NBS - Response from Scott Muir, VP - NBS
In November it was brought to the attention of the HEA executive board that several employees were having issues with monthly deposits not being made to their NBS health and/or dependent care accounts. The same issues occurred in December and employees again expressed their concerns. HEA heard these concerns and notified USD 261 district administration on Saturday, December 23rd. HEA did not feel the vague response from the district on December 28th was a sufficient explanation. In order to avoid these issues from happening for a third month, HEA contacted the NBS President and CEO on December 29th and this is the response that was received from Scott Muir, NBS Vice-President of Flexible Benefits, on January 2nd:
We appreciate you reaching out to our leadership regarding your recent service experiences. On behalf of NBS and our employees, I apologize that our service has not met our standards which resulted in a negative experience for your employees.
Our team has examined the details and done a root cause analysis regarding these breakdowns in our service. The November delay resulted because the funding check was sent to NBS’s old mailing address. Once this was discovered, Haysville USD was configured for the ACH payment method and the payroll was processed quickly thereafter. When NBS finally received the funding check, it was destroyed.
The December funding should have occurred without issue; however, an error was made, and the ACH funding was not pulled timely. In addition to this error, the NBS control to catch the delayed payroll failed to trigger. Once Haysville USD notified NBS of the funding delay, the payroll ACH funding was processed immediately.
NBS Actions
NBS has modified the process to mitigate the error that occurred
NBS has identified and corrected the issue with the control that should notify the Payroll Processing team in the event of delayed processing of a payroll
For the Haysville USD payrolls in February, March, and April, NBS will proactively check on the 12th of the month for the ACH funding to assure the payroll funding occurs timely
Laura Woolston, your Relationship Manager, will notify your team that the funding has occurred
Haysville USD and NBS will reevaluate after the funding of the April payroll if this proactive notification should continue to occur
Regarding your two questions about the notification of the issue and a method to notify plan participants, NBS did not anticipate delays resulting from the system changes. NBS does have the ability to notify plan participants but once the issue was identified, the funding problems were resolved immediately.
If desired, I welcome the opportunity to speak with you directly regarding this matter. Let me know some available times in your schedule if you would like this to happen and I will send an invitation.
NBS values our long-standing relationship with your organization and wants to earn and reestablish the trust between us. In the future, feel free to reach out to me on my cell phone with any concerns.
Again, thank you for reaching out.
Best regards,
Scott Muir
VP Flexible Benefits
The HEA executive board feels that this response shows excellent customer service on behalf of NBS and the explanation given was detailed enough to allow employees to have a clear understanding of the situation. We appreciate the concise and speedy response from NBS. We are grateful that NBS will proactively monitor Haysville USD 261 payrolls for the next 3 months to ensure the correct process is followed. Hopefully this information will help employees who were impacted by this situation.
HEA continues to support all of its members in every way, not just during negotiations.
NBS FUNDS EMAIL UPDATE (12/28/23)
Date: Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 2:36 PM
Subject: Dependent Care Reimbursement
To: 1-All Staff <1-AllStaff@usd261.com>
Staff,
We received notification that there has been a delay in receiving your money for dependent care for the month of December. We reached out to NBS and spoke directly with our rep Laura Woolston. After talking to Laura, she told us they did a system upgrade over the break that delayed the payments. The money has been posted to your accounts and is available for you to use.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused to you and your families.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
!!! NBS FUNDS MISSING AGAIN !!! (12/23/23)
HEA is disappointed to hear that once again USD 261 Haysville has NOT transferred funds into NBS (National Benefit Services) accounts which had been deducted from employee paychecks for medical and child care expenses. For years, the amount would always show up in the NBS accounts on the 18th of the month.
Federal law states that funds must be placed into the accounts in a prompt and timely manner. In the days of direct deposit and electronic transfer, this should not take more than 24-48 hours, if not occurring the same day. As HSA (not FSA) funds earn interest, extraordinary delays in transferring funds cost employees real money.
Last month, funds from the November 11th paycheck were not made available until December 4th, causing financial difficulty for people who rely on those funds to pay expenses by the 1st of the month.
Despite repeated emails and phone calls to the district office by multiple employees, and reassurances by clerical staff that the district would send out an email explaining what happened, apologizing, and ensuring it would not happen again, no district communication was ever issued and days went by before funds were put into NBS accounts.
As of today (December 23rd), no funds have been deposited into employee NBS accounts.
HEA is concerned that with no one working in the district office this week, this may not be rectified until January some time.
Please check your NBS account balances.
https://nbs.wealthcareportal.com/Authentication/Handshake
If you are missing funds, please contact the district immediately.