All posts by Lisa Hoff

Important Tax Information

Benefits, Faculty, For Faculty, For Staff, Health Ins, Human Resources, staff

As you prepare to file your 2016 income taxes, you may be asked about a form called Form 1095-C. The Affordable Care Act requires employers to furnish Form 1095-C to current and past employees who were covered in the employer sponsored medical plan for all or any portion of the tax year. In November of 2016, the IRS extended this year’s deadline for employers to furnish to employees the Form 1095-C from January 31st to March 2, 2017.

Please be aware that the extension to employers should not impact or delay a tax filer’s ability to file their income taxes as usual. Individual income tax-filers are not required to submit Form 1095-C when they file their taxes this year.  When the form does arrive (around March 2nd), be sure to keep the form with your personal tax records as documentation.

You may need to know the answers to a few basic questions when preparing your return:

  • Does Middlebury’s plan meet the minimum essential coverage criteria as mandated by the Affordable Care Act?   Yes it does.
  • Were you covered for all 12 months of the year? Each employee should know the answer to this.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Benefits Department in Human Resources at 802-443-3372.

Here are several links to the IRS website where more information on this topic can be found:

https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Individuals-and-Families/Individual-Shared-Responsibility-Provision

https://www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/ACA-Information-Center-for-Tax-Professionals

Self Service Banner Demographic Info

Faculty, For Faculty, For Staff, staff

To meet a number of mandatory federal reporting obligations, Human Resources is turning on two new survey pages in Self Service Banner (SSB).   These pages will offer you the opportunity to voluntarily provide your veterans and disability status.  Both surveys allow you to opt out if you do not wish to answer.  Once you have completed these surveys’ you will not be asked to complete them again.  Thank you for your cooperation.

HR UPDATE: THIS WEEK’S EMPLOYMENT SNAPSHOT

employment, For Faculty, For Staff, HR

There are currently 3 faculty positions, 49 external job postings (regular, on-call and temporary), and 2 internal job postings on the Middlebury employment opportunities web sites.

Employment Quick Links:

Faculty Employment Opportunities:http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/administration/prospective_faculty/employment

Staff Employment Opportunities: go/staff-jobs (on campus), http://go.middlebury.edu/staff-jobs (off campus)

Please note – to view only internal staff postings, please use the internal posting search filter that was highlighted in this MiddPoints article.

On-call/Temporary Staff Employment Opportunities: go/staff-jobs-sh (on campus),http://go.middlebury.edu/staff-jobs-sh (off campus)

Reminder From HR About CTO Maximums

Benefits, CTO, For Staff, staff

The maximum amount of CTO (combined time off) that can be carried into the next fiscal year is capped at 24 days (see table below for maximum hourly equivalents).  Any CTO in excess of 24 days will automatically be transferred into your SLR as of June 24, for pay period 13 (6/6/16 – 6/19/16).  Please plan accordingly. In order to avoid confusion and ease planning for employees, the CTO max is applied to the last full pay period in June.

Throughout the year each employee is responsible for managing his/her CTO amounts within the applicable limits. Remember, if you allow your balance to reach maximum during any pay period except the final one of the fiscal year, your excess accrual does not automatically transfer to SLR –instead you will stop accruing and forfeit the un-accrued CTO time.  Now is a good time to check your CTO balance in BannerWeb or a recent paycheck stub and plan your CTO use for the next few days and the upcoming fiscal year accordingly.

You may also transfer your own CTO at any time. When you report your time via BannerWeb, enter the number of hours you wish to transfer on the web time sheet in the row titled “Transfer CTO to SLR.”

CTO Maximum Amounts

Date CTO Maximum in Days CTO Max. in hours for employees w/ scheduled 8 hour days CTO Max. in hours for employees w/ scheduled 7.75 hour days
As of the last full pay period of June. 24 192 186
Any other time 36 288 279

Open Enrollment

Benefits, Faculty, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, Health Ins, HR, staff

Open Enrollment for Middlebury’s 2016 Health & Welfare Benefit Plan is being held from November 1 – 14, 2015.  All benefits-eligible employees are required to complete the open enrollment process within this time period even if they do not intend to make benefit changes for 2016.

Open enrollment is your opportunity to:

• Continue your current medical, dental, or vision elections into the new year OR add coverage for yourself and/or dependents OR terminate your own or your dependents’ coverage.
• Continue your current voluntary life and/or accidental death and dismemberment coverage for the new year OR increase OR decrease the amount of existing coverage in these plans.
• Enroll in the health care and/or the dependent care flexible spending account(s) for next year. If you do not make an FSA election, you will not be contributing for 2016 even if you participated in 2015.  For Q&A’s on the Health Care FSA rollover click here.

Open Enrollment must be completed, using Banner Web, between November 1 – 14, 2015.  Benefits eligible employees will be able to access the open enrollment module from any computer with internet access.

Getting Started
1. Access the Open Enrollment System:

• Click this link: http://go.middlebury.edu/bannerweb OR
• On the bottom right-hand corner of the Middlebury homepage http://www.middlebury.edu/  click “Quick Links” and then “Banner Web”

2. Enter your Banner Web User ID (your Midd ID number) and your PIN and click “Login”.
3. Click “Employee”, then “Benefits and Deductions”, and then “Open Enrollment”.

2016 Premium Rate Chart

Benefit Refresher Meetings

Benefits, Faculty, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, Health Ins, HR, staff

3 Sessions remaining for this round of benefit refresher meetings.  More Benefit Refresher meetings will be scheduled in 2016 to review other benefit topics.

