Integrated Voluntary Benefits Enrollment and Administration

An evolving and diverse workforce is increasingly moving away from a uniform approach to benefits. Employers now recognize the importance of adding voluntary benefits like identity theft, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident, alongside traditional options to effectively address the unique needs and preferences of their employees.

Our comprehensive enrollment and administration technology creates an integrated enrollment process that improves the employee experience and simplifies HR administration. Adding Enrollment Support Solutions brings even more value to employers.

 

Enrollment Support Solutions

Best-in-Class Voluntary Carriers

Strategic carrier partnerships provide savings and discount opportunities for adding personalized Enrollment Support Solutions.

Total Implementation Management

We handle the implementation process soup to nuts, including requirements and paperwork gathering, platform setup, and managing carrier installations. 

Streamline Enrollment and Administration

Customized communication, education, and powerful technology combine to integrate core and voluntary front-end enrollment and ongoing administration, easing the workload for insurance brokers and their clients' HR staff.

Tailored Communications Lifts Participation

A user-friendly enrollment platform, clear communication channels, and personalized support is an opportunity for higher employee satisfaction, engagement, and participation rates.

 

Opportunity and Impact

Voluntary Benefits are in Demand

76% of employees say voluntary benefits positively affect their decision to work for and stay with their employer - Corstream, 2021 State of Voluntary Benefits

Employers Are Listening

Most US employers plan to enhance health & benefit offerings in 2023 to improve talent attraction and retention - Mercer Health and Benefit Strategies for 2023

More Likely to Recommend

67% of employees who rate their benefits as excellent or very good said they were more likely to recommend their employer  - New England Enrollment Strategies 

A Better Employee Experience

80% of employees who met 1:1 with an enrollment specialist found them to be very or extremely helpful. - DirectPath, 2021 Consumer Report

Enroll smarter, not harder. Let's talk. 

Voluntary Benefits Insights

DOL Releases Opinions on FMLA Leave for Medical Travel and Partial School Closures

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Karen Greco

 

January 13, 2026

On January 5, 2026, the DOL issued two opinion letters concerning potential uses of FMLA leave. Opinion letters are official written opinions on how a law the agency enforces applies to a specific workplace situation. We discussed the agency’s opinion letter program in our June 18, 2025, Compliance Corner article. While the first letter applies specifically to school employees, the second letter has broader applicability.

Partial School Closures

The first letter, FMLA2026-1, clarifies how school closures of less than a full week affect FMLA leave usage for school employees. If an employee takes less than a full week of FMLA leave and the school is closed for part of that week, the closure period does not count as FMLA leave unless the employee was scheduled to work during the closure and used FMLA leave for that time. However, if an employee is on FMLA leave for the entire workweek, the full week, including days when the school is closed, counts as FMLA leave. The calculation follows federal regulations, which specify that only the actual time taken for leave should be deducted from an employee’s FMLA entitlement for partial-week absences. Closures, whether planned or unplanned, and the reasons for closure do not impact this analysis. Additionally, whether schools schedule “make-up” days does not affect how leave is counted, but employees may use FMLA leave on make-up days if eligible and entitled.

Medical Travel

The second letter, FMLA2026-2, states that eligible employees may use FMLA leave for time spent traveling to and from medical appointments for their own or a qualifying family member’s serious health condition. The medical certification required for FMLA leave does not need to include travel time details for the certification to be considered complete or sufficient. The letter stresses that travel time that is not connected to a serious health condition is not protected under the FMLA. The law also does not protect time spent on unrelated activities during travel for medical appointments.

Employer Takeaway

Employers subject to FMLA should be aware of these developments. Although technically limited in scope to the issues posed and requesting party, these opinions provide insights regarding the DOL’s position on these particular issues.

Read the DOL’s letters FMLA2026-1 and FMLA2026-2 for more information.

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