Employee Benefits Institute of America

“Absolutely fantastic! The most comprehensive technical coverage of cafeteria plans I’ve ever seen.”

“Excellent, knowledgeable speaker.”

Morning Agenda

8:00 a.m.

• Registration/Coffee/Danish

8:30 a.m.

• Types of Cafeteria Plans and How They Work. Premium payment plans, salary reduction plans with health FSAs and DCAPs, and flexible benefit/flex credit plans.
• Big-Picture Plan Design Issues. Who can sponsor a cafeteria plan? Key decisions that employers must make, including who can participate, who can be excluded, what kind of plan to have, what kind of help to get, and how to fund the plan.
• Benefits That Can and Cannot Be Offered Under a Cafeteria Plan. Learn about the full range of qualified benefits, the grace period, and special issues raised by premium reimbursement accounts, COBRA, and domestic partner coverage.

10:15 a.m.

• Coffee Break

10:30 a.m.

• Contributions and Cash-Outs. Learn about salary reductions, types of employer contributions, maximum contribution amounts, and other funding issues.
• Cafeteria Plan Elections. When and how are elections made? Negative elections and automatic enrollments. When do elections become effective?
• Mid-Year Election Changes. When can participants change their elections during the year? We use our handy tables of the exceptions to the irrevocability rule and provide real-life examples to explain how the rules work.

12:00 Noon

• Morning program ends (lunch on your own)

Afternoon Agenda

1:00 p.m.

• Nondiscrimination Tests. What nondiscrimination tests apply to a cafeteria plan with a health FSA and a DCAP? What are the consequences of noncompliance?
• Health Flexible Spending Arrangements (Health FSAs)
• Risk of loss: the uniform coverage and use-or-lose rules
• What expenses can be reimbursed?
• Claims substantiation and adjudication; electronic payment card programs
• Selected COBRA, HIPAA, and ERISA issues

Note: HSAs and HRAs are covered in our HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care seminar.

2:45 p.m.

• Coffee Break

3:00 p.m.

• Dependent Care Assistance Programs (DCAPs)


• What expenses can be reimbursed?
• DCAP design and administration issues
• Administering and Amending a Plan. Learn about common cafeteria plan administration concerns.
• Reporting & Disclosure Requirements. What annual reporting requirements apply to cafeteria plans, health FSAs, and DCAPs? What should employees be told about these plans (disclosure requirements)?

4:30 p.m.

• Cafeteria Plans program ends