State of California M E M O R A N D U M REFERENCE CODE: 99-003 DATE: January 14, 1999 TO: Personnel Officers Personnel Transactions Supervisors Personnel Transactions Staff FROM: Department of Personnel Administration Benefits Division SUBJECT: Group Legal Services Plan Open Enrollment CONTACT: Marie Pereira, Personnel Management Analyst (916) 324-9365, CALNET 454-9365 FAX: (916) 322-3769 OFFICE VISION: DPA(MariePereira) INTERNET: MariePereira@DPA.CA.GOV The annual open enrollment period for the Group Legal Services Plan will be conducted from March 2 - April 30, 1999. This memo provides information on the plan eligibility criteria, effective dates of coverage, training sessions for personnel office staff, 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 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 will not increase during 1999. The rates are guaranteed through March 31, 2000. The rate for individual coverage is $10.35/mo. The rate for family coverage is $18.80/mo. Please discard any 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, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21 who work half-time or greater time base. Employees in Bargaining Units 7, 8, 13 and 17 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 currently 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, 1999 (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, 1999. For those employees whose enrollment forms are received at SCO by April 10, 1999, the benefit will become effective on May 1, 1999. Enrollment forms received in the Personnel Office between April 11 and April 30, and forwarded to SCO by May 10, 1999, will have a June 1, 1999 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 early 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, 1998) 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. The employee 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, 1999). The DPA Benefits News topic for February 1999 will be the 1999 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 which list old premium rates. SCO will still accept forms with the MLS name as long as the premiums are correct. PERSONNEL STAFF TRAINING DPA staff will be conducting training sessions for Personnel Transactions staff on February 11, 1999. The sessions will be held from 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., and 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. in the DPA State Training Center, 1515 "S" Street, North Building, 1st floor, Stanislaus Room, Sacramento, California. This training is designed for new Personnel Transactions staff who may be unfamiliar with the legal services plan and the various enrollment procedures. It is not necessary for personnel transactions staff to attend this training if they have attended training in prior years. Due to limited seating capacity, advanced reservations are required for all sessions. Please call Susan Wong at (916) 324-9378, CALNET 454-9378, by February 5, 1999 to reserve a seat or e-mail her at susanwong@dpa.ca.gov 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.). In order to maximize employee attendance, we will need the assistance of personnel offices in publicizing this information to employees. We would appreciate it if this information could be distributed to your offices/field locations via e-mail messages, memos or other feasible communications methods, such as the DPA Benefits News. The training sessions, are listed below: Los Angeles - March 4, 1999 Ronald Reagan Bldg. 300 South Spring Street, Auditorium 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Santa Ana March 9, 1999 Department of Transportation 2501 Pullman Street, Room 221 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Sacramento March 9 & 10, 1999 Water Resources Building 1416 9th Street, Auditorium 9:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. (Same times both days) San Diego March 11, 1999 State Building 1350 Front Street, Auditorium/Room B-109 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Oakland March 11, 1999 Department of Transportation 111 Grand Avenue, Auditorium 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. San Jose March 12, 1999 State Building 100 Paseo de San Antonio, Auditorium 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Fresno March 15, 1999 State Building 2550 Mariposa Mall, Assembly Room 1036 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Stockton March 16, 1999 State Building 31 East Channel, Auditorium 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. Riverside March 16, 1999 California Tower 3737 Main Street, Highgrove San Bernardino March 18, 1999 Government State Building 464 W. Fourth Street, 8th Fl.- Rm. 805 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. In Sacramento only, three sessions per day will be held over a two-day period. 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 Marie Pereira at (916) 324-9365, CALNET 454-9365, internet CALNET 454-9378, internet susanwong@dpa.ca.gov. Kathie Vaughn, Chief Benefits Division