What to do when you experience a life event

A life event can sometimes be a confusing and stressful time - especially when there are benefit plan considerations that need to be addressed within 30 days! In this article, we provide high level information on what a life event is and what should be considered when you experience one. We also have a dedicated webpage where all this information lives. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss a particular event unique to you, please reach out to the benefits team and we will be happy to assist.  

A life event includes: 

• Marriage or divorce of the employee
• Death of the employee’s spouse or a dependent
• Birth or adoption of a child by the employee
• Termination of employment (or the commencement of employment) of the employee’s spouse
• Moving from a temporary to regular position (or vice versa)
• Taking of an unpaid leave of absence by the employee or the employee’s spouse
• A significant change in the health coverage of the employee or the employee’s spouse attributable to the spouse’s employment
• Gain or involuntary loss of health care coverage of a dependent

Deadlines:

30 Days - Major Life Event
A form must be submitted within 30 days of the life event. Forms submitted after the 30-day window will not be accepted. 

60 Days - Adding Newborn / Finalized Adoption
A form must be submitted within 60 days birth or adoption. If a form is submitted after the day of the event, arrears will be collected for the child's coverage. Forms submitted after the 60-day window will not be accepted. Carefully review the "Welcoming a newborn" drop down on our life event webpage.

Benefit Considerations (all but Corestream are provided directly in the Life Event form):

• Health Savings Account (HSA) - set aside pre-tax dollars for health care. Only available with the HDHP.
• Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HC FSA) - set aside pre-tax dollars for medical expenses. 
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DC FSA) - set aside pre-tax dollars for day care charges for dependent children under the age of 13. 
• Supplemental Insurance - enroll in employee only, spouse/FIP, and/or child(ren)!
• Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) - covers the employee or employee and family.
• Corestream - additional supplemental insurances including hospital indemnity insurance, critical illness, and more.

Leave Considerations:

• Family Medical Leave (FML) - provides job protected leave for eligible employees. 
• Parental Leave - employees on approved FML for the birth of their child receive up to 5 paid days of leave that is separate from all other paid leaves. This leave balance is provided automatically by UA HR and must be used in the first 6 months.
• Short-term Disability (STD) - helps replace income for eligible employees who are absent from work up to 11 weeks due to their own disability.  

Employee Support:

• TouchCare - assists employees with questions about their medical, dental, and vision coverage including helping families decide what coverages work best for them.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) - an employee support system that is available to help with finding childcare, short-term counseling, legal and financial advice, and more.

Beneficiaries:

Now is a great time to make sure beneficiaries are up to date. Below is a list of accounts that require a beneficiary and how to update.

• Basic Life Beneficiary - available to all benefit-eligible employees.
• Supplemental Life Beneficiary - if a spouse/child(ren) is enrolled, the beneficiary is automatically the employee for those coverages. An employee enrolled in the coverage will need to designate a beneficiary. 
• Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Beneficiary - the employee will need to designate a beneficiary
• Retirement beneficiaries are held with the vendor directly. Reach out to the vendor(s) to ensure they have accurate beneficiaries on file.

Non-benefit considerations:

Additionally, the Benefits department has put together a list of a few other items that may need to be reviewed during this time. Many of these require assistance outside the Benefits department. 

• Name changes - contact your HRC
• Address updates - complete on UAOnline
• W4 updates - complete the NextGen form; questions should be routed to payroll at ua-payroll@alaska.edu
• Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) - may be needed in the event of divorce;  work with representation and reach out to ua-benefits@alaska.edu for additional paperwork 

 

Emailed via benefits newsletter on 2/6/2024, 2/20/2024.
Contact Benefits:  (907) 450-8242  | ua-benefits@alaska.edu | schedule one-on-one time