Do you have questions about your Middlebury College employee benefits?  Has it been a while since your Benefit Orientation? Unsure if Flexible Spending is right for you? Come join your Faculty and Staff colleagues at a Benefits Refresher Open Meeting where we will review highlights of the Medical, Dental & Vision plans, Flexible Spending Accounts and Voluntary Life and AD&D.  We will also leave time for your questions.

Refresher courses will be held on:

  • Monday, November 9th, 1:30-2:30, on-line*
  • Tuesday, November 10th, 4:00-5:00, on-line*  – New session added
  • Wednesday, November 11th, 3:00-4:00, Crest Room, Middlebury Campus

Please register for the course by clicking here so we know how many snacks to bring.  We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

* On-line refresher meetings will be conducted using Adobe Connect.  A link to the meeting will be sent out to enrollees on morning of the session.

Open Enrollment

Benefits, Faculty, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, HR, staff

Open Enrollment for Middlebury’s 2016 Health & Welfare Benefit Plan is being held from November 1 – 14, 2015.  All benefits-eligible employees are required to complete the open enrollment process within this time period even if they do not intend to make benefit changes for 2016.

Open enrollment is your opportunity to:

• Continue your current medical, dental, or vision elections into the new year OR add coverage for yourself and/or dependents OR terminate your own or your dependents’ coverage.
• Continue your current voluntary life and/or accidental death and dismemberment coverage for the new year OR increase OR decrease the amount of existing coverage in these plans.
• Enroll in the health care and/or the dependent care flexible spending account(s) for next year. If you do not make an FSA election, you will not be contributing for 2016 even if you participated in 2015.  For Q&A’s on the Health Care FSA rollover click here.

Open Enrollment must be completed, using Banner Web, between November 1 – 14, 2015.  Benefits eligible employees will be able to access the open enrollment module from any computer with internet access.

Getting Started
1. Access the Open Enrollment System:

• Click this link: http://go.middlebury.edu/bannerweb OR
• On the bottom right-hand corner of the Middlebury homepage http://www.middlebury.edu/  click “Quick Links” and then “Banner Web”

2. Enter your Banner Web User ID (your Midd ID number) and your PIN and click “Login”.
3. Click “Employee”, then “Benefits and Deductions”, and then “Open Enrollment”.

2016 Premium Rate Chart

Benefit Refresher Open Meetings

Benefits, Faculty, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, Health Ins, staff

Do you have questions about your Middlebury College employee benefits?  Has it been a while since your Benefit Orientation? Unsure if Flexible Spending is right for you? Come join your Faculty and Staff colleagues at a Benefits Refresher Open Meeting where we will review highlights of the Medical, Dental & Vision plans, Flexible Spending Accounts and Voluntary Life and AD&D.  We will also leave time for your questions.

Refresher courses will be held on:

  • Wednesday, November 4th, 12:30-1:30, Crest Room
  • Friday, November 6th, 8:30-9:30, Crest Room
  • Monday, November 9th, 1:30-2:30, on-line*
  • Wednesday, November 11th, 3:00-4:00, Crest Room

Please register for the course by clicking here so we know how many snacks to bring.  We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

* On-line refresher meeting will be conducted using Adobe Connect.  A link to the meeting will be sent out to enrollees on Monday (11/9) morning.

Save the Date – Open Enrollment November 1st-14th

Benefits, Faculty, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, Health Ins, HR, staff

Benefits Open Enrollment is being conducted electronically again this year.  You will be receiving an e-mail (ooa Oct 30th) detailing our 2016 benefits as well as step-by-step instructions on how to enroll using BannerWeb.  Human Resources will gladly help you through the process; if you have questions please call x2320.

All benefits eligible Faculty and Staff are required to complete Open Enrollment between November 1st & 14th.

Flexible Spending Accounts – it’s not too early to start calculating your 2016 annual election.  Per federal law, this year’s annual limit is $2,550 (plus you may roll up to $500 of unused 2015 Health Care FSA funds into your 2016 account).  If you will have large medical expenses next year (orthodontist work, laser eye surgery, etc.) you should make sure you know how much your out of pocket cost will be for these services before Open Enrollment starts.

For additional information on Flexible Spending Accounts, including a Planning Worksheet visit the Flex Spending webpage.

For Questions and Answers regarding the Health Care FSA rollover click here

Flu Vaccines

Benefits, For Faculty, For Staff, Health Ins, HR, Wellness

The following applies to all members of the Middlebury College Health Plan, employees and dependents alike.

We are pleased to announce that our prescription plan has elected to cover flu vaccines at a $0 copay for employees enrolled in Middlebury College’s health insurance plan.  To take advantage of this $0 copay program, employees can choose from any of the following options:

  1. Visit any of the Magellan Rx participating pharmacies and present your CBA Blue ID Card to receive the vaccine for a $0 co-pay.
  2. If you choose to visit a non-participating pharmacy, you can still receive the vaccine. You will be required to pay full cost at the time of administration; however, request an itemized receipt to submit the claim directly to CBA Blue for 100% reimbursement from the medical plan.
  3. Visit a Blue Cross/Blue Shield doctor. The doctor’s office will submit the claim directly to CBA Blue, and the claim will be paid 100% from the medical plan.
  4. If you choose to visit an out-of-network doctor, you can still receive the vaccine. You will be required to pay full cost at the time of administration; however, request an itemized receipt to submit the claim directly to CBA Blue for 100% reimbursement from the medical plan.

Due to the convenience and increased cost-effectiveness of the Magellan Rx plan, Middlebury College will not be hosting an on-site clinic for employees this year.  We encourage you to take advantage of the $0 copay program today.

Please feel free to contact Lisa Hoff, Benefits Specialist, at lmhoff@middlebury.edu or x3372 with any questions.