All posts by Lisa Hoff

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 26, for pay period 13 (6/8/15 – 6/21/15). Please plan accordingly. In order to avoid confusion and ease planning for employees, the CTO max is now 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

See the Power of VSP Benefits

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

Get great eyewear brands at low cost.

Seeing your local VSP provider for your annual eye exam is the perfect time to shop designer frames or stock up on contacts. Want to shop before visiting your VSP doctor or just prefer to buy eyewear online? You can go to the VSP store, eyeconic.com.
Your VSP benefit gets you a great deal on high-quality eyewear at your VSP practice or Eyeconic™. How about a pair of Nine West frames (NW5062–the snappy blue ones) with standard prescription lenses?

  • Retail price:   $133
  • VSP benefit:  $140*
  • Your price:     $0**

Put your VSP benefit to work for your eyes!

CBA Blue Secure Document Submission Portal

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

Participants can now scan and submit documents and claims to CBA Blue electronically via the Secure Document Submission Portal.

This portal can be used to submit any of the following:

  • FSA/DCA Reimbursement Claims
  • Medical and/or Dental Claims
  • Coordination of Benefits (COB) Letters
  • Direct Deposit Forms
  • Appeals
  • General Correspondence

From the CBA Blue/Middlebury College landing page (http://select.cbabluevt.com/middlebury/) click on the Claim and Document Submission icon.  This will direct you to the CBA Blue Secure Document Submission Portal.

After uploading your documents successfully via the secure portal, you will be presented with the confirmation page and the assigned Transaction Number for your records.

Benefits Information

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

Middlebury College’s Health Plan has a “Coordination of Benefits” provision that requires CBA Blue to maintain information on file regarding other insurance coverage you or your dependents may have.  Annually CBA Blue sends out a Coordination of Benefits form that all enrolled employees must complete to ensure proper processing of your health insurance claims.  You should receive the form from CBA Blue within the next few days.  Please be sure to complete it and return it to them as instructed.  This form is required for all enrolled employees (even if you and your dependents do not have other insurance).  This information is necessary for proper processing of your claims in a timely manner.  Failure to provide accurate information on other coverage may result in serious financial consequences.

Important Benefits Reminders

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

Trouble-free employee benefit plan administration requires a strong partnership between employees and Human Resources. The Human Resources Department works diligently each year-end to accurately process the thousands of required or requested benefit record changes and then to check and double-check our work. However, in the end, we also must rely on you, the employee, to do your part in managing your benefits by confirming that you are enrolled in the benefits you intended to elect. Please carefully review your first paycheck and let us know if you have questions or if anything seems amiss.

Medical/Dental Insurance

  • All medical plan participants were mailed new ID cards in December. These new ID cards have information regarding our new pharmacy benefit manager, MagellanRx, including their group and plan number, as well as their customer service phone number. Please confirm that you have received your new ID card. If you did not receive your new ID cards or if you need additional cards (for example, for a child away at college) call CBA Blue customer service (1-888-222-9206).
  •  If you have been utilizing NEMOP for mail-order prescriptions and have not yet made arrangements to transfer your account to MagellanRx please do so by calling Magellan at 1-800-424-0472 to set up an account.
  •  If you made a change to who is covered under your medical or dental plan, your new ID cards should reflect those changes.  If your new ID cards do not list the correct family members please contact Lisa Hoff at x3372.
  •  As was announced in October, the employee portion of the medical & dental premiums did not increase for 2015.       However, any employee who made coverage level (single/2 person/family) changes should see a premium change in the first paycheck of 2015.

Vision Insurance

  • As a reminder our vision plan is with Vision Service Plan (VSP).  No ID card is required (just tell your VSP provider the last 4 digits of your SSN and date of birth). A summary of the plan and other helpful information is available on-line at http://www.middlebury.edu/offices/business/hr/staffandfaculty/benefits/vision.  The premium for the Vision Plan did not increase for 2015.

Voluntary Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance

  • Premiums changes related to a change in coverage amount or age-band changes (5 year increments) should be reflected in the first paycheck in 2015. If you made changes or you hit a new age band in 2015, please confirm that your premium changed.
  • Requests for new life coverage or for increases in life coverage over the guarantee issue amount are not effective until approved by Mutual of Omaha. An Evidence of Insurability form must be submitted by you to Mutual of Omaha if you have requested this type of change. Mutual of Omaha will notify you directly of approval or denial. Any premium changes will be made as of the effective date of the approved coverage.

