Opinion ID: 2994487
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The sole functions of the employer or employee

Text: organization with respect to the program are, without endorsing the program, to permit the insurer to publicize the program to employees or members, to collect premiums through payroll deductions or dues checkoffs and to remit them to the insurer; and (4) The employer or employee organization receives no consideration in the form of cash or otherwise in connection with the program, other than reasonable compensation, excluding any profit, for administrative services actually rendered in connection with payroll deductions or dues checkoffs. 29 C.F.R. sec. 2510.3-1(j). This court has held that [a]n employer who creates by contract with an insurance company a group insurance plan and designates which employees are eligible to enroll in it is outside the safe harbor created by the Department of Labor regulation. Brundage- Peterson, 877 F.2d at 511. In Brundage-Peterson, we also explained that, when the employer helps defray the cost of the employee’s insurance, it is even clearer that the plan falls outside of the safe harbor. See id. The district court determined that the plan at issue here did not fit within the Department of Labor regulations’ safe harbor. Although the employees at CPG originally covered the costs of the LTD policy, CPG made LTD benefits a standard, rather than optional, benefit for all employees in February 1992 and thus began paying the premiums. The court also explained that, because CPG purchased the plan and offered it to its employees and because it started paying the premiums while Ms. Postma was still an employee (although on medical leave at the time), CPG established or maintained the benefit plan. The court’s finding that CPG maintained its benefit plan for its employees is not clearly erroneous. CPG did pay its employees’ premiums while Ms. Postma was still an employee. Moreover, CPG began these payments before she made her claim for benefits to Paul Revere. We note, further, that, throughout its existence, the disability policy was part of a broader benefits package maintained by CPG for its employees. Many aspects of that plan were financed in whole or in part by CPG. For purposes of determining whether a benefit plan is subject to ERISA, its various aspects ought not be unbundled. See Gaylor v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., 112 F.3d 460, 463 (10th Cir. 1997); Glass v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co., 33 F.3d 1341, 1345 (11th Cir. 1994); Smith v. Jefferson Pilot Life Ins. Co., 14 F.3d 562, 567 (11th Cir. 1994). We note, moreover, that CPG performed all administrative functions associated with the maintenance of the Policy, and that, consequently, CPG employees received discounts on the policy premiums by virtue of the fact that they were involved in a group policy through CPG. R.28 at 4. See New England Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Baig, 166 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1999) (stating that finding [an ERISA] plan requires that the employer have at least some minimal, ongoing administrative scheme or practice (citations and quotation marks omitted)). Therefore, we uphold the district court’s finding that the Paul Revere insurance plan is subject to ERISA.