State of California M E M O R A N D U M REFERENCE CODE: 2000-006 DATE: January 10, 2000 TO: Personnel Officers Personnel Transactions Supervisors Personnel Transactions Staff FROM: Department of Personnel Administration Benefits Division SUBJECT: Group Legal Services Plan - Annual Open Enrollment CONTACT: Sondra Cooper, Personnel Management Analyst (916) 324-9365, CALNET 454-9365 FAX: (916) 322-3769 OFFICE VISION: DPA(SondraCooper) INTERNET: SondraCooper@DPA.CA.GOV The annual open enrollment period for the Group Legal Services Plan will be conducted from March 2 - May 1, 2000. This memo provides information on the plan eligibility criteria, effective dates of coverage, informational sessions for eligible employees, and instructions on ordering plan brochures and enrollment forms. CARRIER NAME CHANGE Departments were notified by PML 98-027 dated June 24, 1998 of the legal plan carrier's name change from Midwest Legal Services (MLS)to ARAG Group. Current enrollees were also notified by letter dated August 10, 1998. The company continues to be an industry leader with a strong commitment to providing outstanding quality service and access to professional legal advice for our plan members. The new web site address is http://www.araggroup.com. PREMIUM RATES The rates for the Plan are guaranteed through March 31, 2001. The rate for individual coverage is $10.35/mo. The rate for family coverage is $18.80/mo. Please discard any enrollment forms with old rates. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Individuals who meet the following criteria are eligible to enroll during this open enrollment period: 1. Permanent or probationary employees excluded from collective bargaining, half-time or greater time base, with one of the following designations: - Managerial (M, E59, E79, E99) - Supervisory (S, E48, E58, E68, E78, E98) - Confidential (C, E97) - Excluded/Exempt (E88, E89) - E01 through E21, E67, E77 2. Permanent or probationary employees in Bargaining Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 who work half-time or greater time base. Employees in BU 7 and BU 17 were recently added to the eligible group as a result of collective bargaining. Employees in Bargaining Units 8 and 13 continue to remain ineligible to enroll. 3. Dependents of eligible employees as defined below are also eligible for coverage when the employee enrolls in family coverage: a. A lawful spouse; b. Any unmarried, dependent children under the age of 23. Children include natural, step-children, adopted children, and children for whom the employee is the legal guardian. c. An unmarried child, 23 years or over, if he or she is incapable of self-support because of physical disability or mental incapacity and he/she is chiefly dependent on the eligible employee for support and maintenance. Permanent-intermittent employees are ineligible to enroll. EFFECTIVE DATES OF COVERAGE Plan coverage will begin on the first day of the pay period following the first premium deduction. Specifically, if the enrollment form is processed by the Personnel Office and forwarded to SCO by March 10, 2000 (and there are no errors on the form), the first premium deduction will be in the March paycheck, and the effective date of coverage will be April 1, 2000. For those employees whose enrollment forms are received at SCO by April 10, 2000, the benefit will become effective on May 1, 2000. Enrollment forms received in the Personnel Office between April 11 and April 30, and forwarded to SCO by May 10, 2000, will have a June 1, 2000 effective date. Employees cannot receive a retroactive effective date. The SCO will return any incorrectly completed forms to the Personnel Office for correction, which will result in a delay of the effective date. The "cut-off" date upon which the corrected form is returned to the SCO will determine the employee's effective date of coverage. EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS A variety of communications will be used to inform employees of the Legal Services Plan open enrollment period. In mid February, the plan provider will be mailing an open enrollment packet directly to the home address (i.e., the address on file with SCO as of December 31, 1999) of approximately 147,000 eligible employees who are not currently enrolled in the plan. The packet will contain a cover letter, an enrollment form, a plan brochure, and a schedule of informational sessions that will be conducted throughout the State beginning in early March. A complete listing of the sites and dates is provided later in this memo. Employees will also be reminded of the open enrollment period through a global message on their paycheck stub for the March pay period (dated March 31, 2000.) The DPA Benefits News topic for February 2000 will be the 2000 Group Legal Services Plan Open Enrollment. We encourage you to share the Benefits News with your employees. PLAN BROCHURES AND ENROLLMENT FORMS Since all eligible employees will receive an enrollment form and brochure in the mail, Departmental Personnel Offices do not need to order large quantities of these materials. However, they should ensure that an adequate supply of enrollment forms and plan brochures are in stock for use in enrolling employees who become newly eligible during the remainder of the year or may have recently moved during the period the enrollment packets were mailed. Additional supplies can be ordered by calling ARAG Group at 1-800-247-4184. DPA does not maintain these forms for distribution to departments. Please ensure that the enrollment forms you have in stock list the premium rates of $10.35 for individual coverage and $18.80 for family coverage. SCO will not process enrollment forms that list old premium rates. SCO will still accept forms with the MLS name as long as the premiums are correct. EMPLOYEE INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS During the month of March, representatives from ARAG Group and DPA will be conducting informational sessions throughout the State for interested employees. The purpose of these sessions is to provide eligible employees with more detailed information regarding the legal services plan (i.e., what services are covered, how to access the plan, the reason for waiting periods for certain services, etc.). The training sessions and locations are listed on the enclosed Attachment. Please note that in both Oakland and Sacramento only three (3) sessions per day will be held over a two-day period. In order to maximize employee attendance, we will need the assistance of personnel offices in publicizing this information to employees. We would appreciate if you would reproduce and distribute the enclosed schedule to your offices/field locations or communicate this information via e-mail messages, memos or other feasible communications methods. We appreciate your continued assistance in explaining the Group Legal Services Plan to your employees and processing the enrollment documents on a timely basis. If you have any questions regarding this memo, you may call Sondra Cooper at (916) 324-9365, CALNET 454-9365, Internet Kathie Vaughn, Chief Benefits Division Attachments will be distributed via mail.