Page | 67 DISCLAIMER 701 This portion of the Employee Handbook contains a very general description of the benefits to which you may be eligible for as an employee of the City of Hutchinson. This general explanation is not intended to, and does not, provide you with all the details of these benefits. Your rights can be determined only by referring to the full text of the official plan documents, which are available for examination by contacting the Human Resources Department. To the extent that any of the information contained in this Employee Handbook is inconsistent with the official plan documents, the provisions of the official documents will govern in all cases. Please note that nothing contained in the benefit plans described herein shall be held or construed to create a promise of employment or future benefits, or a binding contract between the City and its employees, retirees or their dependents, for benefits or for any other purpose. The City of Hutchinson reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to administer, apply and interpret the benefit plans described herein, and to decide all matters arising in connection with the operation or administration of its benefit plans. The City also reserves the right to amend, modify or terminate, in whole or in part, any or all of the provisions of the benefit plans described herein, including any health benefits that may be extended to retirees and their dependents. These reserved rights may be exercised in the absence of financial necessity or as determined by the City Manager. MEDICAL INSURANCE PLAN 702 Employees who work thirty (30) hours or more per week on an on-going basis are eligible to participate in the city’s medical plan. New employees have thirty (30) days to elect or decline coverage. Coverage becomes effective on the first day of the calendar month after plan eligibility requirements have been met and all required enrollment forms have been submitted to Human Resources. For those employees hired on the first day of a month, coverage can become immediate provided all of the required enrollment paperwork has been submitted to Human Resources on his/her start date. Employees that elect to decline participation will be asked to document coverage under another plan or program. The premium cost of each coverage option is published by Human Resources and is subject to change each plan year. The City requires co-employed spouses to be covered under one policy. Employees must remain in active pay status or on FMLA leave to receive City premium contributions. Employees on a non-FMLA designated unpaid leave of absence will be offered continuation of coverage through COBRA. Medical plan coverage terminates at upon expiration of paid coverage (usually month-end) unless the employee elects to continue coverage under COBRA (if applicable). During the annual Open Enrollment period, employees have the opportunity to change plan and coverage elections, and eligible family members may be enrolled or dropped. It is the responsibility of each employee to notify the Human Resources Department when there is any change in family status because a change may have an effect on benefits. (e.g., in the event of a divorce, the former spouse should be dropped from coverage). In most cases, notice is required within 30 days of an event or family status change. The City is not responsible for plan change denials when an employee fails to notify the Human Resources Department in a timely manner. For purposes of the Medical Plan enrollment, a “Spouse” is defined as a person of the same or opposite sex to whom the employee is legally married under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the marriage was entered into (as such laws existed at the time of marriage). A qualified “Dependent” is defined as the employee’s natural child, lawfully adopted child (including a child placed with the participant for adoption but for whom the adoption is not yet final), stepchild, or other child for whom the participant has obtained legal guardianship pursuant to a court order, until such child attains age 26 (or until such child attains age 18 in the case of a legal guardianship). Children placed with a participant for adoption and children who are the subject of a National Medical Support Notice will also be considered dependents.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTMyNDE0NQ==