Specialty Services

Employers face constant change in employment laws and employee issues. Human Resources professionals need reliable answers to complex questions on Wage/Hour, Workers’ Compensation, Discrimination, Wrongful Termination, Benefits, ADA and much more.

MAX provides its clients with MTBS HELPLINE, which delivers best-practice advice and counsel on many of the human resource and employment law issues they face. Access to employment law attorneys and a state-of-the-art Online Portal is available as often as needed.

MTBS HELPLINE: www.mtbshelpline.com

Employers have a direct interest in their employees’ health. Healthy employees are more productive and contribute to lower premium costs for their employers.

MAX can offer your employees help in navigating the healthcare system to get answers to their pressing questions, manage chronic conditions and shed unhealthy habits. Health Advocate is a powerful tool to improve the wellness of your employees and their dependents.

Health Advocate: http:// www.healthadvocate.com

This client intranet tool is a complete employee communication system that helps employers and their Human Resources department increase productivity, streamline processes, improve communications and save money. The site is devoted to helping you with plan administration, legislative compliance, employee communication, and more.

Included with your client portal is our Legislative Guides, which provides comprehensive information about federal legislation such as COBRA, HIPAA, HIPAA Privacy, ARRA, FMLA, Section 125 and Medicare Part D.

Coordinate, review and provide diligence reporting of all employee benefit programs for acquisitions (stock, asset, and spin-offs), mergers, minority investments, and divestitures. The scope of diligence includes financial analysis and impact, transactional requirements, seller representatives and warranties, and post-close recommendations.

Flexible Spending Accounts are employer-sponsored benefits that enable employees to pay for eligible medical expenses on a pre-tax basis. Employees take a pre-tax payroll deduction and the amount is deposited into an FSA, which reduces taxable income. Any unused balance in an employee’s FSA account reverts to the employer at the end of each plan year.

The most common type of FSA is used to pay for medical expenses not paid for by insurance. This usually means deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance for the employee’s health plan, but may also include expenses not covered by the health plan, such as dental and vision expenses and over-the-counter drugs. A medical FSA cannot pay for health insurance premiums, cosmetic items, cosmetic surgery or items that improve “general health”. All items must be intended to treat or prevent a specific medical condition; this can be as significant as diabetes or pregnancy, or as trivial as skin cuts. Generally, allowable items are the same as those allowable for the medical tax deduction. Employers have the option to reimburse claims or to issue a debit card that employees can use to pay for expenses directly. FSAs may also be used to pay for dependent (child or adult) care, though the plan design is more complex.

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is similar to an FSA. Employees contribute funds through a payroll deduction, which reduces their tax liability. Unlike an FSA, however, funds roll over and accumulate year-to-year if not spent. This allows employees to not only pay current medical expenses but also to save for future medical and retiree health costs tax-free.

HSA funds may be used to pay for most qualified medical expenses at any time without tax liability or penalty but beginning in early 2011, over-the-counter medications no longer qualify for reimbursement. Withdrawals for non-medical expenses are treated very similarly to those in an IRA: they may provide tax advantages if taken after retirement age, and they incur penalties if taken earlier. Unlike FSAs, HSAs must be linked to a High-Deductible Health Plan, sometimes called a catastrophic care plan. This is an inexpensive health insurance plan with a high deductible, generally in the thousands of dollars, and a high limit on out-of-pocket expenses. Funds in the HSA are intended to fill the gap left by the deductible and out-of-pocket expense limit.

Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are yet another variation on healthcare funding. With an HRA, the employer — not the employee — sets aside a specific amount of pre-tax dollars for employee healthcare expenses. The plan must be funded solely by the employer, and it can only provide benefits for substantiated medical expenses.

Like HSAs, HRAs are typically offered in conjunction with a High-Deductible Health Plan, which reduces premium costs. This cost savings can then be invested in funding the HRA.

All employer contributions are 100% tax deductible to the employer and tax-free to the employee. Employers may determine what expenses the HRA funds are used for, from all health-related eligible expenses and deductible/co-pay costs to limited use such as emergency room visits. HRAs can also be used to cover retired employees.

We leverage our vendor relationships to streamline the vision of our clients’ human resources. We customize our proposals for HR/benefits administration services to remove redundancies, and achieve economic and administrative efficiencies.

A primary strategy to manage cost is an eligibility audit. The Dependent Eligibility Verification Project is designed to formally and objectively examine the non-employee population covered by your organization under the employee benefits program.

Results can range from 5%-10% reduction of dependent enrollment. Membership reduction can save employers 3% or more annually.

Maintaining accurate dependent information primarily supports fiscal responsibility, but also is required to comply with certain legislation, including ERISA and IRS audits

We partner with a full service securities firm serving the investment needs of individuals, business owners, institutional investors and government agencies.

The advantages of this approach are:

No affiliation to a specific plan provider — As an independent financial advisory firm, we are able to choose the most suitable plan with the best provider. This gives us the flexibility to monitor and change the Provider or the Administrator if necessary. We meet annually to review the plan to see if it is meeting your company’s goals.

Due Diligence — First we request proposals from our selection of providers to determine fees and service levels, and evaluate plans for the best investment options available. We do continuing due diligence on Mutual Funds offered to see if changes need to be made based on poor performance or fund management changes. Some of our providers are ING, MetLife, Prudential, American Funds, Fidelity Advisors and Allianz.

Advice and Education — Unlike most providers, we meet with key employees and give unbiased investment advice when choosing investment allocations. We make annual visits to your company to review and educate employees on their plan and investment options. We are available for consultation via phone whenever needed.

Experience — For almost four decades, our retirement advisory partners have been helping companies implement retirement plans that maximize return potential and employee participation, while minimizing costs.