Benefits Overview for New UA Employees
Welcome to the University of Alaska
Below is a high level overview on the benefits provided by the University of Alaska,
along with important due dates and reminders for new employees.
The Enrollment Guide provides more detail on medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Questions?
If there are questions on the benefits provided below, please reach out to UA Benefits
at ua-benefits@alaska.edu or (907) 450-8242.
30-day Deadline
Please keep in mind, new employees have required action items that must be completed in their first 30 days of employment.
Benefits Open House
Drop in and ask questions every Wednesday from 10-11 am Alaska. The link to this Zoom is provided in the welcome email from the benefits team.
Contact the Benefits Team
Questions?
Email: ua-benefits@alaska.edu
Phone: (907) 450-8242
Looking as a temporary employee?
Review our temporary employee webpage.
Initial COBRA Notice
COBRA Initial Notice
Required Medical, Dental, and Vision Election
Action Required: Submit a form
The New Employee Health Care Form can be completed at any time for new employees prior to the 30 day deadline. More information can be found on our medical, dental, and vision webpage.
Medical plans
Premium medical
Basic medical
HDHP
Opt out
Dental plans
Premium dental
Basic dental
Opt out
Vision plans
Vision
Opt Out
Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage Dates
First Day Coverage
Coverage can begin on the first day of employment. To qualify for first-day coverage,
a new employee must submit their form by 5:00pm on the Thursday prior to the end of
their first pay period. Review the chart of pay periods to see when the form must be submitted for first-day coverage.
Other Coverage Begin Dates
If a form is not submitted by the deadline listed above, coverage will begin on the
first day of the pay period in which a new employee submits their form. Review the chart of pay periods to see when coverage will begin based on what pay period the form is submitted.
The 5 Required Items
There are 5 required items that must be completed within a new employee's first 30 days.
If no form is submitted within a new employee's first 30 days, they will automatically be defaulted into basic medical, basic dental, and vision for employee only. Employees who are defaulted will not be able to update these elections unless they experience a life event or they participate in Open Enrollment each April.
Medical, Dental, and Vision Overview
Our plan year runs on our fiscal year: July 1 - June 30.
Open enrollment is in mid-April each year and allows employees to make any changes to their plans. All changes made during open enrollment will be effective the following plan year (July 1).
Life Event Changes
Outside of open enrollment, employees may also make health care changes for life events
within 30 days of the event. More information can be found on our qualifying life event webpage.
Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA)
We have FSA health care and FSA dependent care accounts. We also have an HSA qualifying plan with the HDHP.
We have a wellness program that UA employees can participate in. This allows eligible employees to earn up to $600 and, if the employee has a spouse or FIP on the plan, they can earn up to $600 back, as well. More information can be found on our wellness page.
Premera Additional Programs
We also have several additional programs that are available through Premera. More
information can be found on our additional Premera programs webpage.
Required Retirement Election
Action Required: Submit a form
The retirement forms are generated by the benefits team based on prior employment with UA and/or the State of Alaska. These are prepared and sent to via DocuSign.
Prior Service?
The information provided in this section is general and may not be specific to all
employee scenarios with regards to retirement - particularly if an employee has prior
service with UA or another State of Alaska employer. Please reach out to ua-benefits@alaska.edu if there are questions.
If no form is submitted within a new employee's first 30 days, the employee will automatically be defaulted into either the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) or Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) with TIAA for the UA Pension Plan (if eligible).
| Faculty Work Status | Retirement Plan |
|---|---|
| I am faculty and I have never worked for the University of Alaska or any State of Alaska employer before. | I will choose between TRS and ORP within my first 30 days. |
| I am faculty and I have worked for the University of Alaska before in a faculty benefit-eligible position. | My retirement plan will be the plan I previously selected (either ORP or TRS with or without UA Pension Plan). |
| I am faculty and I have worked for the University of Alaska before in a staff benefit-eligible position. |
If I previously selected ORP with my staff position, I will be placed back in ORP. If I previously selected PERS with my staff position, I will be placed in TRS with our without the UA Pension Plan. |
| I am faculty and I have worked for a State of Alaska employer before (either faculty or staff) but this is my first faculty position with the University of Alaska. |
My retirement plan will be my previous TRS plan if I was a faculty member. If I was previously staff with another State of Alaska employer, I will choose between TRS and ORP within my first 30 days. |
| Staff Work Status | Retirement Plan |
|---|---|
| I am staff and I have never worked for the University of Alaska or any State of Alaska employer before. | My retirement plan will be PERS DC Tier IV with UA Pension Plan. |
| I am staff and I have worked for the University of Alaska before in a staff benefit-eligible position. | My retirement plan will be the plan I previously selected (either ORP or PERS with or without UA Pension Plan). |
| I am staff and I have worked for the University of Alaska before in a faculty benefit-eligible position. |
If I previously selected ORP with my faculty position, I will be placed back in ORP. If I previously selected TRS with my faculty position, I will be placed in PERS with our without the UA Pension Plan. |
| I am staff and I have worked for a State of Alaska employer before (either faculty or staff) but this is my first staff position with the University of Alaska. |
My retirement plan will be my previous PERS plan if I was a staff member. If I was previously faculty with another State of Alaska employer, I will move to the PERS retirement plan. |
Retirement Overview
Participation Required
Participation in PERS, TRS, or ORP is required.
University Contributions
The university will contribute 5% for PERS , 7% for TRS, and 12% for ORP.
Fixed Employee Contribution Amount
The percentage an employee contributes will be dependent on their plan. Many new employees
will go into PERS Tier IV, TRS Tier III, or ORP. In each of these cases, employees
are required to contribute 8% (no more, no less).
