The purpose of the Auditing Department is to recover unreported benefits from an employer. This department routinely audits our largest contributing employers annually. If you think that an employer has not reported your work properly, contact one of the auditors. In order for the auditor to research your issue, please provide us with the following:
- What company is missing.
- What months are missing.
- Copies of all pay stubs for the companies that are missing and the months that they did not report.
Collecting Your Fringe Benefits
Where to look
From the viewpoint of the Auditing Department (also known as the Fringe Benefit Collection Department), pay stubs and quarterly work histories provide a valuable resource in insuring that the fringe benefits you earned are collected. Your pay stubs are a record of who you worked for, how many hours you worked and the amount of money you earned. These need to be compared to the quarterly work histories you receive from the Fund Office.
The problem
With over 8,000 working members, many of which have procured their own employment, Union representatives do not always know where all members are working. Also keep in mind that, in most cases, employers have thirty days after the month of employment to make the appropriate fringe benefit payment. Sometimes an employer is short on cash and simply does not send in a report for the month. It is also possible that an employer may report five employees when, in fact, he has fifteen employees. And this is where we need your help.
The solution
No employee is immune to an occasional oversight in funding your fringe benefits. We need as much advance notice as possible if there is a problem with your fringe benefit payment from the contractor. Please go over your quarterly statements as you receive them – that is why we mail the statements out to you; NOT nine (9) months later when you are notified by the Carpenters’ Combined Funds office that you have been dropped from the Medical Program for lack of payments from your Employer because you haven’t had time to look at your statements.
Reality
Our accounts receivable balance usually runs in the $2.5 million range. Through direct intervention by Union personnel, the Collection Committee and Legal Counsel, approximately $5 million in delinquent fringe benefits is collected each year. Total employer contributions flowing through the Fund Office is over $150 million per year. So you can see, the vast majority of our contractors pay on time, all the time. No one wants our members to lose any fringe benefits due them. Please fulfill your responsibility in insuring that your fringe benefits are collected by reviewing your quarterly work histories and reporting any deficiencies to the Fund Office in a timely manner. You worked hard to earn those benefits. Help us make sure that they do not slip through our fingers.