Human Resources Specialist - Public Service Coordinator I

$48,942 - $69,160/Yr

State Of Maine - Augusta, ME

Full-time - Entry Level

Hybrid - Augusta, ME

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support

About the position

The Human Resources Specialist - Public Service Coordinator I position at the State of Maine's Bureau of Human Resources involves providing paraprofessional support in a variety of employee benefits administrative functions. This role is crucial for managing benefits for State of Maine employees, former employees, dependents, surviving spouses, and retirees. The specialist will be responsible for interpreting and applying health, dental, and vision program policies, as well as other programs administered by the Office of Employee Health & Wellness. The position requires daily communication with employees, retirees, insurance vendors, and various state agencies to ensure compliance with state and federal laws regarding benefit enrollment, eligibility, terminations, and COBRA processing. In this role, the specialist will make daily determinations regarding benefits eligibility and will be tasked with ensuring that correct deductions are taken from payroll. The position also involves working closely with the new Human Resource Management System (HRMS) to maintain data quality, implement process improvements, and train other staff members. The work environment is fast-paced and requires limited supervision, making it essential for the specialist to be proactive and detail-oriented. Typical duties include serving as a technical liaison for various stakeholders, researching complex issues, composing correspondence regarding eligibility and coverage, conducting interviews to determine benefits eligibility, processing enrollment applications, coordinating payroll deductions, and reconciling monthly billing. The specialist will also be responsible for training staff on new processes and reviewing current processes for potential improvements.

Responsibilities

• Ensures state and federal compliance for benefit administration for active employees, retirees, dependents, agencies, and ancillaries relating to health, dental, vision.
• Serves as a technical liaison for employees, retirees, dependents, agencies, and ancillaries on matters relating to eligibility, claims and billing issues.
• Research complex issues, compose correspondence regarding eligibility, coverage, termination of policies, premium cost and respond to court orders.
• Communicates daily by phone and email with active employees, retirees, agencies, ancillaries, and insurance vendors.
• Interprets, explains, and applies provisions of applicable laws, regulations and policies relating to active employees, retirees, and dependents.
• Conducts interviews with new, existing, separating and/or retiring employees to determine qualifications for benefits eligibility and processes the required paperwork.
• Performs and administers daily transactions relating to enrollment applications, for new hires and qualifying life events of current employees, which includes reviewing applications for accuracy, follow up with employees for required documents, coding applications, file submissions.
• Enters and coordinates payroll deductions for health, dental, vision programs with agency personnel and payroll staff. Reconciles monthly billing to ensure premiums are correct and deducted properly.
• Enters and processes COBRA requirements.
• Trains staff on new processes and reviews current processes for improvement.

Requirements

• Experience in Human Resource Management Systems.
• Knowledge of MFASIS, accounting and payroll systems.
• Knowledge of all associated benefit programs.
• Knowledge of insurance language and definitions.
• Knowledge of State of Maine Statutes relating to active employees and retiree benefits.
• Knowledge of Family Medical Leave and all other leave types and how they affect benefit and premium payments.
• Knowledge of COBRA law and regulations.
• Broad based knowledge of Medicare rules pertaining to enrollment in Parts A, B, C and D.
• Knowledge of Microsoft operations and other applicable programs.
• Knowledge of division policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of IRS rules pertaining to qualifying life events, domestic partner and 1095C forms.
• Ability to maintain and use databases for tracking purposes.
• Ability to communicate effectively in person, orally and in writing.
• Ability to research and independently come to conclusions to make accurate decisions.
• Ability to plan, set and administer individual goals and objectives.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with agency personnel and outside vendors.
• Ability to demonstrate superior customer service.
• Ability to verify, code, compute and reconcile data.
• Ability to work collaboratively and be a team player.
• Ability to write reports and maintain records.
• Ability to be flexible and adjust to business needs while balancing multiple tasks and priorities.
• Ability to work with confidential and sensitive materials.

Nice-to-haves

• Strong customer service skills.

Benefits

• Work-Life Fit - 13 paid holidays, 12 days of sick leave, and 3+ weeks of vacation leave annually.
• Health Insurance Coverage - The State of Maine pays 85%-100% of employee-only premiums.
• Dental Insurance - The State of Maine pays 100% of employee-only dental premiums.
• Retirement Plan - The State contributes the equivalent of 18.09% of the employee's pay towards the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS).