Posts filed under ‘D. Entitlements’
Entitlements
Entitlements
- Social Security:
Employees are covered by Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Medicare Insurance (Social Security). Contributions by each employee and Transition Projects are determined by federal law.
- Workers’ Compensation:
Employees are covered by Workers’ Compensation Insurance, which may pay all medical expenses resulting from an on-the-job injury and a portion of salary lost for absence due to such an injury. This insurance is regulated by the State of Oregon. Employees pay an amount designated by the insurance carrier per working day and the remainder of the premium is paid by Transition Projects. Our current workers compensation carrier is posted at each location. Employees must report all job related injuries to their supervisor or the Human Resources Director within twenty-four (24) hours of their occurrence.
- Unemployment Compensation:
Transition Projects participates in the unemployment compensation plan of the State of Oregon.
- Election for Continuance of Healthcare Coverage upon Separation (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act – COBRA):
On April 7, 1986, a Federal law was enacted (Public Law 99-272, Title X) requiring that most employers sponsoring group health plans offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health coverage (called “continuation coverage”) at group rates in certain instances where coverage under the plan would otherwise end. This is intended to inform you, in a summary fashion, of your rights and obligations under the continuation coverage provisions of the law.
If you are an employee of Transition Projects covered by our group insurance you have a right to choose this continuation coverage if you lose your group health coverage because of a reduction in your hours of employment or the termination of your employment (for reasons other than gross misconduct on your part).
Under the law, the employee or a family member has the responsibility to inform the group insurance provider of a divorce, legal separation, or a child losing dependent status. Transition Projects has the responsibility to notify the group insurance carrier of the employee’s death, termination of employment, reduction in hours, or Medicare eligibility.
When the group insurance carrier is notified that one of these events has happened, the group insurance carrier will in turn notify you that you have the right to choose continuation coverage. Under the law, you have at least sixty (60) days from the date you would lose coverage because of one of the events described above to inform group insurance carrier that you want continuation coverage.
If you do not choose continuation coverage, your group health insurance coverage will end.
If you choose continuation coverage, Transition Projects is required to give you coverage that, as of the time coverage is being provided, is identical to the coverage provided under the plan to similarly situated employees or family members. The law requires that you be afforded the opportunity to maintain continuation coverage for three (3) years unless you lost group health coverage because of a termination of employment or reduction in hours. In that case, the required continuation coverage period is eighteen (18) months. However, the law also provides that continuation coverage may be cut short for any of the following four reasons:
- Transition Projects no longer provides group health coverage to any of its employees;
- The premium for your continuation coverage is not paid;
- The employee becomes covered under another group health plan;
- The employee becomes eligible for Medicare.
You do not have to show that you are insurable to choose continuation coverage. However, under the law, you may have to pay all or part of the premium for your continuation coverage. (The law also says that, at the end of the eighteen (18) month or three (3) year continuation coverage period, you must be allowed to enroll in an individual conversion health plan provided under the group insurance carrier.) The monthly premium for continuation coverage includes a 2% administration fee for processing.