what? Are you aware of the enrollment windows for the insurance plans? Is it clear to you when each employee should begin receiving employer contributions to their retirement account?

We're not referring here to the Compensation Guidelines, which outline recommended salary and benefit levels. We mean the Plan Rules - the legal must-do's associated with each Plan that spell out eligibility requirements and more. Unfortunately, given all that has to be attended to by congregational leaders, important details about administering our benefit plans sometimes get misunderstood or forgotten.

"Benefits Tune-up Month" debuted last October as a time for congregational leaders to check themselves on their benefits administration knowledge and practices. Our office introduced a new resource, the Benefits Tune-up Workbook, to assist you in the process. Many of you told us how helpful the Workbook was to you and/or reached out to us with questions as a result of going through it.

A year has passed, and it's time for Benefits Tune-up 2.0. We've made a few updates to the Workbook. Please take the time to review and complete it. By administering UUA benefits well, you are taking good care of your staff and sparing your congregation the financial and emotional risks associated with errors.

Please, if you have staff and any of them participate in any of the UUA plans, please take some time to review this information. They and your board will thank you!

Questions? Let me know!

About the Author

Jan Gartner

Jan is passionate about helping congregations live out their values within their walls!...

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