Your personnel manual and employment agreements include references to employee benefits, yes? We hope so! Thank you for paying attention to benefits for your staff.

As you develop policies and negotiate terms of hire, make sure that you are in compliance with the requirements of our plans. For instance, our insurance plans (health, dental, life, and LTD) need to be offered to all employees scheduled to work at least 750 hours/year (15 hours/week). Your congregation cannot independently set a policy with different eligibility requirements.

Jan Gartner , Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager, can answer questions about benefits eligibility or will refer you to other Office of Church Staff Finances team members.

The I-9 form is used by employers to verify the identity and work eligibility of new employees.

Are you using the correct version of this form? As of January 22, 2017, only the 11/14/2016 N version is acceptable. This recently-updated form has "smart" features: it's a fillable PDF that includes drop-down menus, prompts, and pop-up instructions. (You'll still need to print the document to get it signed.)

Slight changes to various fields have been made. For instance, the "Other Names Used" field has been changed to "Other Last Names Used" in order to help protect transgender individuals from discrimination.

Did you miss our February webinar on setting salaries, with strategies and tips for using our recommendations well in your context? Had you intended to catch the March offering on ministerial compensation, which offered a tutorial on clergy tax provisions and also covered benefits and contract issues? You'll find slides and full video recordings on our Compensation and Payroll page.