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National Medical Support Notice
What do I do if I get a notice the one of my employee's must provide health insurance for their children.
Is there a test for affordability for the employee or can they make them pay $750.00 per month?
excerpt below.
Must I determine if the cost of medical support coverage is reasonable?
No. The child support agency generally determines if the cost to cover the child(ren) is reasonable.
Reasonable means the cost to the responsible parent providing medical support does not exceed 5 percent of his or her gross income. In applying the 5 percent for the cost of health insurance, the cost is the difference between self-only and family coverage.
full article
The National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) is sent to employers and to noncustodial parents when the parent is ordered to provide health insurance coverage for dependent children. Employers must respond to the NMSN within 20 business days after the date of the notice.
Employers may either complete and return Part A of the NMSN or forward Part B of NMSN to their group health plan administrator. The plan administrator must complete Part B of the NMSN within 40 business days and notify the employer when the child or children are enrolled in coverage. When notified by the plan administrator, the employer must begin withholding for dependent health-care coverage.
Employers must enroll children in their health- insurance plans and deduct appropriate premiums or costs from the wages of noncustodial parents ordered to maintain health insurance coverage for their children. Employers must provide a confirmation of enrollment to the issuer of the order, indicating either the date benefits become available or the reasons benefits cannot be made available.
Step-By-Step: What To Do When You Receive a NMSN
• Step 1: Once you receive the NMSN, determine whether any of the four categories on the Employer Response apply to you or this employee. You may only be able to determine whether one of the first three apply at this stage.
• Step 2: If so, complete the Employer Response form and return it to the Issuing Agency within 20 business days. If none of the four categories on the Employer Response apply to you or this employee, forward Part B to your plan administrator.
• Step 3: The plan administrator will notify you when enrollment has been completed. You must then notify your payroll department to make the appropriate deductions for employee contributions required under the health plan. It is at this point that you may determine that the total deductions exceed the maximum allowed under the CCPA, and any applicable state law.
• Step 4: If, in fact, you determine that the amount of support coupled with the deduction for health care premiums exceeds the maximum deduction allowable, you must look to state law in the state where the employee is employed to determine the priority for payment. If the CCPA limits preclude payment of ongoing support and health care premiums and the priority scheme does not allow for the payment of the health care premium first, you must notify the issuing agency by completing No. 4 on the Employer Response form and send the form to the agency.
• Step 5: If enrollment cannot be completed until after a waiting period or other contingency, you must notify the plan administrator when the employee is eligible for enrollment.
Are withholdings for medical support subject to the CCPA limits?
The Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits the amount of earnings that may be garnished pursuant to court orders for child support, including medical support or alimony. The garnishment law allows up to 50% of a worker’s disposable earnings to be garnished for these purposes if the worker is supporting another spouse or child, or up to 60% if the worker is not. An additional 5% may be garnished for support payments more than l2 weeks in arrears.
In most states, payments deducted from an employee’s pay for medical support are subject to CCPA limits. However, some states require that medical support premiums be withheld before computing the maximum to withhold under the CCPA. See the Income Withholding Requirements matrix for information on state withholding priorities and other withholding information.
Computing disposable income is no different than a wage order for child support. The following guidance, offered by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services addressing the “order of precedence” that occurs in calculating the child support:
• Income Withholding – Answers to Employers’ Questions: click here.
Must I determine if the cost of medical support coverage is reasonable?
No. The child support agency generally determines if the cost to cover the child(ren) is reasonable.
Reasonable means the cost to the responsible parent providing medical support does not exceed 5 percent of his or her gross income. In applying the 5 percent for the cost of health insurance, the cost is the difference between self-only and family coverage.
Recipients of Medical Support Orders shall refer any additional questions concerning compliance, and enrollment to their carrier(s) or the issuing agency.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/medical-support-answers-to-employers-questions
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/programs/css/employer_guide.pdf
https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/publications/qualified-medical-child-support-orders.pdf
ACF.HHS.GOV
Medical Support - Answers to Employers' Questions
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California Harassment Training Deadline Extended
link to the bill http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB778
California has passed an emergency bill to extend the deadline for the first round of sexual harassment training by one year. Previously, employers with five or more employees were required to provide interactive sexual harassment prevention training to all employees in California by January 1, 2020; the deadline is now January 1, 2021.
The substantive requirements remain the same. Employers must provide:
• At least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees
• At least one hour of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all nonsupervisory employees
• "Refresher training” every two years thereafter
• The applicable training within six months of hire for new employees or within six months of entering a supervisory position
Employers who provide training that complies with the law in 2019 do not need to do so again until two years have passed from the date of training. For instance, if you trained all employees on July 14, 2019 (good work!), you would have until July 14, 2021, to retrain those same employees. However, if you hire new employees or promote any existing employees to supervisory positions, they need to receive the applicable training by January 1, 2021.
A Catch: Seasonal and Temporary Employees
The training timeline was not changed for seasonal and temporary employees. Beginning January 1, 2020, employers must provide training for seasonal and temporary employees, as well as any employee who is hired to work for less than six months, within 30 calendar days of hire or within their first 100 hours worked, whichever comes first. Temporary services employers are responsible for training their employees.
Why is there a different timeline for seasonal and temporary employees? Think of it this way: California wants everyone who holds a job in 2020 to be trained by Jan 1, 2021. To achieve that, the state needs to maintain the previous training timeline for seasonal and temporary employees; otherwise, someone who works only in the summer, or between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, may not receive training by the deadline.
David Ernstam Financial and Insurance Services, Inc.
