Flexible Spending

ARA provides a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for all employees who work more than 17.5 hours per week. The FSA permits you to pay for certain legally deductible expenses with pre-tax dollars. Among the expenses that qualify for this favorable treatment are:

• Your portion of the health insurance premium for ARA's group health insurance (this "election" is selected automatically for all Group Medical Plan participants)

• Most uninsured medical expenses including deductibles, co-payments, and eye care (exams, glasses, and contacts)

• Dependent care, including child care or care for elderly dependents

Following hire, and at the beginning of each year, you elect an amount to defer from your earning each pay period. Any elections made will be deducted from payroll checks effective as follows:

• Dependent care and uninsured medical expenses - first payroll following hire date

• Insurance premium - first payroll following effective date of insurance coverage

The deferred funds are sent to a third-party administrator, and you file claim vouchers when an expense is incurred. Medical claims are paid as they occur - even if the costs exceed the amount that has been deferred - up to the annual deferral amount; however, dependent care is only reimbursed to the extent that it has been deferred.

Any money left in the FSA at the end of the year is forfeited to ARA and used to defray the cost of providing this benefit.

Elections may be changed at the beginning of each year, but changes during the year are only permitted by the IRS when there is a life-changing event, such as: marriage, birth, death, divorce, termination of a spouse's employment, and when a spouse's employment changes from full-time to part-time status or vice versa.

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ARA is an Equal Opportunity Employer