Guest Blog from Armintha Loveday

Armintha is one of the IPS representatives to the Employee Relations Council. I asked Armintha to blog about their last meeting.

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News from the Non-Exempt Staff Employee Relations Meeting – June 30, 2010

The representatives were welcomed by Butch Peccolo and Mike Herbstritt. I am only going to highlight two of the most important subjects that involved all employees in this month’s report and they were about insurance coverage and one-time bonus payment in October.

Regarding insurance, employees were interested in knowing which insurance companies have been decided on yet. The answer was that no word had been given yet from the state as to which insurance company it would be. There will still be the two options available that were discussed before—one regarding the wellness plan and one without the wellness plan. The new prescription plan starts July 1. Of great importance – EVERYONE (MEANING EXEMPT AND NON-EXEMPT) MUST ENROLL IN ONE OF THE NEW INSURANCE PLANS DURING OPEN ENROLLMENT SEPT. 15 – OCT. 15 OR YOU WILL HAVE A BREAK IN YOUR INSURANCE. For example, if you have BC/BS and the new insurance is BC/BS, you still have to fill out a new enrollment. No insurance will roll over this time like it has in the past. PLEASE DO NOT FORGET THIS!!!! There will be several reminders of this coming out as the enrollment time gets closer.

It was reported that there are plans for UT employees to get a one-time longevity-type bonus in October. This will be a $50 per years of service maxing out at 25 years and it will be eligible for those working at UT at least 3 years.

There of course were other items discussed, but they had to do with various departments and subjects and those will be available for review when the minutes come out.