PHBP Benefits for Employers

FREELANCE INSURANCE

As a Participating Employer, your contributions enable all eligible Freelance employees to receive Medical, Pharmaceutical, Dental, Vision, Short Term and Long Term Disability Insurance at no cost on an annual basis. The insurance automatically renews as long as the eligibility requirements are met each year.

FREELANCE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

To qualify for PHBP insurance coverage, a covered Freelancer must:

• Work 100 days per year (“day” defined as a minimum of 8 hours, “year” as 12 consecutive months),
  OR
• Earn $35,000 per year (as defined above).
• Only non-union commercial work in a covered job category for PHBP Participating Employers counts towards eligibility.
• Music videos, TV, Features, etc. are NOT included.
• Coverage begins the 1st of the month following a 30 day processing period after the qualifying event (the 100th day worked or 35th thousandth dollar earned per above).

FREELANCE CONTRIBUTION COSTS TO THE EMPLOYER

Only AICP members are eligible to participate in the PHBP:

• All Participating Employers contribute 9% of all gross earnings on covered Freelance job categories on all commercial productions.
• Contributions begin on execution date of the Participation Agreement.
• Contributions are included in your payroll invoices and remitted to the Plan by your payroll company.
• If a covered worker is paid by means other than through your payroll company, click here to download the Accounts Payable remittance form and instructions.

COVERED FREELANCE JOB CATEGORIES

The following job categories require contributions, including all modifiers, adjectives, prefixes, suffixes or descriptive terms:

All Contributing Employers pay 9% on the following covered freelance production categories:

• Producer, Line Producer, Bidder
• Production Manager, Production Supervisor
• Production Coordinator, Asst. Production Supervisor, Compliance Assistant
• Production Assistant, PA

Non-union (not signatory to the IATSE Commercial Production Agreement) Participating Employers pay 9% on the following covered post production categories:

• Animator (2D or 3D), CG Supervisor, Compositor, Designer, Effects Artist, Flame Artist, Render Wrangler, Stitcher, Technical Director
• Editor, Assistant Editor, Post Production Supervisor, Post Production Producer
• Colorist, Finisher

DEFINITION OF A “COMMERCIAL”, ON WHICH ALL FREELANCE CONTRIBUTIONS ARE DUE

PHBP contributions are due on all forms of advertising or promotion of a brand, product, or service (excluding music videos), regardless of the format with which it is created, or the medium with which it is distributed. Branded Content is a “Commercial.” Advertising on the ‘internet only’ is a commercial. The presence of an advertising or promotional aspect of a project cements its classification as a “Commercial”, regardless of how it was created or where it is distributed.

• If a Participating Employer is producing a job that does not meet the Plan’s criteria to be considered a ‘commercial’, the payroll services have asked us to provide a form for the employer to acknowledge a project is not covered. Click here for the Declaration of Non-Commercial Project.

STAFF COVERAGE OPTIONS

While Freelance Contributions are mandatory for all Participating Employers, Staff Coverage is Optional.

Employers may choose one of two options:

• Option 1: Medical and Prescription Drug coverage only.
• Option 2: Medical, Prescription, Dental and Vision coverage.

For Summary Descriptions of all benefits, click here.

EMPLOYER COSTS FOR STAFF COVERAGE

• 5% administration fee for the first calendar year of staff coverage, 2% administration fee for each year thereafter.
• If during the 1st year of Staff Coverage, Freelance contributions exceed $20,000, the 5% admin fee is reduced to 2%.
• Payment for all staff and dependent coverage is due the first of the month for that month’s coverage.

Payment is made directly to the Plan’s Third Party Administrator (TPA). To make a payment, click here.

FREELANCE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSESSMENT

• At the conclusion of the first and each subsequent calendar year of staff coverage, the Plan will review the concluding year and determine if the Freelance Administrative Cost Criteria is met.
• If Freelance contributions are more than 40% of the combined Staff and Freelance contribution total, OR the total annual freelance contributions are more than $20,000, then the Criteria is deemed to have been met and the Assessment is waived.
• For any partial calendar year of participation for New Contributing Employers, the $20,000 threshold will be measured on a pro-rata basis of $1,667/month of participation.
• If the Criteria is not met, a 7% Assessment will be applied to all Staff and dependent coverage costs in the succeeding year.
• Please note the 2% Staff Administrative Fee is a separate and unrelated charge.

Staff Employee Cost Sharing:

• An Employee’s contribution to their own staff coverage may not exceed 25% of the Employer’s cost.
• Dependent cost participation is at the discretion of the employer.

WHEN DOES STAFF AND DEPENDENT COVERAGE BEGIN?

• Coverage for new Participating Employers begins on the 1st of the month following a 30 day processing period from the date of receipt of a signed Staff Election Form.
• Coverage for New Hires at already participating employers begins on the 1st of the month following a 30 day processing period from the date of hire.
• Dependents can be added during the initial enrollment, or during open enrollment in December for coverage effective Jan. 1. Exceptions are made for “life events”, such as when a spouse’s current employer-provided insurance is cancelled because the employer goes out of business, in which case the covered dependents join without interruption.
• To add or delete staff or dependents from coverage, click here.

The Plan was designed with intra-industry cross over in mind.

FREELANCE TO STAFF

Freelance coverage continues through the end of the month in which a Freelancer becomes staff, and staff coverage begins the first of the following month. All unused months of the Freelancer’s coverage can be banked for up to 18 months and can be used immediately to reinstate coverage if the staff employment ends within the 18 month banking period.

STAFF TO FREELANCE

The former staff employee gets 2 days credit per month worked, up to 36 days credit (18 months) to apply towards the 100 days needed to qualify for freelance coverage. Qualifications remain the same. Example: If a staff employee worked for 10 months, s/he would get 20 days credited towards the needed 100 days. The former staff employee would therefore need to either earn $35,000 or work (only) 80 days in the first year in order to qualify for freelance coverage.

STAFF TO STAFF

If a covered staff employee leaves the employ of one participating employer to work at a different participating employer, the transfer of coverage is immediate and without interruption.

Please note the above information is an abbreviated overview of the PHBP, and the Participation Agreement will supersede the information presented here.

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A PARTICIPATING EMPLOYER AND JOINING THE PHBP?

Call or email the Plan’s Executive Director, Sean Cooley at 323-960-4781 or SeanC@phbp.org