Benefits Procedures - Employees Going on a Leave of Absence
I. AVOIDING OVERPAYMENTS
II. BENEFITS PROCEDURES
- Benefits procedures—Employees going on a leave of absence
- Questions about going on a leave of absence
- Employees returning from a leave of absence
- When overpayments occur
Departments must play an active role in making sure employees continue or cancel benefits during a leave, by assisting the employee in completing the appropriate form and collecting the first month's premium if benefits are to be continued (see Benefits procedures below). Departments are billed for overpayments of premiums when leaves without pay that require continuation of benefits are not properly recorded.
AVOIDING OVERPAYMENTS—LEAVES WITHOUT PAY
UNLESS THE EMPLOYEE TAKES ACTION TO CONTINUE COVERAGE DURING A LEAVE WITHOUT PAY, COVERAGE WILL BE CANCELLED.
To avoid this problem, departments must take an active role in assuring that employees going on leave take the appropriate measures to continue or cancel coverage during the leave. If the leave is Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), the department must notify Payroll Benefits so that the University premium can be maintained during the FMLA period. The steps below summarize the role of the department when employees go on a leave of absence.
Note: HRMS action is required to formally put the employee on leave. A work group is developing recommendations for refining HRMS and related business processes for leaves, with supplemental HRMS training planned for departments once new processes are in place. In the interim, please contact the HRMS Help Desk for support and guidance at 643-4443 or hrmshelp@uclink.
BENEFITS PROCEDURES—EMPLOYEES GOING ON A LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Please Note: This list is not intended to be all-inclusive, but covers major information needed for employees going on or returning from a leave of absence.
At the Beginning of a Leave of Absence:
- Give employee the appropriate Benefits Checklist:
- Disability Checklist (includes pregnancy disability); for employees needing to apply for disability benefit payments, either the Department Benefits Counselor or the employee should call the OHR Benefits Unit at 642-7053 to request a disability packet.
- Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) Checklist
- Furlough Checklist
- Leave Without Pay Checklist
- Military Leave Checklist
- Paid Leave Checklist
- Sabbatical Leave Checklist
- Temporary Layoff Checklist
- Department completes the "Request to Continue/Cancel
Benefits During Leave Without Pay" Form (available on line
at http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/forms/formlist.htm)
and collects the first month's premium.
If one or more pay periods will be missed, the department should play an active role to assure that the employee chooses either to continue or to cancel benefits while on leave and completes the form. If benefits will be continued, the department must collect the first month's premiums from the employee. The form, and any premiums collected, should be sent to Payroll Benefits at 171 University Hall, MC 1104, by the 10th of the month.
- To cancel benefits: Send the completed form with the employee's signature to Payroll Benefits.
- To continue benefits: Send the completed form with the first month's premiums (check or money order payable to UC Regents) to Payroll Benefits. The employee should contact Payroll Benefits to arrange for paying additional months of premiums directly to that office.
- IMPORTANT: If no form/premium is received,
or if at any point the employee misses a premium payment, the
employee's benefits will be cancelled at the end of the month
for which a premium was last paid.
- FMLA and benefits: Be sure that leave is recorded
accurately in HRMS.
HCRA and FMLA: If employee is enrolled in the Health Care Reimbursement Account program (HCRA) and is on FMLA leave, the employee must complete form UPAY 919 choosing to cancel or continue HCRA while on FMLA.
a) If an employee chooses to cancel coverage: coverage generally ends at the end of the month in which the employee was last paid, e.g., if an employee is last paid on 4/1 and an HCRA contribution was made, coverage ends on 4/30. Expenses are not eligible after the coverage end date.
b) If an employee chooses to continue coverage while on FMLA, when Benefits receives the UPAY 919, they will enter a coverage end date that corresponds with the FMLA end date. Expenses incurred during the FMLA leave are considered eligible expenses. Upon return from a FMLA leave, the annual or monthly HCRA contribution will be adjusted according to whether the employee chose to continue with the prorated option or continue with the "resume monthly contributions" option.
- Notify the employee of COBRA: The COBRA process
has changed, effective January 1, 2005. The new COBRA forms and
instructions are available at: http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/administrators/public/cobra_docsprocs/index.html.
Please follow the instructions on this website to complete the COBRA packet. You will need to complete the COBRA form on-line, then print it out and send to the employee. The entire COBRA packet will print out as one document.
NOTE: You will need to mail the completed COBRA packet in a special envelope. You may order these envelopes from KP (#UBEN102ENV).
The department will also need to keep a copy of the COBRA packet for 5 years.
The complete COBRA packet includes: - Completed COBRA UBEN 102 form
- Continuation of Group Health Coverage pamphlet
- The current year's COBRA rate and address chart
- Notice of Unavailability of COBRA Continuation Coverage
In some cases, the employee will request COBRA coverage, but it will not be available. Instructions for this situation are on the web at: http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/administrators/public/cobra_docsprocs/index.html.
- Employee leaving service area: Employees who
elect to continue coverage in an HMO medical plan or the PMI dental
plan and who are leaving the service area for more than 60 days
during their leave of absence need to complete a UPAY 850 form to
change to a medical and/or dental plan that will provide coverage
in their new location. The form must be completed within 31 days
of leaving the plan's service area and sent to Payroll Benefits
for processing.
- Life and AD&D conversion options: Refer the
employee to the appropriate Benefits
Checklist for information about these options. If the employee
is interested in conversion information, contact the OHR Benefits
Unit.
- Flexible Spending Accounts—HCRA and DepCare:
Coverage is cancelled during leave (with the exception of an employee
on a FMLA leave who chooses to continue HCRA as described above).
Expenses incurred after the coverage end date are not eligible expenses.
The coverage end date is generally the last day of the month for
which the employee was last paid, e.g., if employee is last paid
on 4/1 and a HCRA contribution was made, coverage ends 4/30.
- Tax-Deferred 403(b) Savings Plan: Employees going
on leave may need to change or cancel their 403(b) or other savings
enrollment options. If you do nothing, your contributions will resume
when you return from leave.
- Other deductions: Employees who have other deductions
such as Parking, Rec Sports, Credit Unions, or 403(b) loan should
contact each source and make arrangements for payment or cancel
deductions if any pay periods are missed during the leave of absence.
- UCRP Service Credit buyback information: At the beginning of the leave, give the employee the UCRP Buyback Booklet (Service Credit). In this way notification about the three-year buyback election deadline will have been provided as early as possible, giving the employee time to plan.
QUESTIONS ABOUT GOING ON A LEAVE OF ABSENCE
For questions about benefits during a leave of absence, contact the OHR Benefits Unit at 642-7053 or benefits@berkeley.edu:
To request a disablitity packet, please contact he Benefits Office as follows:
Maternity Disability:
A-Z, Sheila Taliaferro, 3-7986, sheilat@berkeley.edu
All other disabilities:
A–L, Rosemary Simpson, 2-9311, rsimpson@berkeley.edu
M–Z, Sheila Taliaferro, 3-7986, sheilat@berkeley.edu
WHEN OVERPAYMENTS OCCUR
Billing and adjustments pursuant to consolidated billing:
- Departments will be notified in advance by phone or email about
retroactive charges.
- Charges will appear on the monthly PPP5302 Payroll Expense report.
- If the employee was paid from three different accounts with different
percentages, the charges will automatically be split accordingly.
If the system cannot find an account to be charged, then the charge
will default to Payroll's Miscellaneous Account and will then be
recharged to departments.
- Departments will be sent a copy of the consolidated billing reports
upon request.
- Contacts at the Payroll Benefits desk:
Phone Number: 642-1336 press 6
Fax Number: 643-9339