As a new hire, you are eligible for benefits:
| Medical, Dental, Vision, Life & Disability |
First of the month after your hire date if you are a regular employee who works at least 30 hours per week. |
| 401(k) Savings Plan |
Immediately if you are over age 18 |
Once you are eligible, you must make your elections within 31 days.
When you enroll, you are choosing benefits for the entire calendar year – January 1 through December 31. After you’ve enrolled as a new hire, your next opportunity to make changes is during the annual open enrollment period, held in the fall of each year. That’s why it’s important that you review your benefit materials closely and share them with your family.
In addition to yourself, you can enroll the following dependents in coverage as a new hire or during Annual Enrollment:
- Your opposite sex or same sex spouse or domestic partner
- Your children under the age of 26
- Your children age 26 and older if physically or mentally handicapped
If you are enrolling a spouse in a Cotality medical plan, you may have to pay a spousal surcharge. Learn more.
When you enroll a dependent, you must provide proof of dependency before your dependent's coverage will be verified. This can be done with a marriage certificate to add a spouse or birth certificate to add a child. Before you enroll your new dependent, be sure you are prepared with the applicable proof of dependency. See verification guidelines here.
Before you enroll your opposite sex or same sex domestic partner in health care benefits, it’s important to understand how your taxes may be affected. The IRS requires employers to add the value of certain “non-cash compensation” to an employee’s taxable pay. This added value amount is commonly referred to as “imputed income.” The contributions for your opposite sex or same sex domestic partner and his or her children count as imputed income. Imputed income does not increase your actual pay and is not a deduction from pay. However, it is subject to federal, state and local income tax, Social Security and Medicare withholding (FICA) and any other applicable payroll taxes. When the payroll taxes taken out of your pay are calculated, they are based on your pay plus any imputed income. So, imputed income will increase the taxes taken out of your pay.