Benefits and Leave Specialist

What You Will Do: 

• Administer employee health and welfare benefit plans, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, and other company-sponsored benefit programs. 

• Process benefit enrollments, changes, terminations, and qualifying life events accurately and timely in accordance with plan rules and company procedures. 

• Support annual open enrollment activities, including system updates, employee communications, vendor coordination, data audits, and post-enrollment follow-up. 

• Respond to employee questions regarding benefit eligibility, coverage, deductions, claims, qualifying life events, and plan processes, escalating complex issues as appropriate. 

• Coordinate with benefits vendors, carriers, brokers, payroll, and HR team members to resolve benefit-related issues and ensure accurate administration. 

• Manage leave of absence administration, including intake, employee communication, documentation tracking, status updates, return-to-work coordination, and follow-up with third-party administrators. 

• Support administration of FMLA, disability, paid family leave, workers’ compensation-related leave coordination, and other applicable federal, state, and company leave programs. 

• Maintain accurate benefits and leave records, ensuring employee data is updated in Workday or other applicable systems.  

• Assist with benefits invoice review, reconciliation, discrepancy resolution, and reporting as needed. 

• Support compliance activities related to benefits and leave administration, including required notices, documentation, audits, and reporting. 

• Partner with HR, Payroll, and Finance to ensure accurate payroll deductions, benefit payments, and employee status changes. 

• Identify opportunities to improve benefits processes, employee communications, data accuracy, and administrative efficiency. 

What You Need: 

• Associate’s degree in Human Resources, Business or related field, or equivalent experience (2:1 experience-to-education basis) 

• Minimum 3 years of experience in benefits administration, leave administration, HR operations, or a related HR support role 

• Strong working knowledge of health and welfare benefits, qualifying life events, open enrollment, and leave of absence administration. 

• Experience using HRIS/HCM system. Workday or another HRIS/HCM system.  

• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage confidential information accurately and professionally. 

• Excellent communication and customer service skills, with the ability to explain benefit and leave processes clearly to employees and managers. 

• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and follow-up actions. 

• Ability to work collaboratively with HR, Payroll, Finance, vendors, and third-party administrators. 

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 applications, especially Excel, Word, Outlook, and Teams. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources,  

Experience managing a self-funded plan.  

Hands-on experience utilizing Workday, 

Key Competencies 

• Accuracy and data integrity, 

• Confidentiality and professional judgment. 

• Customer service orientation. 

• Process discipline and follow-through. 

• Problem solving and issue resolution. 

• Relationship Building. 

• Clear and professional written and verbal communication. 

• Ability to support employees during sensitive benefit or leave-related situations 

This position is based out of Hauppauge, NY. Our good faith estimate of the salary range for this role is $56,000 to $78,000 . Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and other factors. In addition to base pay, we offer a full benefits package. 

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