Flexible Spending Accounts

  • 2015 elections for the Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts should be reflected in the first paycheck of 2015. Please review your pay stub and confirm that your contribution is correct (divide your total annual election by 26 to calculate your per pay-period election.)
  • If you are a new Flexible Spending Account plan participant (you were not enrolled in a FSA last year) then FSA Benefits Cards were mailed to your home address in mid-December.  If you had a FSA last year you will not be issued a new card as they are valid for 3 years.  If your card is three years old, it will be good through January 31st and a new card will be issued by mid-January.  The Benefits Card can be used to access funds in your Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account.    Important information about the FSA Benefits Card is available at http://www.middlebury.edu/offices/business/hr/staffandfaculty/benefits/flex.
  • You have until March 15, 2015 to file claims against your 2014 flexible spending accounts for expenses incurred in 2014. The FSA Claim form and other helpful information on Flexible Spending Accounts can be found at http://www.middlebury.edu/offices/business/hr/staffandfaculty/benefits/flex. Please visit CBA Blue’s website at http://select.cbabluevt.com/middlebury/ to review your account information.

Retirement

  • If you submitted forms prior to the holiday break requesting changes to your Voluntary Retirement Plan or to enroll in the 457b Salary Deferral Supplemental Retirement Plan, your new elections should have been reflected in your first paycheck of 2015. If you requested changes please confirm that your elections are as expected.

If you have made a change to who is covered on your medical or dental plan and you have not received your new ID card(s), or if a benefit deduction doesn’t look right to you, or if you have any other questions or concerns about your benefits, please contact Human Resources as soon as possible. Thanks for doing your part to keep our benefit plans running smoothly!

Your Benefits Team,

~Lisa Hoff, Benefits Specialist (Health/Dental/Vision/Flex Spending) x3372

~Franklin Daniel, Benefits Specialist (Retirement Plans & Retiree Medical/Dental) x5755

~Cheryl Mullins, Benefits & Compensation Manager x5542

Open Enrollment

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

Open Enrollment for Middlebury’s 2015 Health & Welfare Benefit Plan is being held from November 1 – 14, 2014.  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 2015.

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 2015 even if you participated in 2014.  For Q&A’s on the Health Care FSA rollover click here.

Open Enrollment must be completed, using Banner Web, between November 1 – 14, 2014.  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”.

2015 Premium Rate Chart

Save the Date: Open Enrollment Nov 1st-14th

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

Benefits open enrollment is being conducted electronically again this year.  You will be receiving an e-mail (ooa Oct 31st) detailing our 2015 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 2015 annual election.  Per federal law, this year’s annual limit is $2,500 (plus you may roll up to $500 of unused 2014 Health Care FSA funds into your 2015 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

What’s New with Flexible Spending Accounts

Benefits, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, HR

Keeping more in your pocket…..

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) are more compelling than ever now that the government has modified its “use-it or lose-it” rule.  You can now rollover up to $500 of unused Health Care FSA funds at the end of the plan year, to be used the following plan year.

Health Care FSAs have always been a great way for you to budget for out-of-pocket health care expenses.  Contributions to the Health Care FSA are deducted from your paycheck on a pre-tax basis – reducing your taxable income and increasing your spendable income by an average of 30% of your annual contribution.  The government has modified its use-it or lose-it rule to allow up to $500 of unused Health Care FSA funds to rollover for use in the following plan year.  Now, you can maximize your tax savings by maximizing your Health Care FSA contributions up to the $2,500 annual limit.

The benefits of the new FSA rule:

  • Rollover up to $500 of unused Health Care FSA funds to the following plan year
  • The rollover amount does not affect the following year’s maximum contribution amount.  You can still contribute up to the maximum allowance of $2,500
  • Maximize your tax savings by increasing your contribution
  • The new rule does not affect the March 15th deadline to submit claims
  • Your entire annual election is still available at the beginning of the plan year

The risk of forfeiting funds has been greatly reduced.  The stress of choosing the “right” election amount has been reduced.  Increasing your contribution amount will automatically increase your tax savings.  Enroll during Open Enrollment (Nov 1st-14th) to enjoy the benefits of the new Health Care FSA rollover provision for 2015.

FSA Rollover Q&A

 

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

Benefits, Flex, For Faculty, For Staff, HR

Benefits open enrollment is being conducted electronically again this year.  You will be receiving an e-mail (ooa Oct 31st) detailing our 2015 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.

Flexible Spending Accounts – it’s not too early to start calculating your 2015 annual election.  Per federal law, this year’s annual limit is $2,500 (plus you may roll up to $500 of unused 2014 Health Care FSA funds into your 2015 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

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

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 27, for pay period 13 (6/9/14 – 6/22/14). Please plan accordingly. In order to avoid confusion and ease planning for employees, the CTO max is now 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