From The Workplace Report: PSEBA Forms Now Available
From Ancel Glink's labor & employment blog, The Workplace Report with Ancel Glink: PSEBA FORMS NOW AVAILABLE FROM COGFA
Two forms pursuant to the Public Safety
Employee Benefits Act (PSEBA) are now being sent to all units of local
government in Illinois. The forms are also available on the website of the Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability (COGFA).
Under Section 17 of PSEBA, COGFA is required to
collect data relating to the cost of health insurance required by PSEBA to be
provided to former police officers, firefighters, and correctional officers who
qualify for PSEBA catastrophic injury insurance benefits. While the purpose of
the forms is to collect data for State use, the forms also will serve as a
source of data for units of local government that are seeking information
regarding statutorily mandated offsets to the cost of providing catastrophic
injury health insurance benefits.
The first of the two forms is the PSEBA
“Recipient Reporting Form”. It is to be distributed by local governments to
PSEBA recipients. It asks a number of questions to recipients, including
questions as to whether the recipient or his/her spouse is enrolled in an
insurance plan provided by a current employer and whether the recipient or
his/her spouse has been offered or provided access to health insurance from a
current employer. This information will provide local governments that are
paying PSEBA benefits with previously unavailable or difficult to obtain
offsetting insurance coverage data.
The PSEBA statute requires the PSEBA
recipient to complete and return the Recipient Reporting Form to the local
government employer within 60 days of receipt. If the PSEBA recipient fails to
do so, the employer is to notify the PSEBA recipient of non-compliance and
provide an additional 30 days to submit the form. If the PSEBA recipient does
not complete and return the form, despite being given an additional 30 days to
do so, the PSEBA recipient will be responsible for reimbursing the employer for
health insurance premiums paid during the period when the Form was due but not
returned.
The second form is called the “Employer Subject to
PSEBA Reporting Form”. It is to be filed with COGFA by the local government
employer within 120 days after the Form is received by the employer from COGFA.
The Employer Form is extensive (7 pages long). It reports aggregate and
individual recipient data concerning PSEBA benefits and recipients, including
identification of PSEBA applicants and PSEBA recipients, and health insurance
premium payments made pursuant to PSEBA benefit awards. The Form is a PDF form
that can be filled out and submitted online.
Local government employers are
encouraged to distribute the Recipient Form to recipients promptly so that the
data will be received in time to meet the Employer Form submission deadline.
This is a major opportunity for local governments to reduce PSEBA costs and
should not be missed.
Post originally authored by Don Anderson, Ancel Glink
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