Benefit Specialist - The Salvation Army Eastern Territory

Overview

TITLE: Benefit Specialist

LOCATION/DEPARTMENT:  Divisional Headquarters Human Resources Department

REPORTS TO:    Directly: Divisional HR Director, Indirectly: General Secretary

SUPERVISES:     Temporary staff and/or Interns, if applicable         

SALARYand GRADE: $30.00 per hour;  79 Non-Exempt                     

STATUS: Full-Time

SCHEDULE: 40 hours per week; Monday-Friday with some evenings and weekends required as needed and approved to complete job duties.

The Salvation Army is hiring and offers truly excellent benefit package to eligible employees including:

• Generous paid time off every year that includes: holidays, up to 3 personal days, vacation time and sick time.
• Employer funded Pension Plan (company contributions begin after 1 year of employment)
• Comprehensive health care coverage with low cost employee premiums, co-pays and deductibles
• Eligibility for supplemental insurance plans including Short Term Disability, AFLAC and Voluntary Term Life
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Remitted Tuition Program
• Eligibility for the Federal Government’s Public Student Loan Forgiveness Program
• Most importantly – a job with a good purpose!

Overview: The Benefit Specialist supports the efforts of the human resources function as the in-house expert for the proper administration of group benefit plans, which includes plan communication to employees and managers, setup and maintenance of eligibility structures and deduction management as prescribed by Territorial Headquarter (THQ) within the Ceridian Dayforce HRIS or UKG system, ensure all plans related to the healthcare of employees is orderly, well documented and timely, and ensure all monthly bills for voluntary life insurance, long term disability insurance and health plan elections are processed.

Responsibilities

Group Benefits Administration

• Answers questions about the health and welfare plans, as well as refer calls to Chesterfield, third-party administrator, as may be needed by complexity, or related to claims processing, pre-certifications/approvals, and personal issues.
• Oversees the distribution of enrollment packets to new and newly qualifying employees.
• Ensure proper administration of the Group Pension, Life Insurance Plan and Supplemental Life Insurance Plan, Employee Group Health Insurance Plan, Employee Disability and Workers Compensation Plans, including setting up the plan enrollment and benefit deductions to allow for most favorable tax treatment for both the employee and The Salvation Army (i.e.., pre-tax contributions on the first $40,000 in voluntary life insurance.)
• As group plan offerings and employee contribution amounts change, ensure tall systems are similarly updated and that communications are sent to allow for timely enrollments, changes, and terminations for all group plans.
• Prior to open enrollment, review enrollee age data to ensure those employees whose contributions for voluntary life insurance and long-term disability will increase are provided with that information in enough time to consider these cost increases during the open enrollment period, thus helping to assure positive employee satisfaction once the new deductions begin.
• Administers all open enrollments for the Pendel Division (including Health Plans and Voluntary Life Plan, Long Term Disability’s, AFLAC, and FSA.)
• Responsible to implement and maintain the HRIS/Payroll Benefits Module in a way that ensures proper administration and streamlines processing between HR and payroll processing of deductions, and between Chesterfield Resources and Pendel. This requires the running of the “Recalc” after open enrollment changes are made so Payroll deductions are run properly. This also includes routinely self-auditing systems to ensure that proper deductions are properly taken from employee paychecks (bi-weekly), and that enrollment in both the HRIS system and the Chesterfield System are equal in number of enrollees and the level of enrollment (monthly).
• Update and maintain the Chesterfield System’s sub-location codes to correlate with Ceridian’s cost center numbering convention or other HRIS Systems.
• Oversee the printing and mailing of “Profile” reports to employees along with their open enrollment information. As an administrative check and balance, following the close of the open enrollment period follows up by sending another “Profile” report to show either that no changes were made OR what changes have been processed.  This is an administrative critical step to avoid errors, and to ensure tight controls and administration. 
• Run reports to be in compliance with the Affordable Care Act, in a timely manner and submit counts to THQ monthly, run reports for benefits and pension and other items as necessary.
• Stay current of Ceridian Dayforce, or HRIS/Payroll Software training and applies same.

Pension

• Send information to newly eligible employees to include beneficiary forms and notify payroll of newly eligible employees.
• Complete the timely submission of quarterly earnings for participating pension employees to THQ Pension Bureau. Ensure to set up and run the Ceridian or HRIS/Payroll Software quarter report in advance of the deadline and in conjunction with the appropriate payroll period.
• Provides quarterly report to the Finance Department for submission to Corps and other locations.
• In the fourth quarter, provide a list of current or former employees for whom The Salvation Army has made a Pension Contribution since January 1st of that year.

Reconciliation and Billing

• In a timely fashion, complete month-end benefits reconciliations between all systems.
• Complete the monthly reconciliation and billing process for group health, AFLAC and welfare benefits paid monthly, and quarterly for the pension plan.

Other HR Support

• Participates in various training and development programs related to HR Administration for Officers, Department Heads and Supervisors.
• Serves as a back-up to the Leave Specialist, as well as provide support to the other HR staff, as needed.
• Perform related duties, as assigned.

This is not an exhaustive list of duties, and it may be updated and modified as needed by the HR Director, the Assistant HR Director, or Divisional Officer who oversees HR for the smooth operation of the Human Resources Department or as needed by The Salvation Army in meeting the demands of Mission.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration or equivalent minimum experience of six years in finance, payroll or personnel department.
• Minimum of three years benefits administration experience preferred.
• Prior Ceridian Dayforce or UKG experience is strongly preferred, although experience administering benefits in another fully integrated HRIS environment can be substituted.
• Outstanding organizational and follow-up skills.
• Must be patient and be willing to communicate plan information in a kind and gracious way.
• Enjoy working where being exact is a requirement.
• Able to handle personal information with sensitivity and with necessary confidentiality.
• Excellent communication skills for dealing with people.
• Self-starter, detail oriented, logical, process-minded worker required.
• Good working knowledge of word processing systems.
• Child Protection Clearances PA Act 153 requires that all prospective employees complete the following clearance and background checks prior to employment: PA Child Abuse History Clearance, PA State Police Criminal Record Check and FBI Criminal Record/Fingerprint Check. Meets the Child Protection Clearances required by PA Act 153 to include PA Child Abuse History Clearance, PA State Police Criminal Record Check and FBI Criminal Record Check along with renewals every five years.
• Must have an understanding of and support for the Mission of The Salvation Army.

Contact: Please submit your resume and cover letter as instructed below.

External candidates interested in this position please apply online at http://careers.salvationarmy.org. 

Internal candidates interested in applying for this position please apply at http://internal-usesalvationarmy.icims.com.          

No Phone Calls Please.

Released by the Divisional Human Resources Department on June 13, 2024_____________________________________________________________

 All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

The Salvation Army’s Mission Statement

The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church.

Its message is based on the Bible.  Its ministry is motivated by the love of God.

Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

Requisition No.  2230