TriNet Group, Inc.

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
Your response addresses FSA accounts not DCA accounts. For DCA accounts you collect the money IN ADVANCE. You have no expenses to administer the DCA accounts, you are not fronting the money and then being paid. Your own employee *** *** said that TriNet uses forfeited DCA money to cover the administration expenses for FSA accounts where you do not collect the money in advance. In many cases, you lose money on FSA accounts and that, for you, is bad for your shareholders. So to compensate, you take funds from DCA accounts where you have made minimal effort to contact the people who have put their hard earned money into these accounts and use those "forfeited" funds to cover the costs of administering the FSA accounts. You have the ability, under *** regulations to return DCA money, taxed appropriately, to the people who contributed those funds. Instead, you make a minimal effort to let them know you are going to confiscate those funds to cover your business costs for administering another program that they don't even participate in. It is shameful and your shareholders need to know what you are doing. Most decent people would not agree to taking money from people who are struggling to provide child care so they can work
As for your other point. I HAVE asked for copies of each and every email you sent to me regarding my forfeiture of my $650.00. I was informed by *** *** that I had to write a letter OR agree to your new terms of service agreement (which waives my right to a jury trial and insists on arbitration) to use your website. I was also informed by *** *** that "nothing was going to change the outcome" no matter what I did. It was clear to me after speaking with her that TriNet was refusing to consider my case without even a full review. I wrote my letter, I sent it to your headquarters. I have not received any response nor do I expect that I will. She would not supply me with any name to address the letter to. I suspect it was discarded
Every business that chooses to use TriNet needs to know that this is how you are going to treat their employees. Your interest is in making minimal efforts to let employees know they are about to forefit their OWN MONEY. You have the ability to notify by mail, you chose NOT to use it. You instead send emails wiithout any urgency in the subject line and hope that people don't read them thoroughly. Because you are a public company, you must reveal how much money you make off of this scheme, it is in your financials which are open to public scrutiny. According to *** ***, you ACCIDENTLY sent a real letter with real information letting people know how much they were forfeiting. You just sent it THREE YEARS after the fact and then claim the folks who received the letters have no recourse
Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: The following line in their response: "Employees are contacted numerous times throughout their new hire period, via reminder emails, phone calls, and letters sent to the home address we have on file."
If that were true, I would have no complaints to make in the first place.
Sincerely,*** ***

We appreciate your comments regarding our response to your concerns about TriNet dependent day care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) forfeitures. There are a few points that we think require clarification.
*** *** *** *** *o) “FSA experience gains or forfeitures,” which you reference in your response, address gains at the plan levelA plan sponsor has an experience gain when the total contributions to the plan minus claims paid and minus administration expenses results in a remaining balanceIn this case, the plan sponsor may elect to return the remaining balance to all participants on a uniform basis. TriNet did not have an experience gain for the benefits plan year that ended on September 30, and therefore this section does not apply.
*** *** *** *** *c) “Use-or-lose rule” addresses unused benefits or contributions at the participant level: “Unused benefits or contributions remaining at the end of the plan year (or at the end of the grace period, if applicable) are forfeited.” Under the use-or-lose rule TriNet is unable to refund the balance that remained in your FSA account at the end of the benefits plan year
TriNet wants to help our FSA participants avoid forfeitures and sends reminders that include the deadlines to incur and submit claimsIf you would like a copy of the email that TriNet sent to you as a reminder to submit FSA claims prior to the deadline, please contact the TriNet Solution CenterYou may call ***, 4:a.mto p.mPT, Monday through Friday or send an email to ***

TriNet is committed to delivering outstanding service to our Flexible Spending Account participants. Guidelines for using FSA funds are included in our benefit communications and enrollment materials. We also send multiple reminders throughout the benefits plan year that include the deadlines to...

incur and submit FSA claims.
 
[redacted] regulations require that FSA participants request reimbursement of eligible expenses on or before the claim submission deadline or forfeit any FSA balance remaining at the end of the benefits plan year. All balances remaining in the TriNet FSA plan after the deadline to submit claims has passed are forfeited in accordance with [redacted] regulations.  We are unable to accommodate your request to refund your unused dependent day care FSA contributions, as that is not permitted by [redacted] regulations. Please refer to the “Use-or-Lose Rules” section on the [redacted] site: [redacted] .
 
If you have additional questions, please contact the TriNet Solution Center. You may call [redacted], 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday or send an email to [redacted].

For your protection, TriNet privacy policies, as well as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), require that TriNet maintain the privacy of protected health information, so we cannot go into detail about Flexible Spending Account claims in a public forum.
TriNet is...

committed to delivering outstanding service to FSA participants. Please contact our Solution Center at [redacted], 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday, so we can work with you to address this matter.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
This business claims that the [redacted] requires them to take these funds.  This is factually incorrect.  The [redacted] allows the following:
The [redacted] gives employers the following options for unused employee FSA balances that are forfeited under the use-it-or-lose-it rule. The source for this is Treasury Proposed Regulation 1.125-5(o).
The employer can simply keep the money.
If the employer doesn’t keep the money, forfeited amounts must be used for the following purposes:
To defray expenses of administering the cafeteria benefit plan under which the FSA program or programs are offered.
To reduce employee FSA salary reduction amounts (or employee contributions) for the immediately following FSA plan year on a reasonable and uniform basis.
Return them to employees on a reasonable and uniform basis.
The business also does not address the fact that they only notified employees via email with no indication in the subject line that this was crucial and involved the forfeiture of money.  I have asked for the copy of that email they claim they sent to me but they have not responded.  I cannot access my account now unless I agree to their terms of service which requires arbitration agreements which I do not agree with.  They DID send a written letter which they claim was by mistake three years after the fact.  They claim they NEVER send written letters, yet they did. 
They chose to keep the funds that were prepaid by individuals despite being allowed to return it per [redacted] regulations, made feeble attempts to notify individuals as doing so was in their best financial interest and now say it was the individual's fault.  It is shoddy business practices through and through and people should know who they are and how they are not working in employees best interest.Sincerely,[redacted]