Benefits Manager

Job Overview:

• Manages the administration of group health, dental, life and accident insurance plans.
• Ensures proper administration and federal compliance with Cafeteria 125 Program, COBRA, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), HIPPA, and Medicare regulations.
• Reviews existing benefit plans and recommends changes and new programs to ensure benefits program meet the Authority's overall objectives in providing competitive and cost-effective benefits to active and retired employees.
• Provides day-to-day management and guidance to benefits staff. Develops benefits communications and enrollment materials.
• Responsible for implementation, upgrades, and administration of benefits systems.
• Manages implementation of health insurance contracts for all carriers and vendors.
• Plans and manages the coordination of annual Open Enrollments.
• Contributes to the formulation of the health insurance annual budget and renewal process with insurance carriers and vendors.
• Prepares, reviews, and monitors all invoices for benefit premium payments and related carrier/vendor expenditures.
• Develops, implements, and interprets internal policies and procedures.
• Interprets federal and state regulations to ensure compliance with legal requirements.
• Serves as a liaison with internal and external insurance auditors. Prepares regulatory filings and reports.

Qualifications/Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Business Administration and/or related.
• Five years of directly related employee benefits administration, insurance administration, personnel administration, and/or claims administration experience required.
• Demonstrated experience developing and analyzing benefits program.
• Knowledge of applicable human resources regulations (e.g., ACA, COBRA, ERISA, FMLA and HIPPA) required. Must be knowledgeable of automated benefits tracking and reporting systems.
• Prior supervisory/managerial experience preferred. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• In lieu of education, directly related work experience can be substituted on a year for year basis.
• Develops, updates, and distributes benefit program communications and enrollment materials in both verbal and written form to management and employees to ensure positive employee reaction and understanding.
• Conducts onsite visits to MARTA locations to brief employees about Benefit Plans, answer questions and resolve problems.
• Administers the payment of all fees to providers, including ASO fees, and the proper funding of claims. Establishes and maintains internal records for all required payments.
• Produces necessary reports from automated benefits systems to facilitate payment of all fees. Generates monthly detailed reports to facilitate self-billing/administration.
• Responsible for accuracy of all invoices and monthly reconciliation. Processes weekly wire transfers for proper funding of self-insured claims.
• Plans and coordinates annual enrollment.
• Reviews existing benefits, recommends changes and/or new plans, and manages implementation.
• Develops and implements policies and procedures to ensure effective administration of benefits programs.
• Manages benefits administration system's annual and on-going programming changes to accommodate plan additions, changes and/or updates with insurance carriers, web based vendors, and the internal IT department.
• Ensures proper administration and control with carriers. Serves as liaison with external and internal auditors.
• Ensures that benefits programs are administered in compliance with federal and state regulations (Cafeteria 125, FMLA, COBRA, HIPPA, ERISA, Medicare) as well as the Authority's policies and procedures. Prepares and coordinates regulatory filings and reporting (i.e., 5500, Medicare Data Match, Applicable Audits, etc.). 7. Performs other related duties as assigned.
• CEBS or CBP certification is desirable.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

• Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, and governmental regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and policies/ procedures. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

• Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, and percentages. Ability to apply concepts of basic algebra to resolve problems.

REASONING ABILITY:

• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Examples include conducting a comparative analysis of new and existing benefit plans, reviewing and assessing insurance carrier costs and performance, claim experience and associated fees and discounts, and evaluating contract renewals.

This position pays $105,000-$115,000 Annually.