Rewards Specialist

Responsible for assisting with the administration of the benefit, leave, and retirement programs while ensuring employee data accuracy and compliance with Federal, State, and Local laws and regulations. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Provide internal and external stakeholders assistance including, but not limited to, education on benefit options, elections, and enrollment, appropriate enrollment processes and procedures, qualifying events and/or changes to benefit elections, completion of appropriate benefits-related documentation, and billing, claim, premium, and payroll questions/issues related to employee, retiree, and dependent benefits.
• Conduct routine benefit, leave, and retirement activities including, but not limited to, processing enrollments, qualifying event requests, changes, beneficiary information, disability, Evidence of Insurability (EOI) carrier responses, accident and death claims, terminations, providing timely Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notification, and administering the City retirement programs.
• Obtain employee information to set up, enter and maintain employee information in appropriate systems including, but not limited to, all benefit deductions, direct deposit, payroll deductions, and
  457 plan deductions; review payroll reports for accuracy of employee deductions.
• Oversee monthly billing processing; prepare check requests, wires, Automated Clearing House (ACH), and/or other payment methods to ensure timely payment of all fees for all benefits plans, enter and maintain OR/POs, and check deposit.
• Distribute payroll records to departmental timekeepers in a timely manner.
• Conduct interviews with retirees to help ensure an understanding of retirement and other benefits options.
• Assist short and long-term disability claim filing, including providing data to the third‑party claims administrator; assist with the transition from short‑term to long‑term disability, as appropriate.
• Complete routine system data integrity audits; ensure system integrity issues are resolved.
• Reconcile and submit deferred compensation and Section 125 data, as required.
• Collect requested information from internal and external audit requests; verify data with leadership prior to sending to requestors.
• Ensure legal compliance for new hire reporting and qualified medical support orders to the Office of the Attorney General.
• Support annual open enrollment by delivering in‑person and virtual presentations to employees, retirees, and COBRA participants and answer inquiries; review and ensure benefit elections are accurate and timely, proper enrollment is completed based on elections, payroll reports are audited following open enrollment, and subsequent election changes to confirm payroll deductions are accurate.
• Assist with projects and administrative activities including, but not limited to, create and facilitate benefits‑related training programs, review and maintain policies and procedures, attend meetings and prepare materials, conduct research, and coordinate employee‑focused events; provide feedback related to area of responsibility.
• Maintain records, enrollments, and employee information in appropriate repositories.
• Stay up to date on Federal, State, and Local laws and regulations, trends, emerging innovations, and industry best practices.

• None.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• High School diploma or equivalent; and,
• Four (4) years’ experience in benefit administration, compensation, human resources, or related field; and,

OR

• Any combination of related education, experience, certifications, and licenses that will result in a candidate successfully performing the essential functions of the job.

An individual must be able to perform each essential duty…