Be More Competitive on
Davis-Bacon Act or
State Prevailing Wage Projects
CONTRACTORS...Reduce your Labor Cost
Through The
CONTRACTORS AND EMPLOYEES
RETIREMENT PLAN AND TRUST
The
Problem...
When a contractor performs work on a
Davis-Bacon Act or state prevailing wage project, they must pay employees
predetermined wages and fringe benefits. If they do not provide benefits, they
must pay the benefits as additional cash wages. Paying all cash wages costs
you the most money.
Why?
All wages are subject to the following
payroll burdens:
 | FICA Contributions |
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| Workers Compensation Premiums |
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| Public Liability Premiums |
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| Federal Unemployment Taxes |
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| State Unemployment Taxes
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Result…
Unnecessary higher labor costs!
Your options:
1. Pay the total wage and fringe requirements in cash. This
is the most expensive and least advantageous way to satisfy your payroll obligation!
2. Pay part in wages and make a fringe benefit contribution. This gives you the
economic advantages of:
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Reducing your payroll burden cost.
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Keeping private work wages and public work wages closer.
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| Being more competitive when bidding.
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And increased profits!
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The
Solution...
Use our plans
to provide valuable benefits to your employees
while you gain the following benefits: |
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Money Purchase
pension plan for contractors who want to make contributions for
hourly employees to comply with Davis-Bacon and Service Contract
Act projects.
A 401(k) Profit Sharing plans
designed for employers to use for their whole company. Plan will receive
Prevailing Wage contributions and employee elective deferrals. Daily
valuation of accounts, 24-hour access and participant-directed options
available. Click here for more details.
Hourly Major Medical Health &
Welfare benefit programs for Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Act
contractors designed to comply with hourly requirements for companies who
must submit certified payrolls. Click here for more
details.
Affordable supplemental programs
available to all employers who want to provide their hourly workers with
valuable benefits that will facilitate recruiting and increase employee
retention. Click here for more details. |
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The Contractors & Employees' Retirement Plan & Trust
Many contractors utilize this
trust to fund benefits while performing services subject to the Service
Contract Act or construction projects subject to the Davis Bacon Act or
other prevailing wage laws. The master trust has:
- over 43,000 participants
- over 1,200 adopting employers
and
- over $190 million in assets.
The Trust allows both
money purchase pension plans and 401(k) profit sharing plans. The money
purchase plan allows the maximum contributions of prevailing wage fringe
benefits as well as other employer contributions such as traditional
pension contributions. The 401(k) plan combines the features of a 401(k)
profit sharing plan with provisions for prevailing wage benefit
contributions. Our 401(k) plan can also utilize the prevailing wage fringe
benefit contributions to INCREASE benefits for key employees to the
highest levels allowed by law. Click here for
additional details. |
| The Health and
Welfare Plans available through Fringe Insurance Benefits, Inc. have been
designed exclusively to comply with the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service
Contract Act and mandated state required policy provisions.
These health plans offer the
employer the ability to submit premium based on actual number of hours an
employee works (click here for more information on
hour banking) and can be tailored for employers or individual job
sites and offer greater flexibility than traditional group programs.
If you are an employer looking
for a group medical plan designed to meet the special needs of the
government contractor, our Fringe Insurance Benefits', Health and
Welfare Plans are the ideal solution.
Major
Medical
This program provides
comprehensive major medical coverage for your employees. Click here for
more details.
Supplemental
Medical
This program is designed for
utilization of lower fringe amounts (including the $1.92 fringe required
on many Service Contract Act projects). Benefits can include doctor
visits, dental and vision. Click here for more
details. |
| Our Cash Plan™ meets
the needs of employers who do not offer health benefit programs to
employees and their dependents. We offer a solution to the problem of
providing affordable and valuable benefits.
Problem:
- High cost of medical insurance
- Confusing network
restrictions, deductibles, and dependent coverage cost
- Increasing cost for medical
coverage
- Time consuming enrollments and
underwriting
- Full month's premium required
for part-time or hourly workers
Solution:
CashPlan™
Benefits That Work
- Affordable plans starting at
$.25/hour or $30.00/month
- No networks or deductibles
(except dental) and dependent coverage is included in most plans
- Historically stable rates
- Simple enrollment and no
individual underwriting
- Benefits can be provided based
on hours worked
We specialize in providing tools
that employers need to recruit and retain employees. We have pioneered the
development of quality health and welfare programs that your employees
will value. We are leaders in providing flexible benefit solutions that
will meet all the needs of your company and employees.
By using Fringe
Insurance Benefits you will:
- Attract and retain valuable
employees
- Become more competitive and
profitable
- Excellent administrative
services, including COBRA
- Provide benefits employees
will value
- Choose from flexible plan and
pricing options
- Easy billing
- Employee handouts that are
concise and easy to understand
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Maximize Your Retirement Benefits |
| As an owner or key
employee, the two methods discussed below can help maximize your benefits
to the highest level allowed by law.
"Boosting" Deferrals For All Employees
The employer can use the
prevailing wage contributions to increase the deferral percentages for the
non-highly compensated employees. This increases the amount that the
owners and executives can defer. This "boost" gives the owners and
executives an advantage in saving for their retirement that isn’t
available in a typical 401(k) plan, while at the same time saving you
money on your prevailing wage projects.
"Offsetting" Contributions
Our plan design allows you to
make profit sharing contributions for all of your participants, but
"offset" the contributions for prevailing wage employees by the amount of
current year prevailing wage contributions. This allows the employer to
make contributions for the core employees without establishing a second
plan or incurring additional costs for prevailing wage workers.
Return to the
Retirement page. |
What is an Hour Bank Health Care Plan?
