Benefits Specialist

Job Responsibilities:

• Accounting and Administration of all union and non union medical, dental, vision, life, disability, FSA, HSA and COBRA.
• Ensure all benefit payments made are reconciled to the General Ledger and pending adjustments are kept in a log ensuring they are cleared by the next reporting period. Must be able to communicate any reconciling differences to the Accounting Department, Auditor, Controller and Management.
• Ensure weekly interfaces are sent and received by the vendor. Validate all interface error reports. Update vendor website with adjustments needed in the weekly validation process.
• Prepare all COBRA Payments for deposit by Cost Center. Create a document of all Divisional Expense Entries for General Ledger by Cost Center for Employer subsidized COBRA. Audit COBRA vendor to ensure all notices generated timely.
• Prepare and validate all reports for all Benefit audits (union and non-union). Analyst will lead the audit, and coordinate all meetings with Legal, Controller, External Auditor. Analyst will gather all internal and external data, research discrepancies, analyze and recommend corrective actions to management, accounting and local Controller.
• Utilize multiple reporting tools to create a variety of adhoc and census reports, benefit reports, payroll reports and spreadsheets concerning enrollments, demographic data, payroll deductions and accruals in the General Ledger. Perform YTD analysis on FSA & HSA Plans.
• Ensure the data quality and system configuration of all benefit plans in the HRIS systems are compliant with each plan document. This will involve providing system business requirements, testing of interface and payroll files and data in the Quality Assurance Environment to ensure the accurate administration of plans.
• Manage all benefit plan inquiries. Use Plan Documents, Summary Plan Descriptions, Adoption Agreements and other referenced materials to address and resolve all Company, Provider and employee inquiries in a timely and courteous manner.
• Partner with the Benefits Manager to update all billing rates in system, participate in SGWS Annual Enrollment, mergers, acquisitions’ and new union implementations.
• Critical nature of this job may require extended hours.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills:

• Knowledge of finance and accounting practices, financial analysis and reporting.
• Knowledge of Benefits’ Administration and billing reconciliation processes.
• Knowledge of SAP HRIS systems, preferred
• Highly organized, self-starter, with the ability to prioritize and multi-task.
• Excellent organization and project management skills.
• Strong organizational skills; able to plan proactively and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Solid technical aptitude and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to be both an effective team member and self-starter.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office. Working knowledge in Excel, v look-ups and pivot tables required. Experience with macros a plus.
• Effective interpersonal skills to build strong customer relationships and interact professionally with all levels in the organization.

Education/Experience:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Related Field.
• Minimum 3 years of comprehensive Accounting, analytical and reporting experience when it comes to Benefits Administration (union and non-union).
• Experience in reviewing Contracts, Plan Documents, SPD’s, Union Collective Bargaining Agreements, reconciliation of union invoices and interface analytics.
• Ability to analyze large amounts of data. Identify and troubleshoot trends. Present trends to Management and Legal.
• Proven aptitude for analysis of data and creation of queries.