956 CMR 10.03 - Employer HIRD Report

(1) General Requirements. Each Massachusetts Employer with eleven or more Full Time Equivalent Employees shall report the following information in an Employer HIRD Report specified by the Connector.

(a) Reporting Employer. An Employer has 11 or more Full Time Equivalent Employees if the sum of total payroll hours for all Employees for a calendar quarter, divided by 500, is greater than or equal to 11. In calculating payroll hours:

1. For each Employee with more than 500 payroll hours for the Employer, the Employer shall include 500 payroll hours.

2. Payroll hours include all hours for which an Employer paid wages including, but not limited to, regular, vacation, sick, Federal Medical Leave of Absence, short term disability, long term disability, overtime and holiday hours.

3. The Employer shall include the payroll hours of Seasonal Employees but shall not include the payroll hours of Independent Contractors as defined in 956 CMR 10.02.

4. An Employer who is determined to be a successor under M.G.L. c. 151A shall include the payroll hours of the predecessor's Employees during the determination period.

(b) Required Information. Each Reporting Employer is required to report the following information:

1. Employer Legal Name;

2. Employer DBA Name;

3. Employer FEIN;

4. Division of Unemployment Assistance Account Number;

5. Whether the Employer adopts and/or maintains a Section 125 Cafeteria Plan in accordance with the requirements of the Connector;

6. Whether the employer collects Employee HIRD forms from employees that decline to participate in group health plan or Section 125 plan;

7. Whether the Employer contributes to the premium cost of a group health plan for its Employees;

8. If the Employer contributes to the premium cost of a group health plan for its Employees, the employer contribution percentage for each employee category if the percentage varies by category.

9. If the Employer contributes to the premium cost of a group health plan for its Employees, the total monthly premium cost for the lowest priced health insurance offered for an individual plan and a family plan.

10. If the Employer offers an Employer sponsored group health plan, the open enrollment period of the Employer sponsored plan.

11. Information about the Employer's full-time criteria:

a. payroll hours per week does your firm require an employee to work to be considered full time;

b. minimum number of payroll hours per week that firm requires an employee to work to be considered eligible for full-time health plan benefits;

c. whether firm offers participation in a multiemployer health plan to any full-time employees during the applicable base period;

d. how many months a full-time employee must work at firm before he or she is eligible for health benefits?

(c) Employee Leasing Company Arrangements. If and to the extent there is an arrangement between Client Company and an Employee Leasing Company, the Client Company is the Employer for purposes of M.G.L. c. 118G with respect to itself and its Employees covered by the arrangement. Nothing in 956 CMR 10.00 prohibits the Client Company from executing an agreement with the Employee Leasing Company that assigns responsibility for filing the Client Company's Employer HIRD Report to the Employee Leasing Company. If the Employee Leasing Company fails to comply with such an agreement, the Client Company will continue to be responsible for compliance with 956 CMR 10.00. If an Employee Leasing Company files the Employer HIRD Report on behalf of its Client Companies, it shall file a separate report for each Client Company.

(2) Required Filings.

(a) Due Dates. Each Reporting Employer shall submit its Employer HIRD Report with its Fair Share Contribution filing in accordance with the filing requirements of the Division of Unemployment Assistance. If an Employer is permitted to submit the Fair Share Contribution filing once a year, the Employer may file only one Employer HIRD Report per year.

(b) Employer Attestation. All Employer HIRD reports shall be made under the pains and penalties of perjury. A Reporting Employer must designate a responsible individual authorized to verify and certify the accuracy of the Employer HIRD information submitted.

(c) The Connector may change reporting requirements, including specified forms and filing deadlines by administrative bulletin.

(3) Data Verification.

(a) Verification. Each Reporting Employer must submit any additional documentation requested by the Connector to verify the accuracy of the data submitted.

(b) Audit. The Connector may, upon notice to the Reporting Employer, inspect and copy any records necessary to verify the accuracy of the information submitted.

(c) Data Matches. The Connector will initiate data matches, as permitted by law, with the Division ofUnemployment Assistance and the Department of Revenue to verify the accuracy of the data submitted by the reporting Employer.

Notes

956 CMR 10.03