A collectively bargained plan runs on different rules than a plan you sponsor yourself.
A Taft-Hartley welfare fund is not one employer’s plan. It is governed by a joint board of trustees, split evenly between labor and management, and funded by every signatory employer under the contribution schedule written into their own collective bargaining agreement. An employer whose workforce crosses union and non-union roles is often running two different benefit structures under one roof, and the two do not follow the same rules.
The trust owns the plan. The employer owns the contribution.
Under the Labor Management Relations Act, a jointly administered welfare fund must be governed by trustees appointed equally by the union and by management — no single employer, including a large one, controls plan design or eligibility rules on its own. What a signatory employer controls is narrower and more exacting: reporting hours correctly, remitting contributions on the schedule the trust sets, and staying current, since ERISA gives a delinquent trust fund the right to sue for unpaid contributions, plus interest and liquidated damages.
Reading The Agreement’s Benefit Language
Eligibility is usually built on an hours bank, not a hire date, and a contribution rate that steps up at intervals the agreement sets, not the renewal calendar. Getting either one wrong reads as a benefits error but is actually a contract-reading error.
Reconciling Contributions Against Hours
The gap between hours reported and hours actually worked is where delinquency exposure hides, and it is rarely intentional, it is a reporting mismatch that compounds every pay period it goes uncorrected. Reconcile monthly rather than waiting for an audit.
A Mixed Union And Non-Union Workforce
The union roles run on the trust’s plan and the trust’s calendar. The non-union roles run on whatever the employer sponsors directly. Treating the two as one population, even by accident, is how eligibility errors happen. Keep the two eligibility lists separate.
How this fits with the rest of your compliance calendar →
The question is usually what you signed, not what you can change.
Plan design and eligibility rules belong to the trustees, not to any one contributing employer — so the advisory question for a signatory employer is rarely whether the plan should look different. It is whether the employer’s own reporting, remittance and workforce classification actually match what the agreement requires.
Contribution Schedule Review
Confirming the rate, the step-ups and the hours-bank rules actually being applied match what the current agreement says, not what an older version said. Rate changes often take effect mid-agreement, so the schedule in payroll has to change on the right date, not at the next renewal.
Delinquency Risk Review
Catching a reporting gap before a trust does, since the fix is the same reconciliation either way and the cost of finding it first is lower. A gap you find and pay yourself usually costs the contribution plus the trust’s late charges. A gap the fund has to sue over also brings interest, liquidated damages and attorney’s fees.
Non-Union Benefit Coordination
Structuring the benefits the employer sponsors directly for its non-union roles so eligibility, waiting periods and plan year do not collide with the trust’s own calendar. It also keeps employees who move between union and non-union roles from falling into a gap between plans.
Bring us your current agreement and contribution statements →
Questions employers ask about Taft-Hartley plans
Can we change what the union plan covers?
Not unilaterally. Plan design and eligibility are set by the joint board of trustees, not by any single contributing employer — including one paying a large share of the fund’s contributions. What you can influence is the contribution rate, and that happens at the bargaining table.
Do we still file a Form 5500 for this plan?
The trust files for the plan itself. A signatory employer’s own Form 5500 obligations apply to whatever it sponsors directly, not to the multiemployer plan it contributes into — worth confirming which is which if your files show both. Keep copies of both.
What happens if our contributions fall behind?
ERISA gives the trust the right to sue for delinquent contributions plus interest and liquidated damages, and that right does not depend on whether the employer meant to fall behind — only on whether it did. Reconciling hours monthly is the cheapest protection.
Taft-Hartley and Multiemployer Benefits in Bloomfield Hills, Explained Plainly
Many employers with union workers pay into a health fund every month but are not sure how it works. They also run a separate plan for office staff. Taft-Hartley and multiemployer benefits in Bloomfield Hills can feel like two worlds. We help you understand both.
We are CFH Insurance Consultants, an independent benefits firm in business since 2007. No carrier owns us. We work with employers in Detroit, Pontiac, Auburn Hills, Oakland County and across Michigan.
Taft-Hartley & Multiemployer Benefits
A Taft-Hartley fund is a benefit plan set up through collective bargaining between a union and employers. It is also called a multiemployer plan, because many employers pay into the same fund. Employers usually pay a set amount based on hours worked.
A board of trustees runs the fund. The board has equal numbers of union and employer members. The fund, not each employer, picks the plan and the vendors.
Here is how we help with Taft-Hartley and multiemployer benefits in Bloomfield Hills:
- We explain how your fund contributions fit with the rest of your benefits.
- We help you set up and place a separate plan for your non-union staff.
- We help you line up your two plans so rules and dates do not clash.
- We help keep you ERISA compliant. Clients also get access to ERISA attorneys and CPAs through the firm.
What is a Taft-Hartley health fund?
It is a shared health plan for union members who may work for several employers. A worker can move from one contractor to another and keep the same coverage. That makes it common in trades where people change job sites often.
The fund is covered by ERISA, the federal law that sets rules for most employer health plans. The trustees are responsible for running it with care.
Do employers who pay into a union fund need their own health plan?
Only if you want to cover workers outside the union. Office staff, managers and other non-union employees usually are not in the fund. Many employers offer them a separate group plan.
Size rules still matter. The ACA employer mandate applies at 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees. Ask an ERISA attorney how your fund contributions count toward your offer of coverage. We can connect you with one.
Common questions
Can we choose the fund’s carrier?
No. The trustees choose the fund’s plans and vendors. You choose the plan for non-union staff. What you control is the contribution you owe the fund and the plan you sponsor for employees outside the bargaining unit, and both are where we help.
Does the fund file its own Form 5500?
The fund files its own. Your separate plan may have its own filing duty. Form 5500 is due by July 31 for calendar-year plans that must file. Calendar-year filers can extend that deadline by two and a half months with Form 5558.
Can non-union staff join the union fund?
Usually not. That depends on the fund’s rules and your agreement. Some funds allow it under a written participation agreement, but the trustees decide, so check the fund’s rules before promising it to anyone. The answer is in the trust documents.
Talk to us about Taft-Hartley and multiemployer benefits in Bloomfield Hills
Book a 30-minute call and we will walk through how your plans fit together. Visit 41000 Woodward Avenue, Suite 350 East, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304, or call 248.370.8853.
Related guides.
Construction and Skilled Trades Employers
Benefits around seasonal work, crews that move and union agreements.
Where the Rules Come From.
The laws and rules named on this page link to the statute or regulation they come from. This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and rules change, so check the current text.
ERISA (29 U.S.C. Chapter 18)
The federal law that sets reporting, disclosure and fiduciary rules for employer-sponsored benefit plans.
Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148)
The 2010 health reform law, with later amendments, behind employer coverage, reporting and market rules.
Plan Reporting (29 CFR Part 2520)
The Department of Labor rules for annual plan reports, including Form 5500.
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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