Life, disability and absence. And every other line beyond the health plan.

Your benefits package is more than the health plan: life and AD&D, short and long-term disability, leave and absence administration, dental, vision and voluntary coverage. Ethos Benefits markets and renews each line, compares contracts and rate guarantees, coordinates leave administration, and keeps every line on one calendar and one record.

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What you get.

These lines renew on their own schedules, with their own contracts and rate guarantees. Without one owner, they renew by default.

Marketing and renewalsEach line marketed or renewed on schedule, with rates, rate guarantees and contract terms compared side by side.
Absence and leave administrationFMLA and company leave administration coordinated with your disability carrier, and state paid leave programs where they apply.
Plan designCoverage amounts, waiting periods and eligibility set to fit your workforce and your budget.
Contract reviewPolicies and administration agreements read for definitions, exclusions and service terms before they are signed.
Enrollment and communicationsEvery line included in open enrollment materials and employee support.
A voluntary benefits inventoryEvery voluntary product listed with how it is offered and administered, so your committee knows which ones may be ERISA plans.

Every line, one calendar.

Line	What we review
Life and AD&D	Benefit amounts, age reductions, conversion and portability, rate guarantees
Short-term disability	Benefit levels, waiting periods, coordination with state programs and paid leave
Long-term disability	Definitions of disability, offsets, pre-existing condition limits
Leave and absence	FMLA and company leave administration, and state paid leave where it applies
Dental and vision	Plan design, network, and rate guarantees
Voluntary benefits	How each product is offered, administered and communicated

Voluntary benefits and ERISA.

Whether a voluntary benefit is an ERISA plan depends on how involved the employer is. If it is one, it comes with plan documents, disclosures and fiduciary duties of its own. Ethos keeps an inventory of every voluntary product so your committee knows where each one stands.

Part of your Fiduciary Framework™.

Every Ethos service reports to your benefits committee. The work is reviewed at your quarterly committee meeting, each decision is recorded with the reasoning behind it, and the record lives in your Ethos Fiduciary OS. That is what lets your committee show the plan was run prudently.

See the Fiduciary Framework™ · How fiduciary governance works

Sources

29 CFR § 2510.3-1, employee welfare benefit plan (including the voluntary plan safe harbor), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Questions employers ask about this.

Can voluntary benefits be ERISA plans?

Yes. A voluntary benefit can fall outside ERISA only if the employer’s involvement is limited, for example the employer does not contribute or endorse the program. Many arrangements cross that line without anyone noticing, which is why Ethos keeps an inventory.

Do you handle leave administration?

Ethos coordinates leave and absence administration with your disability carrier or leave administrator and includes it in the same renewal and review process as your other benefits.

Are these lines reviewed by the committee?

Yes. They follow the same calendar and record as the health plan under your Fiduciary Framework™.

See what your plan is really costing you.

A Strategic Analysis starts with your plan documents and your broker agreement, then shows you what your plan costs, where the risk sits, and what a committee would decide with the full picture.

Request a Strategic Analysis Call (407) 803-4710