Your contribution rate is only right if it matches the agreement in force this month.
Collective bargaining agreements set contribution rates, scheduled step-ups and the hours that count, and each can change on a date nobody entered into payroll. We confirm that what you remit to the trust matches what the current agreement actually says, before the trust’s payroll auditors check it for you.
Three things drift: the rate, the step-up and the hours.
Each drifts for a different reason, and each creates an underpayment that grows every month it goes unnoticed.
The Rate by Classification
Journeyworkers, apprentices and other classifications often carry different rates. When someone moves between classifications, payroll may not follow, so we check the rate against the classification each person actually worked in.
Scheduled Step-Ups
Agreements often raise contribution rates on set dates or move part of a wage increase into benefits. A missed effective date underpays every hour after it, which is why we build the calendar from the agreement itself.
Which Hours Count
Hours worked, hours paid, overtime and paid leave are treated differently from one agreement to the next. We read the definition in the agreement and the trust documents, because the trust applies its definition, not yours.
Side Letters and Amendments
Memoranda of understanding and mid-term amendments change rates without a new agreement. We collect them first, so the review runs against the terms actually in force.
Reported hours decide who is covered, so a remittance error is also an eligibility error.
Many trust health plans build eligibility from hours reported over an earlier period. When the hours are wrong, members gain or lose coverage they should not.
Under-Reporting
Too few hours reported can drop a member below the plan’s eligibility requirement. The member loses coverage they earned, and the dispute usually lands on the employer rather than the trust.
Lag Months
Eligibility typically trails the hours that earned it. A reporting error today shows up as a coverage problem months later, which is why we reconcile hours before they reach the bank.
Reserve Hours
Some plans let members bank excess hours against slow months. Wrong reporting distorts that reserve, so we compare the balances on trust statements with your own records.
Agreement, remittance reports and payroll records, reconciled for the same period.
We work from the same records a trust payroll auditor asks for, so the review prepares you for theirs.
Reading the Agreement
We extract every rate, effective date, classification and hours definition into one schedule. That schedule becomes the reference for each month’s remittance, which is why the review can be repeated rather than redone.
Matching the Remittances
We compare what was reported and paid with what the schedule requires, by employee and by month. Differences are sorted into rate, hours and classification errors, because each has a different fix.
Fixing It Going Forward
Payroll and HR get the corrected schedule and a check to run before each remittance. Past differences go to counsel before anything is raised with the trust, because how they are raised matters.
What contributing employers ask.
Isn’t the trust responsible for getting this right?
The trust collects what you report. The obligation to report and pay correctly is the employer’s, under the agreement and under ERISA, which is why the review sits on your side of the table.
How often should contributions be reviewed?
At every agreement renewal, at every scheduled step-up and whenever a trust audit notice arrives. A step-up missed for a year is much harder to explain than one caught in its first month.
Do you represent us with the trust?
We prepare the analysis and the records. A dispute with a trust is a legal matter, so counsel represents you and we work alongside them.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
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