Employee Benefits Specialist

Fulton County•Government Center 141 Pryor Street, GA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The purpose of this classification is to process and resolve complex employee/retiree insurance and pension benefits issues. Responsibilities include communicating the County's health package to employees and processing benefits enrollment, termination, status change, and update actions. This classification is distinguished from Employee Benefits Specialist, Senior in that this class performs routine operational duties related to processing employee benefits actions, whereas the latter performs these actions and additionally provides lead direction to assigned staff.

Requirements

Associate's Degree in business, accounting, insurance or a related field required
Two years of experience performing customer service and administrative duties preferably involving employee benefits or pension administration
Any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience which provides the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities for this job.
Ability to make informed decisions, prioritize responsibilities, and provide guidance while working within established policies and procedures.
Experience coordinating daily operations, maintaining organized records, managing documentation, and ensuring tasks are completed accurately and timely.
Strong ability to communicate clearly with employees, leadership, and diverse populations while providing information, answering questions, and addressing concerns professionally.
Experience interpreting and following policies, procedures, regulations, and established guidelines while maintaining accountability and confidentiality.
Demonstrated experience maintaining accurate records, reviewing documentation, processing information, and ensuring data integrity.
Ability to evaluate issues, identify appropriate solutions, resolve concerns, and exercise sound judgment when handling employee-related matters.
Experience working effectively with cross-functional teams, coordinating resources, and communicating information among multiple stakeholders.
Strong understanding of handling sensitive information appropriately, maintaining confidentiality, and taking responsibility for the accuracy and security of records.
Experience explaining procedures, policies, and processes to personnel and providing guidance to ensure understanding and compliance.
Proven ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, coordinate resources, and maintain attention to detail in a structured environment.
Requires the ability to review, classify, categorize, prioritize, and/or analyze data. Includes exercising discretion in determining data classification, and in referencing such analysis to established standards for the purpose of recognizing actual or probable interactive effects and relationships.
Requires the ability to work with and apply principles of persuasion and/or influence over others to coordinate programs or activities of a project, and resolve typical problems associated with the responsibilities of the job.
Requires the ability to operate, maneuver and/or control the actions of equipment, machinery, tools, and/or materials used in performing essential functions.
Requires the ability to utilize a wide variety of reference, descriptive, and/or advisory data and information.
Requires the ability to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; the ability to calculate decimals and percentages; the ability to utilize principles of fractions; and the ability to interpret graphs.
Requires the ability to apply principles of rational systems; to interpret instructions furnished in written, oral, diagrammatic, or schedule form; and to exercise independent judgment to adopt or modify methods and standards to meet variations in assigned objectives.
Requires the ability to exercise judgment, decisiveness and creativity in situations involving evaluation of information against measurable or verifiable criteria.

Nice To Haves

Qualifying veterans will be given preference in the form of a guaranteed invitation to interview for any position to which they applied and have been found to have met the minimum qualifications.

Responsibilities

Establish and modify an array of employees’ payroll deductions and tax withholding in the HR system
Process replacement of Marta transportation cards; assist with troubleshooting of cards and serve as liaison between Marta and Fulton County
Manage Payroll Unit Email Box; monitor, route and track incoming requests
Serve as a liaison between Finance and Departmental HR Liaisons
Scan and upload documents to employees' Docuware file
Create/modify letters, forms and other correspondence
Assist with special projects and other functions as necessary
Performs operation activities in the administration of pension and medical, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits for employees, retirees, and COBRA enrollees: creates new employee files; reviews and processes benefits enrollment, termination, status changes, and updates; prepares documentation and transmits to outside agencies; performs mathematical computations; processes and tracks personnel transactions; enters benefits and pension data into payroll system,; establishes deductions, verifies data, and balances reports; prepares and distributes personnel-related correspondence; and ensures appropriate filing and storage of documents.
Assists employees/retirees in resolving complex insurance and pension benefits issues: responds to inquiries from County personnel and officials and external vendors; conducts research; interprets court documents and makes appropriate adjustments and entries; modifies and deletes data entry transactions as necessary; analyzes benefit issues and provides advice and recommendations; and makes limited-judgment decisions to facilitate resolution.
Ensures vendor resolution of employee and general insurance plan administration issues; researches and resolves vendor report discrepancies; performs research for data and records; enter data into external vendor database; and communicates with vendor representatives and vendor program managers.
Assists with new employee orientation and open enrollment sessions for employee benefits packages: compiles, organizes, and delivers materials to employee locations and external vendors; provides general information on programs and services; communicates general information, benefit rules, regulations, policies, and procedures; conducts training activities for new hire orientation and other specialized classes; and ensures compliance with federal mandates.
Reviews, completes, and/or processes, or various forms, reports, correspondence, and other documentation, including payroll reports, enrollment documentation and spreadsheets, premium detail reports, open enrollment information, and other items as needed; compiles data for further processing or for use in preparation of department reports; and maintains computerized and/or hardcopy records.
Communicates with supervisor, current and former employees, insurance company representatives, medical providers, attorneys, and other individuals as needed to coordinate work activities, review status of work, exchange information, or resolve problems.
Maintains a current, comprehensive knowledge and awareness of applicable laws, regulations, principles and practices relating to employee benefits program administration; reads professional literature; maintains professional affiliations; and attends meetings, workshops, hearings, and training sessions as required.
Performs other related duties as required.