Human Resources Specialist

As a Benefits and Human Resources Specialist at Grand Rapids Community College, this position plays a crucial role in managing and administering employee benefits programs. Primary responsibilities include collaborating with stakeholders to maintain compliance with laws, regulations, plan documents, policies, procedures, and employee contracts; providing support to employees in processing benefit elections and changes; supporting the benefits department with data requests for surveys, collective bargaining and benchmarking;

serving as a backup for the Employee Leave Specialist; and assisting with other HR projects.

Position Number:
Requisition Number: 1075
Department: Human Resources
Employee Group: Professional, Management, and Administration (PMA)
Schedule: 40 hours/52 weeks
Compensation: OP3; $51,425 annually
Benefits: Full Time
Reports to: Benefits Manager
Posting Opens: 2/12/2026
Posting Closes: 2/25/2026

• Provide excellent customer service to all employee groups with information and resources related to employee benefits and eligibility
• Present benefits information to new employees during their onboarding session with Human Resources
• Maintain current benefits for full- and part‑time staff, including health insurance, waivers, documentation, life insurance, disability insurance, supplemental benefits, dental and vision reimbursement programs
• Maintain Flex Spending Account and Health Savings Account data in People Soft for all eligible employees
• Reconcile, balance, and maintain spreadsheets for carrier payments
• Serve as a liaison with employees, health carriers, and the broker to assist with unique or complicated requests
• Collaborate with the Benefits Manager to complete plan build, testing, and successful launch of open enrollment and ongoing maintenance of eligibility within GRCC’s HRIS/online enrollment platform

• Become familiar with employee contracts to accurately determine tuition waiver eligibility, including differences in benefit structures across employee groups
• Review and verify dependent documentation
• Track any taxable tuition for dependents over age 24 who are not considered IRS dependents, and coordinate with Payroll to process the applicable taxable benefit
• Communicate with employees regarding the approval or denial of tuition waiver requests
• Collaborate with Student Financial Services to ensure approved waivers are accurately applied to student accounts

• Conduct a complete Dependent Audit on all covered employees with dependents on health, dental, and vision coverage
• Partner with benefits consultants, brokers, third‑party administrators, and other providers to support contract negotiations and open enrollment activities
• Maintain all correspondence associated with Federal COBRA laws
• Maintain Life Insurance beneficiary designation forms, offer conversion life insurance letters for terminated employees, and run yearly census reports for the insurance carrier
• Assist with employee leaves, workers’ compensation, and LTC claims, working with employees, health centers, supervisors, and the work‑comp carrier in the absence of the Employee Leave Specialist
• Work with vendors for employment verification; conduct audits of HRIS, payroll, and benefits data to ensure regulatory compliance and reporting
• Maintain compliance with labor law posters across campus in all buildings

• Maintain employee benefit files, including confidential health information subject to HIPAA compliance
• Complete report requests for benefits data from People Soft, including census file data used for contract negotiations
• Create regular communications to employees on value‑add programs and other benefit information to promote employee health and wellness initiatives

• Organize, plan, and coordinate vendors for the benefits fair and/or vaccine clinic annually
• Collaborate with the Benefits Manager to plan and facilitate the Benefits 101 training session
• Provide backup support to the Benefits Manager for data requests, collecting information from the third‑party benefits administrator for data requests,…