State of California M E M O R A N D U M REFERENCE CODE: PML 96-002 DATE: January 12, 1996 TO: Personnel Officers Personnel Transactions Supervisors FROM: Department of Personnel Administration Benefits and Training Division SUBJECT: Group Legal Services Plan - Annual Open Enrollment CONTACT: Marie Pereira, Benefits Analyst (916) 324-9365, CALNET 454-9365 Office Vision: DPA (MXPEREIR) Internet: TXPereira@SMTP.DPA.CA.GOV The annual open enrollment for the Legal Services Plan will be conducted from March 1 - April 30, 1996. This memo provides information on the eligibility criteria, effective dates of coverage, training sessions for personnel office staff and eligible employees, and information on ordering plan brochures and enrollment forms. 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) - Supervisory (S, E48, E58, E68, E78) - Confidential (C) - Excluded/Exempt (E88, E89, E97, E98, E99) - E01 through E21, E67, E77 2.Permanent or probationary employees in Bargaining Units 1,2,3,4,5,6,9,10,11,14,15,16,18,19,20, and 21 who work half-time or greater time base. 3.Dependents of eligible employees as defined below are eligible for 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 not eligible to enroll. Effective Dates of Coverage Plan coverage will begin on the first day of the pay period following the pay period from which the first premium deduction is made. Specifically, if the employee's enrollment form is processed by the Personnel Office and forwarded to the State Controller's Office (SCO) by March 10, 1996 (and there are no errors on the form), the first effective date of coverage will be April 1, 1996. For those employees whose enrollment forms are received at the SCO by April 10, 1996, the benefit will become effective on May 1, 1996. Enrollment forms received by the SCO between April 11 and May 10, 1996 will have a June 1, 1996 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 As in the past, the DPA will be communicating the Legal Services Plan open enrollment period to employees through a variety of methods. The Plan provider, Midwest Legal Services (MLS), will be mailing an open enrollment packet directly to the homes of over 140,000 eligible employees at the end of this month. The packet will contain a cover letter, an enrollment form, a plan brochure, and a schedule of orientation sessions that will be conducted throughout the state by MLS and DPA staff, beginning in mid-February. A complete listing of the sites and dates is provided later in this memo. In addition to the enrollment packet, employees will be informed about the open enrollment through a four-line global message on their March paycheck stub. Legal Services Plan Brochures and Enrollment Forms While eligible employees will receive an enrollment form in the mail, Departmental Personnel Offices 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 year. Additional supplies can be ordered by calling MLS at 1-800-247-4184. The DPA does not maintain these forms for distribution to departments. Please ensure that the enrollment forms you have in stock list the premiums of $9.07 for single coverage and $16.52 for family coverage. These rates remain unchanged from last year. Personnel Staff Training DPA staff will be conducting training sessions for Personnel Transactions staff. The sessions will be held from 8:30-10:00 a.m., 10:30-12:00 Noon and 1:30-3:00 p.m. on February 13, 1996, in the DPA State Training Center, 1515 "S" Street, North Bldg., 1st Floor., McCloud Room. Because of limited seating capacity, advanced reservations are required for all sessions. Please call Susan Wong at 324-9378 by February 5, 1996 to reserve a seat. Employee Orientation Schedule During the months of February and March, representatives from MLS and DPA will be conducting employee orientations throughout the State. The purpose of these sessions is to provide eligible employees with more detailed information regarding the legal plan (i.e., what services are covered, how to access the Plan, the reason for certain waiting periods, etc.) In order to ensure maximum employee attendance, we will need the assistance of personnel offices in publicizing this information to employees. Within the next week, MLS will be mailing directly to departmental Personnel Officers a limited number of posters announcing the upcoming orientations. We would appreciate if the posters could be distributed to your offices/field locations and placed on bulletin boards and other highly visible locations within your department. Listed below for your information are the dates and locations of the orientations: The meetings will be held during the following times at all locations, except the Franchise Tax Board: 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m.- 2:00 p.m. San Francisco February 20th State Compensation Ins. Fund 1275 Market St., PAC Room Oakland February 21st Dept. of Transportation 111 Grand Ave., Aud. Sacramento February 22nd Water Resources Bldg., Aud. 1416 9th Street Sacramento February 23rd Secretary of State Bldg., Aud. 1500 11th Street Sacramento February 23rd 9645 Butterfield, Rm. 1040 (11:30 a.m. is the only meeting at this site and is open only to FTB employees) San Bernardino February 26th State Bldg. 303 West 3rd Street, Aud. Fresno February 27th Fresno State Bldg. 2550 Mariposa Mall, Rm. 1036 Los Angeles February 28 & 29th Ronald Reagan Bldg., Aud. 300 South Spring Street Galt March 1st Richard McGee Correctional Training Center 9850 Twin Cities Road (prior to attending employees should call (916)324-9365 for dress-code information) San Diego March 1st State Bldg. 1350 Front Street, Room B-109 Redding March 4th Dept. of Transportation 1657 Riverside Dr. Basement Conference Room Attached for your information is additional training material on the Group Legal Services Plan. This document provides detailed information regarding open enrollment procedures, instructions for completion of the enrollment form and the procedures for enrolling employees who become newly eligible after the open enrollment. As in previous years, we depend upon and appreciate your continued assistance in communicating information to employees regarding the Legal Plan and in processing enrollment documents. If you have any questions regarding this memo, please call Marie Pereira at (916) 324-9365 or CALNET 454-9365 or Susan Wong at (916) 324-9378 or CALNET 454-9378. Patricia Pavone, Chief Benefits and Training Division ATTACHMENTS WILL BE MAILED WITH HARD COPY OF PML.