At times in employees’ lives, they will have changes in their families that may affect their benefits. Most changes must be made within 31 days of the date of the event.
These three links provide overviews on the kinds of life events that can affect benefits eligibility (the first link), and review what an employee needs to do to add a new family member (second and third links):
- Life Events that Create a Period of Initial Eligibility (PIE)
- Adding a Spouse or Domestic Partner
- New Parent/New Addition to Family
When a Family Member Loses Eligibility:
If a family member loses eligibility for coverage on UC plans, such as through divorce or a child becoming too old to be covered, the employee must remove the family member from their plans within 31 days of the date of the event. If the dependent is a child aging out of coverage, his coverage for the medical, dental, vision, and legal plans will end automatically.
The family member may be eligible for COBRA. Instruct the employee to request a COBRA packet from HR Benefits by completing the Notice to UC of a COBRA Qualifying Event (UBEN 109) —deadlines apply. If an ineligible family member is not removed from the UC plans in a timely manner, there are severe consequences.
When a Family Member Dies:
Contact the Survivor Assistance staff in Human Resources when an employee's family member dies to determine whether benefits are due. For more information, see Benefits Leaves: Death of Employee/ Family Member.
Whenever there are changes in an employee’s family, encourage the employee to review the designated beneficiaries and make sure they are up to date.
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