Who we serve / Restaurants & hospitality
Benefit Experts helps Washington employers turn workforce needs into a benefits plan. Kitchen, floor, housekeeping, and front-desk teams need clear choices and enrollment that fits their shifts. Start with pay, hours, locations, and a workable contribution budget.
Share your locations, shift patterns, payroll setup, and renewal or first-offering timeline.
Use Washington wage rules and the correct ACA affordability method.
Keep employer-size counting separate from individual eligibility.
Plan meetings around service and give employees a private way to ask questions.
Employers cannot credit tips toward Washington’s required hourly minimum wage. For an applicable large employer, W-2, rate-of-pay, and federal-poverty-line affordability safe harbors have different rules. Have payroll and the ACA vendor apply the chosen method; tips do not create a separate lower Washington minimum wage.
Add each month’s full-time employees to the equivalents from non-full-time hours, capped at 120 per person and divided by 120. Average the prior year, considering related employers and any applicable seasonal-worker exception. Assess expected full-time status when hiring; fluctuating schedules do not make a look-back period appropriate for everyone.
A practical example · illustrative
Use a brief group explanation, repeat it for the next shift, and offer individual or virtual follow-up. New hires receive support after the annual enrollment window too.
Availability, eligibility, and benefits depend on the proposed plan and its current terms.
We help connect the benefits decision with the people using and managing the plan.
Share your locations, shift patterns, payroll setup, and renewal or first-offering timeline.
Compare actual plan costs, access, contributions, and the questions payroll or specialist advisers need to resolve.
We provide group, individual, and live virtual education, including shifts, multiple visits, new hires, and support after enrollment with the session scope confirmed before enrollment for client teams.
Company administrators are trained to enter new hires and terminations, and Benefit Experts handles carrier changes. Integrations and carrier confirmation need an agreed process; do not assume every entry automatically updates coverage.
Employee Navigator is available and customized at no extra cost for group clients who want it. Benefit Experts trains company administrators to enter new hires and terminations; Benefit Experts handles carrier changes. We coordinate third-party COBRA administrators that send and track notices. Vendor fees may apply, with waivers for some groups based on size and benefits package.
Sources checked September 19, 2026. General information; your plan and circumstances matter.
IRS · ALEIRS · fulltimeOIC · groupLNI · tipsIRS · employerShare your locations, shift patterns, payroll setup, and renewal or first-offering timeline. No existing plan is required.
Compare group coverage, ICHRA, QSEHRA and supplemental arrangements.
Explore HRA strategies →Organize notices, reporting, leave and the people responsible for each task.
Read the compliance guide →Download resources to use with HR, payroll and employees.
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