What is your goal as an employer offering employee benefits? Do you want to offer your employees a benefits package that is of value to them, while remaining budget friendly to you?

Here at The Vigue Company, we strive to do just that. We understand that each employer has different needs, priorities and their own unique budget to work with. We get to know you and your business structure and will work with you to create a benefits package that is beneficial for you as the employer and your employees.

We also understand that administering and maintaining a benefit plan can be overwhelming at times (billing issues, claim issues, plan changes, etc.), so we offer our help and knowledge with many insurance related matters for you and your employees. Don't hesitate to call us! We can help you decide what coverage will best fit your needs; whether that is an Employee Benefit Plan, Individual or Family coverage, Medicare, Life or Disability.

Products offered:

  • Group Medical
  • Group Dental
  • Group Life & Accidental Death and Dismemberment
  • Group Disability: Short Term and Long Term
  • Voluntary Group Plans
  • Individual Medical
  • Individual Dental
  • Short-Term Medical
  • Medicare plans, Supplements, Part D
  • HSA, HRA
  • COBRA Administration


Is your small group eligible for coverage?

Eligibility includes but is not limited to the following criteria:

1) Minimum of 1 common law* employee working 120 hours monthly (or multiple employees whose combined monthly hours total 120).

2) No more than 50 employees (Full-time + Full-time Equivalent)

3) Group must be headquartered in Oregon

As defined by Oregon Law, when determining eligibility as a small employer for the purpose of obtaining group insurance, an owner is generally not considered an employee even if the owner performs services for the business for compensation; however, an owner may participate in a group plan as long as the group employs at least one common law employee that is enrolled in the plan and that offers the group health plan to all full time employees.  

When determining group size, the following employees should not be included in the count: 

  • Temporary Employees
  • Seasonal Employees
  • Leased Employees (An employer may continue to offer group health insurance to its leased workers in accordance with ORS 743.521, subject to insurance carrier policy, but the leased employees are not included in the employee count when determining group size)
  • Contracted Employees
  • Retired or former employees on Continuation of Coverage
  • A Sole Proprietor or their Spouse
  • A Partner in a Partnership or their Spouse
  • A 2-percent S Corporation Shareholder or their Spouse
  • A worker described in 26 U.S.C. Section 3508

As long as an employer meets the criteria outlined above, they can set employee eligibility hours anywhere between 17.5 and 40 hours per week.  Coverage must be offered to all employees meeting that hourly requirement. 

*Common law employee as defined by IRS: anyone who performs services for you is your employee if you can control what will be done and how it will be done.  This is so even when you give the employee freedom of action.  What matters is that you have the right to control the details of how the services are performed.

Please give us a call for more information.


Are you familiar with ERISA?

ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, is a federal law which enforces administrative requirements on employers who offer employee benefit plans. This includes any plan, program or fund that an employer provides to employees.

Types of benefits that fall under ERISA include, but are not limited to:

  • Health insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Disability insurance
  • Accident or sickness insurance
  • Unemployment benefits
  • Vacation benefits
  • Holiday or severance pay
  • Retirement plans
  • Cafeteria Plans (i.e. Flexible Spending Accounts, Premium-Only Plans, etc.)

 It is important to confirm which ERISA related requirements will be handled by your insurance company and which requirements your insurance agent, if applicable, can assist you with. For the requirements that fall squarely on the employer, you can appoint an attorney to help you make sure you are compliant with the law; if desired but not necessary.

Even if you appoint an attorney, or the insurance company takes care of some of your ERISA obligations, you should make sure you understand what is required of an employer so that you can review all documents provided by other parties for accuracy and satisfaction of the law.

For more information, please visit the Department of Labor’s Plan Administration and Compliance page:

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/employers-and-advisers/plan-administration-and-compliance

♦ Are you interested in seeing options and what it would cost? For a medical and/or dental quote, please fill out this form and send it to our office via mail, fax or encrypted email.

FORM: Census.pdf

We will contact you once we have options ready for your review.

♦ For group life or disability quotes, please give our office a call.

♦ For large employer (51+ employees) quotes, please give our office a call.