Hour Bank Health Care plans for merit
shop companies were developed for the needs of contractors performing
Construction projects on Federal contracts, and subsequently for Service
Contract Act employers providing labor by contract under this law enacted in
1965.
Federal Government (and some states)
construction contracts fall under the Labor Relations Act, of which Section 5
specifically stipulates the Government’s right to require and specify
minimum prevailing wage standards on all Federally funded and assisted
construction projects.
Section 5 of the Labor Standards
Provisions is primarily made up of the Davis-Bacon Act. Voted into law in
1931, the Davis-Bacon Act was instituted to protect local wage standards by
preventing contractors from basing their bids on wages lower than those
prevailing in the area, and to give local labor and local contractors fair
opportunity to participate in Federal construction programs.
Note 5.31(a), that law states "an
employer need not pay the exact hourly base rate and the exact hourly fringe
rate. Any combination of cash wages, insurance or trust payments for approved
fringes is acceptable, provided the total is at least as much as the total
cash and fringe rates determined by the Secretary of Labor."
Part 4 of the Labor Standards for
Federal Service Contracts specifically describes the compensation standards
and compliance with compensation standards required under the Act (Subpart D,
4.159-4.186). While the Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act have many
similarities with regards to fringe benefits, there are significant
differences.
The Hourly Health Care Plan
enables the employer to offer quality health care protection, custom designed
to meet the provisions of a "bona fide" fringe benefit as described in the two
Acts.
Hour Bank Accounting helps
because…
The required hours of Work Credit
will qualify an eligible employee (and his/her eligible dependents) for (1)
calendar month of benefits.
Employees may accumulate Hours of
Work Credit for excess hours worked.
Avoids possible ineligibility under
traditional program.
Protects employee’s from layoffs,
inclement weather, etc…
Allows employee’s to bank up to 12
months of health care.
Allows employer to pay for actual
hours worked.
Return to the
Health and Welfare page.
| Hour Bank Accounting
Traditional Indemnity and PPO
designs with Copay features available
$10,000 Life/$10,000 Accidental
Death and Dismemberment included at no additional cost for employee
Prescription Drug Card
automatically included at no additional cost
Wellness Benefit automatically
included at no additional cost
Calendar Year Deductible is
waived for accidents
Dental Coverage, Weekly Disability, Vision Care, Supplemental Accident
Benefit, and Dependent Life also available
Return to the
Health and Welfare page.
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Supplemental Medical Benefits
Life/Accidental Death &
Dismemberment Insurance
$5,000 to $50,000 Life and AD&D
Benefits available
Dependent Life Insurance
Spouse $2,500 to $12,500
Child $1,250 to $6,250 (over 6
months)
Infant $ 200 (14 days - 6
months)
Additional options available
Hospital Indemnity (Daily
Hospital Confinement)
$100 - $500 per day to 500 days
Lifetime (except for Substance Abuse & Mental Disorders)
$100 - $500 per day for
treatment of Substance Abuse up to 30 days per calendar year
$200 - $1,000 per day for
Intensive Care Unit
$50 - $250 per day for Mental
Illness, $5,000 per Calendar Year, $30,000 Lifetime
$50 - $250 per day for stays in
a Skilled Nursing Facility (only if following a covered hospital stay of
at least 3 days and the person is less than age 65); up to 60 days per
stay
0 days Elimination Period -
Benefits become payable on the first day of a covered confinement
Maternity Care - covered as any
other illness
Wellness Care
Routine exams, medical treatment
and injections are payable at $50-$150 per visit up to a $150 Calendar
Year Maximum per person.
Vision Care
Covered vision care expenses are
paid at 80%. $300 maximum benefit per person per Calendar Year.
Doctor’s Office Visit
Doctor’s office visits are
payable at $10 - $60, per covered person, per doctor’s office visit.
Routine exams, medical treatment, and injections are not covered under
this benefit. $300 maximum benefit per person per calendar year.
Outpatient Diagnostic
X-Ray and Lab (DXL)
Diagnostic x-ray and lab (DXL)
tests ordered or performed by a Doctor are payable at $10-$60 per covered
person, when hospital confinement is not required. Routine exams are not
covered under this benefit. $300 maximum benefit per person per calendar
year.
Dental
Care
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| Option
I: |
$50
deductible per person per calendar year; $250 calendar maximum; $125
orthodontia lifetime maximum
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| Option
II: |
$50
deductible per person per calendar year; $500 calendar maximum; $250
orthodontia lifetime maximum
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| Option
III: |
$50 or
$100 deductible per person per calendar year; $1,000 calendar maximum;
$500 orthodontia lifetime maximum
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| Option
IV: |
$50 or
$100 deductible per person per calendar year; $1,500 calendar maximum;
$750 orthodontia lifetime maximum
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Short Term Disability
8th day accident; 8th day
sickness; 26 weeks benefit period. $300 weekly disability income benefit
(claim benefits will not exceed 66 2/3% of basic weekly earnings,
excluding bonuses)
Maternity covered as any other
illness
Accident Coverage
Option of $300 or $500 benefit
per occurrence available for charges incurred within 90 days of an
accident. No copayment per occurrence benefit.
Surgical Schedule
Surgeries performed by a doctor
are payable according to the Surgical Schedule up to a $400 - $1500
Calendar Year Maximum per person.
Pharmacy Program
- Formulary Generic Drugs - $10
or less for up to a 30 day supply
- Non-Formulary Generic Drugs -
discounts up to 50% off average wholesale price
- Brand Name Prescription Drugs
- discounts averaging 13% off average wholesale price
- No maximum annual benefit
Survivor Benefit
In the event of the employee’s
death, his/her dependents’ Hospital Indemnity benefits, if applicable, may
continue for up to two (2) years, provided the Plan stays in force.
State law may provide a special
continuance of coverage upon death of the employee.
Return to the
Health and Welfare page.
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