Benefits Management FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Benefits Management.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Benefits Management Overview.
Setup
Do I have to create an enrollment period before employees can enroll?
Yes. Employees can only submit elections during an active enrollment period. Three types exist: Open Enrollment, New Hire, and Qualifying Event. Open Enrollment and Qualifying Event periods require a start and end date. Without at least one active period, the enrollment form does not appear for employees.
What roles can manage plans, periods, and settings?
Admin, Super Admin, and anyone assigned as a Benefits Management app admin can access the admin-side screens (plans, enrollment periods, COBRA, ACA, settings). Managers can view their direct reports’ enrollment summaries under the Team tab. All other employees see only their own benefits in the My Benefits tab.
What happens if I turn on approval routing but have no approvers assigned?
The enrollment auto-approves. The system logs a warning that approval was required but no approvers were configured, and the enrollment moves straight to Enrolled. To avoid this, assign at least one approver under Benefits > Approvals > Assign Approvers before enabling approval routing.
Permissions and access
Why can’t an employee see any plans to enroll in?
Three things must all be true: the app must be enabled for your business, an active enrollment period must exist that covers today’s date (or targets that employee for a new-hire or qualifying-event window), and the employee must pass every eligibility rule attached to the plan. Eligibility rules can filter by employment type, tenure, hours worked, location, role, department, age, job title, or pay grade. If any single rule fails, that plan is hidden from the employee.
My manager says they can’t see the Team tab — what do I check?
The Team tab requires the Manager or above role. Verify the manager’s role in admin user settings. App-admin status alone does not grant the Team tab; the role must be Manager, Admin, or Super Admin.
Day-to-day
How do employees compare plans during open enrollment?
When an active enrollment period is open, employees see a side-by-side plan comparison with per-plan costs. For tiered and composite (age-rated) plans, the comparison shows a per-member cost breakdown based on who the employee selects as covered. Employees submit their election from this screen. If approval routing is enabled, the election moves to Pending until an approver acts.
What is election rollover, and how do I enable it?
Election rollover carries forward an employee’s current elections into a new open-enrollment period so they do not start from scratch. Enable it under Settings by turning on Auto-rollover elections. When a new open-enrollment period is activated, the system copies enrolled elections from the most recent prior open-enrollment period into the new one. Dependents carry forward if Pre-populate dependents is also on.
What happens when an employee submits a qualifying life event?
The employee picks an event type (marriage, divorce, birth, adoption, death, or loss of coverage), enters the event date, and uploads any required documentation. The event’s configurable policy determines whether it auto-approves or routes to an admin for review. On approval, a special enrollment window opens — 30 days by default for most event types, 60 days for loss of coverage. The employee can then change or add coverage within that window.
How does coverage termination work when an employee leaves?
Each plan has a coverage termination rule. The default is End of month of last day. Other options are Last day worked, End of the following month, N days after last day, and Do not automatically terminate coverage. When an offboarding event occurs, the system calculates the coverage end date using the plan’s rule and the employee’s last day.
I changed the approval SLA — does it affect pending approvals?
No. The SLA and escalation deadlines are stamped on each approval record when it is created. The default SLA is 48 hours and escalation fires at 72 hours. Changing the setting only affects approvals created after the change.
Dependents and beneficiaries
What is the dependent age limit, and can I change it?
The default dependent age limit is 26 (the ACA standard). Change it under Settings > Employees. The system sends aging-out notification emails when a dependent approaches that age. Two override settings exist: Allow student overage and Allow disabled overage let dependents past the age limit with annual verification, but there is no automatic exemption — the admin must enable these toggles.
What verification statuses can a dependent have?
Every dependent starts as Pending. An admin can move them to Verified or Rejected. Each dependent relationship type has its own required-document list — for example, a spouse requires a marriage certificate, a domestic partner requires an affidavit and proof of cohabitation, and a child requires a birth certificate. Verification documents are uploaded as attachments on the dependent record.
COBRA
How is the COBRA administrative fee calculated?
