Benefit Entry Rules (BN16.1)

Use Benefit Entry Rules (BN16.1) to define initial and re-enrollment criteria for entry into a plan.

More Information

You must define a plan's initial and re-entry rules before employees can enroll in the plan. These rules specify the waiting period requirement, if any, each employee must satisfy before being eligible to enroll in a plan. Benefit entry programs use these criteria to calculate an employee's eligibility date.

You can define entry rules for a plan type or a benefit plan.

You can define entry rules by employee group. For example, union employees must be employed 30 days before being eligible; non-union employees are eligible on their hire date. If you define benefit entry rules for one or more employee groups as well as an entry rule with no employee group selected, the latter entry rules include all employees not in the employee groups associated with an entry rule.

When you define initial entry or re-entry rules, you indicate the date (such as the hire date or anniversary date) on which the rules are effective. You can add to this date a number of months, days, and hours of service an employee must work to be eligible. For example, employees must work 12 months and 1000 hours after their hire date. The employee's eligibility date is the latest date calculated by the application. To define a particular type of hours for eligibility, you select a pay class. For information on pay classes, see the Payroll User Guide.

For employees who have met the waiting period requirement, you define the point at which the employee can enroll in the plan. Entry points can include one of the following.

Up to twelve specific months and days. If you specify a month and day, an employee's benefit start date must match a plan entry date.

  • The pay period before or after the employee's eligibility date.
  • The work period before or after the employee's eligibility date.

For example, entry dates are on the first of each month and an employee's eligibility date is calculated to be 1/15. If you select a Prior value (such as Prior Entry Point), the application adds the benefit for the employee with a start date of 1/1. If you select a Next value (such as Next Entry Point), the application adds the benefit for the employee with a start date of 2/1. For information about pay periods and work periods, see the Payroll User Guide.