Voluntary 403(b)
UA also has a supplemental Tax-deferred Annuity (TDA) 403(b) or a Roth 403(b) which
allows employees to contribute additional pre- or post-tax dollars toward retirement.
More information can be found on our 403(b) webpage.
Medical Coverage in Retirement
The University contributes 12% to the ORP contribution rate because there is no health
care component built into the ORP. The additional contribution from UA is to help
budget for health care in retirement.
PERS and TRS both have medical components build into their plans that UA contributes to in addition to the 5% and 7% contributions to a specific employee's personal retirement account. More information on the medical aspect of the PERS and TRS retirement plans can be directed to the State of Alaska at 1-800-821-2251.
The ORP is only available to 4 types of employees:
- New faculty who have never worked for the University of Alaska before
- New executives who have never worked for the University of Alaska before
- Employees transferring from staff to faculty/executive and have never been given the option to ORP
- Returning employees who have already selected the ORP with their previous position
Vesting
Vesting in a retirement plan depends on the plan and prior employment with UA and/or
another State of Alaska employer. PERS Tier IV and TRS Tier III have a 5 year tiered
vesting schedule and the ORP and UA Pension Plan have a 3 year cliff vesting schedule.
More information on vesting can be found under the specific retirement plan on the retirement webpage.
Rehired Retiree - Bona Fide Retirement
Employees who are re-entering the workforce after retirement from a PERS or TRS plan with the State of Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits must meet the bona fide termination regulations.
- Former employees who have retired from PERS or TRS cannot return to work in any capacity with the same employer from which they retired for at least 6 months if under 62 years old at retirement or 60 days if over 62 years old at retirement.
- There can be no pre-arranged return to work agreement - either written or verbal.
Former employees who have retired from PERS or TRS and are returning to the workforce, please reach out to the DRB at 1-800-821-2251. The DRB also provides bona fide retirement resources on their website.
Required Training
Action Required: Complete training
Most training can be found in myUA. There are three tiers of training:
Tier 1: Required training for all UA employees
Tier 2: Required training for specific positions (check with supervisor)
Tier 3: Professional development
All employees must complete Tier 1 trainings, including a yearly Title IX training. The Title IX training is located on Black Board.
Employees can access the trainings via their single sign on (SSO) on myUA. If there are issues with logging in, please contact our Human Resources Information
Systems (HRIS) Team at ua-hrishelpdesk@alaska.edu.
Required HR Address
Action Required: Confirm HR Address
Please log into UAOnline and confirm the HR Address listed. This can be updated at any time. All HR regulatory mailings will be sent to this address (i.e. tax forms). This is also the address that will be sent to our vendors (Premera, VSP, retirement plan vendors, etc).
To confirm and/or update the HR Address, log into UAOnline and click on "Personal" followed by "Manage Your Address, Email, and Phone."
Required Beneficiary Form
Action Required: Submit a form
Automatic Enrollment
All University of Alaska employees in a benefit-eligible position are automatically
enrolled in Basic Life Insurance in the amount of $100,000. More information can be
found on our Basic Life Insurance webpage.
Keep this up-to-date!
Remember - beneficiaries can be updated at any time by completing a new form. Any
new form submitted will automatically replace any form submitted under a previous
date.
Other beneficiary accounts to keep in mind...
Additional Resources
Resources below have no required action item.
Paid Time Off
Annual Leave
Staff earns annual leave each pay period. There is no waiting period to accrue hours
and employees will begin accruing immediately. The accrual rate is 5.54 hours per
pay period and increases with years of service. Employees can only accrue up to a
total of 240 hours per fiscal year. Any hours over 240 will be removed from the annual
leave balance each June 30. More information can be found on our annual leave webpage.
Faculty Time Off (FTO)
Full-time, represented and non-represented, faculty members are provided 15 days of
time off during their nine-month or alternate contract period. More information can be found on our Faculty Time Off webpage.
Sick Leave
Sick leave accrues each pay period for faculty and staff. There is no waiting period
to accrue hours and employees will begin accruing immediately. The accrual rate is
4.62 hours per pay period and there is no cap on sick leave accrual. There is also
no cash value for sick leave. More information can be found on our sick leave webpage.
Holiday Schedule
The University has 12 paid holidays each calendar year. More information on the schedule
can be found on our holiday webpage.
Other Leaves
Please review our website for more information on other leaves including Jury Duty,
Military Leave, Family Medical Leave (FML), Parental Leave, leave without pay, Short-term
Disability (STD) and Long-term Disability (LTD). More information can be found on
our general leaves page.
Education Benefits
Tuition Waiver
Employees are eligible to take 8 credits per semester (16 credits per year). Dependents
(unmarried and under the age of 24) and spouses/FIPs of UA employees are eligible
to participate in the tuition waiver, as well. Dependent children and spouses have
no cap on credits like employees. More information can be found on our tuition waver webpage.
Alaska529
The Alaska 529 allows employees to contribute pre-tax dollars toward education. More
information can be found on our Alaska 529 webpage.
Sabbatical Leave
More information can be found on our sabbatical webpage.
Benefit News
Biweekly Updates
The benefits team is dedicated to keeping employees informed on their benefits. Stay up-to-date!
TouchCare is available to assist with questions on health care coverage. They can help with:
- Comparing plans and helping make the best selection for an employee and their dependents
- Billing assistance
- Primary care provider
- Price transparency
More information, including how to contact TouchCare, can be found on our TouchCare webpage.
ComPsych offers several benefits to UA employees. The benefits are also extended to members of an employee's family who lives in their household. Many services are free of charge or at a discounted rate.
More information on the services provided, as well as contact information, can be found on our ComPsych webpage.
The University of Alaska has partnered with Securian LifeWorks to provide professional services at no additional cost. More information on what services are provided, as well as how to access the services, can be found on our LifeWorks webpage.