Intro Period

ILBanker

Here is my problem...

We have a 120 day introductory period. Our policy states that if necessary the introductory period can be extended 1-3 months to permit further evaluation of the new employee and that during the intro period employees are not eligible for any employee benefits. I have an employee who's intro period expires on Aug. 21. The manager of the employee comes to me yesterday and says that the employee's job knowledge is lacking and that she is not progressing as she should. The manager has yet to address these problems so she would like to extend the intro period. Under our personnel policy this is fine. However, our Group Health Policy states that an employee is elegible for benefits after 120 days of continuous employment. I called my insurance agent. He assured me that I should go with my personnel policy and extend the intro period and not offer health benefits until the extension is up. I am a little uneasy about this. My feeling is that I should offer benefits under the provisions of the Group Health Insurance policy. Any feedback would be appreciated!

LindaS

If we make the decision to extend an Introductory period, they are not eligible for benefits until the completion of that period.

POPEYE

It might depend on how your plan is written. Our plan specifically states that the enrollment must be completed within 30 days of being eligible to enroll. Our new-hires are eligible on the 91st day and even though we at times do extend the "introductory" period before assigning them to a specific shift or dept., our plan will not allow us to go beyond the 30 day grace period. You mentioned that your broker said follow your policy but I would definitely check on the requirements of your plan.

E Wart

I think you have 2 separate issues. One is your insurance and when your policy says an employee is eligible for enrollment. You MUST follow this "rules', especially if you have a 125 plan. I can't believe that your group insurance policy is flexible enough to say that "you can enroll employees anytime your subjective supv. thinks a new person is ready to be considered an employee". The introductory period is dealing with a performance and learning curve issue. (Actually I always feel that the "introductory period" is really not worth a whole lot if you are an at will state.)
I wouldn't "trust" my broker, but get down your policy and ready it. Also read your employee hand book or policy manuel and see what it says as well.

I've put employees on our group insurance and within 2 weeks after the introductory period the supervisor lets them go due to performance issues. That just life.
E Wart

moneyman

We've run across this issue before and our broker advised us the opposite of yours. Our plan carries a 90-day "service period" and then you become eligible. As long as you work more than 30 hours a week, you will be eligible, no matter what your work performance is. You only have 30 days in which to enroll after becoming eligible.

What this means to us is that we must make our evaluations well in advance of the 90 days (which is our introductory period) and if we have performance issues, we must decide if they are correctable and worth working through. If we find a total mismatch of person to job, we will let them go before the 90 days. If we feel that this person might need only another 30 days, we will keep them on and enroll in the plan (at our cost). So we basically are weighing the benefits of their continued employment against the cost of insurance.

sonny

Not related to the insurance issue, but I would be concerned that almost 4 months into the employment, the manager "has yet to address these problems"