Posting by Ron Chandler, CPA

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has been in existence since 1993. The Act affected health and welfare benefits and, therefore, how contributions were to be made to Health and Welfare Funds.

Our firm assisted and provided input to our Health and Welfare payroll audit clients in 1993 to show how contributions should be made in compliance with the FMLA, and thus the effect on payroll audits. We found that most of the new payroll audit clients we obtained since 1993 had not considered how FMLA affected the payroll audit process. Many of our Health and Welfare Fund clients have received significant returns from contributions due from payroll audits of employers who were subject to the provisions of the FMLA.

The lesson here: Make sure your payroll auditors consider FMLA when conducting audits for your Fund.