Changes made to state employee benefits, leave, compensation policies

Following the regular session of the 78th Legislature, UNT's Human Resources Department released several changes to policies. Below is a summary of the changes.

Leave policy changes

Three leave changes, dealing with vacation leave, holiday pay entitlement and the use of sick leave for parent/teacher conferences, became effective July 1. Two additional leave changes, dealing with military leave and leave for organ, bone marrow and blood donors, will go into effect Sept. 1.

Vacation leave

For each service level, an eligible employee's vacation accrual rate will increase by one hour per month. An employee's service level is determined by the number of years he or she has been a retirement-eligible employee. For example, an employee who has worked for the state for two years or less was receiving seven hours per month of accrued vacation time. As of July 1, he or she is now earning eight hours. A person who has worked for the state between five and 10 years was earning nine hours a month – now he or she is earning 10 hours. In addition, the maximum number of vacation hours an employee can carry forward from one fiscal year to the next has increased by 12 hours per year. So an employee who has worked for the state for less than two years may carry forward 180 hours now, vs. the previous total of 168 hours. To view a table listing the number of vacation hours accrued at each service level and the maximum number that can be carried forward for each level, visit www.unt.edu/hr/records/vacation.htm.

Holiday pay entitlement

An employee must be in an active (paid) status — either working or on paid leave — the day before and after a holiday in order to be paid for it, unless the holiday falls on the first or last workday of the month. Previously, the policy did not require that an employee be either working or on paid leave the day after the holiday to receive holiday pay.

Commissioned peace officers who are required to work on state or national holidays that fall on a Saturday or Sunday will receive compensatory time at a rate of one hour for each hour worked on the holiday. Previously, commissioned peace officers who were required to work on a holiday that fell on a weekend did not receive compensatory time for that time worked.

Sick leave for parent/teacher conferences

A regular employee may use up to eight hours of sick leave per fiscal year for parent/teacher conferences for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Previously, an employee was allowed to use eight hours of sick leave per calendar year.

Military leave

Employees who are called to active duty have an option to use all or part of their accrued vacation and state compensatory time at 1.0 and federal compensatory time at 1.5 in order to maintain benefits for themselves or their dependents while on military leave. The university must grant emergency leave as differential pay to an employee on unpaid military leave if the employee's military gross pay is less than the employee's state gross pay. Employees who are called to active duty must be provided with statements of their state compensatory leave at 1.0 balance, and an employee's request to use accrued state compensatory time before it expires must be accommodated.

Organ, bone marrow and blood donors

Regular employees who are donating an organ, bone marrow or blood may receive paid leave not to exceed the following:

• Organ donor: 30 working days in a fiscal year.
• Bone marrow donor: five working days in a fiscal year.
• Blood donor: with permission from the supervisor, sufficient time off no more than four times per fiscal year to donate blood.

Compensation changes

All provisions from the 2002-03 biennium legislative pay increase of 4 percent or $100 per month were eliminated from the 2004-05 Appropriations Act; therefore, phase 4 of the legislative increase has been canceled by the Legislature. Phase 4 was part of a four-phase legislative decision passed in 2001 regarding compensation. Employees who began service with the state between Sept. 1, 2002, and Aug. 31, 2003, and those hired after that time would have received the compensation stipulated in phase 4. The university's current classified pay plan entry rates will remain in use for fiscal year 2004 and no salary increases are required for Sept. 1, 2003. Employees with prior legislative pay increases retain those increases while remaining within their current classification and position. If they are promoted or transfer within UNT, it will no longer be mandatory to retain the legislative increase.

Insurance benefits

Several benefits changes were made that all become effective Sept. 1. Some were instituted by the Legislature, while others were made by the Employees Retirement System as cost-saving measures.

Legislative insurance changes

• Part-time regular employees no longer receive 100 percent of the state contribution for ERS employee health coverage or 50 percent for dependent health coverage. They will receive 50 percent of the state contribution for employee coverage and 25 percent of the state contribution for dependent coverage.
• New employees have a waiting period for health coverage and will receive health coverage the first of the month after 90 days of employment. They may enroll at any time prior to their coverage effective date. Employees may still enroll in optional programs (optional life, disability, dental, etc.) on or before their first day of employment with coverage effective on their first active duty date. They may also enroll in optional programs within their first 30 days with coverage effective the first of the month following enrollment.
• Retiree insurance eligibility rules changed from a minimum of 10 years retirement/insurance participation plus age 55 to a minimum of 10 years retirement/insurance participation plus age 65. Employees who meet the Rule of 80 (years of service + age = 80) will continue to be eligible for retiree insurance regardless of age. Read more about this change online at www.unt.edu/inhouse/july182003/index.htm.
• If an employee uses local pharmacies to fill prescriptions rather than contracted mail-order prescription service for maintenance medications, a higher co-pay or other cost-sharing is required.

Non-legislative insurance changes

• ERs now requires a $50-per-person per-plan-year deductible for prescription drugs.
• The $500 per-plan-year out-of-pocket coinsurance maximum for network procedures increased to $1,000 per calendar year out-of-pocket coinsurance. Out-of-area coinsurance maximums increased from $800 to $1,000 and non-network coinsurance maximums increased from $1,500 to $3,000.
• The State Kids Insurance Program employee premium will increase from $15 to $25.
• Health and dental insurance premiums will increase slightly. Premiums for other coverages remain the same.

Retirement plans

New Teacher Retirement System and Optional Retirement Program retirement-eligible employees will have a 90-day waiting period from the first date of paid employment before membership in the retirement plan begins.

BY MICHELLE HALE mhale@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• UNT Board of Regents approves design, construction of UNT Sorority Row
• Almost 2,000 expected to graduate during UNT commencement ceremonies Aug. 9
• About the commencement speaker
• TAMS receives 2003-04 funds
• UNT, Texas Instruments to use $2.2 million for NSF-funded nanotechnology project
• UNT to award scholarship for 12 credit hours with Family Weekend drawing
• Howdy Week events planned Aug. 24-30
• UNT's Summer II enrollment down slightly from last year's total enrollment numbers
• UNT historian debunks Revolutionary myths

homepage