The fee is a percentage of the monthly premium, configurable under Settings > Compliance. The default is 2% and the maximum allowed is 2% (the federal cap for standard COBRA). The fee is computed once at enrollment and locked — changing the company-wide rate later does not retroactively change fees on existing participants. An admin can override an individual participant’s fee from the participant detail page (0% to 2%), and the change cascades to all unpaid future payments.
What is the coverage duration for COBRA?
It depends on the qualifying event type. Termination and reduction in hours receive 18 months. Death, divorce, legal separation, loss of dependent status, and Medicare entitlement receive 36 months. The duration is set automatically when the participant record is created and can only be 18 or 36 months.
How does the COBRA payment schedule work?
When a participant’s status changes to Enrolled, the system generates one payment record per month from the coverage start date through the eligibility end date. The first payment is due 45 days after the enrollment date. Each payment carries the monthly premium plus the administrative fee. The default grace period is 30 days per payment. Payments past the grace period are flagged as overdue.
When something looks wrong
“I enrolled but my coverage hasn’t started”
If approval routing is turned on, the enrollment sits in Pending status until an approver acts. Check Approvals in the admin area. If no approvers are assigned, the enrollment should have auto-approved — check the application logs for an auto-approval warning. If approval is not required, verify the enrollment’s effective date; it may be set to First of next month or the plan-year start date rather than today.
“My cost looks wrong on my enrollment”
For flat-rate plans, the enrollment copies the plan’s monthly cost at enrollment time. For tiered and composite (age-rated) plans, the cost is calculated per member based on who is covered. Changing the plan’s rates after an employee has enrolled does not retroactively update existing enrollments. To correct a cost, an admin can edit the enrollment record directly.
“I submitted a life event but nothing happened”
If the event type’s policy is not set to auto-approve, the event waits in Pending status for an admin to review it under the qualifying-events admin queue. Once approved, the special enrollment window opens and the employee can change coverage. If the event was submitted more than 30 days after it occurred (60 days for loss of coverage), the admin should check whether the configurable submission window has been extended in Settings.
ACA and carrier connections
How does ACA hours tracking determine full-time status?
The system tracks hours worked plus PTO hours per employee per month, if both toggles are on in Settings. An employee is flagged as full-time when their total hours meet or exceed 130 hours per month (the configurable ACA threshold). The affordability safe harbor defaults to Rate of pay and can be changed to W-2 or Federal Poverty Line under Settings.
Can carrier transmissions run on a schedule?
You can configure a schedule (manual, daily, weekly, monthly, or real-time) on each carrier connection, but only the manual option — the “Transmit Now” button — actually sends a file today. Scheduled automatic transmission is not yet implemented. Connection types are 834 EDI, CSV, or API; API connections are selectable but connection testing and transmission are not implemented yet.
Licensing and limits
Does Benefits Management require a licence?
Yes. It is disabled by default and an administrator must enable it from the Apps Marketplace. It is covered by the MangoApps Workforce suite licence, not sold separately.
Are there limits I should know about?
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| AI document parse file size | 20 MB |
| Supported parse formats | PDF, DOCX, PNG, JPEG, WebP |
| Plan categories | Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, FSA, HSA, Life, Disability, Supplemental, Other |
| Pricing models | Flat, Tiered, Composite (age-rated) |
| COBRA coverage duration | 18 or 36 months (by event type) |
| COBRA administrative fee | 0–2% of premium |
| COBRA first payment deadline | 45 days after enrollment |
| COBRA grace period (default) | 30 days |
| Default dependent age limit | 26 |
| Default eligibility waiting period | 60 days |
| Default new-hire enrollment window | 30 days |
| Default QLE enrollment window | 30 days (60 for loss of coverage) |
| Default approval SLA | 48 hours |
| Default escalation deadline | 72 hours |
| ACA full-time threshold (default) | 130 hours/month |
| Approval routing modes | Global, By org unit, By plan |
More help
- Benefits Management Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Benefits Management questions from these articles.