What happens if I leave State employment?
If you leave State employment, you can continue some of your Flexible Benefits Program choices:
- You may be eligible to continue your medical, dental, vision coverage and/or Health Care Spending Account for you and eligible family members after your last day of employment.
- A conversion or portability feature may apply to your employee life, spouse life, and child life insurance, and/or AD&D coverage.
- You can be billed directly for legal coverage for the rest of the plan year.
- You can continue long-term care. Unum will bill you directly.
- You can convert your DHMO Dental option coverage to an individual policy and be billed directly by CIGNA Dental.
It is the responsibility of each employee to contact the vendor directly, within the required timeframe to continue coverage (see chart). If you leave state employment, you may continue your dental insurance via your retirement annuity or continue your vision, dental and/or Health Care Spending Account via Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). In these situations, you should contact the Flexible Benefits Program. You may also be eligible for a subsidy under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which became law on February 17, 2009.
If you leave active State employment and then return during the same plan year, your previous choices will remain in effect unless you report a qualifying change in status event.
Be sure to review the Plan Description for each option and see your personnel/payroll office for more information.
What happens if I go on leave without pay (LWOP)?
When you go on leave without pay, your personnel/payroll office will assist you by providing the necessary Benefit Continuation Form and LWOP information.
For FMLA Leave or USERRA (Military) Leave, you will be permitted certain advantages for changing your benefit options outside of the open enrollment period that are not allowed for other Regular Leave types. Carefully review all LWOP information to understand how to best utilize your benefit choices during your absence.