Previous | Contents | Next
SECTION 5 - EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
This Handbook provides highlights of the College’s benefit package; however, the summary contained in this Handbook is not intended to provide complete
details of all the benefits. For information regarding these benefit plans, please refer to the College’s summary plan descriptions. In case of any
questions or conflicts, the formal plan descriptions will be followed.
Please note, the following information is subject to regular and frequent change at the sole discretion of the College. Currently, the College offers the
following benefits. Eligibility for benefits is explained in the Employment Categories section.
5.1 Insurance
Insurance is one of the most valuable employee benefits, and Randolph Macon College provides many forms of coverage for you and your family. Please read
the policy certificates and booklets that you are given. If you have any questions about your coverage, please contact Human Resources.
5.2 Life Insurance
The College pays the premium on a group life insurance policy for each full-time employee which provides coverage equal to twice your annual salary,
rounded to the next higher $1,000 up to a maximum limit of $200,000. (For tax purposes, the premium paid for coverage above $50,000 is taxable imputed
income and the tax will appear as a deduction on your pay stub.) In the event of accidental death, the policy will pay, upon approval, an additional sum
equal to the amount of the life insurance. The policy also pays fixed amounts for dismemberment according to a schedule contained in your certificate.
5.3 Health and Dental Insurance
The College makes available group health and dental insurance to full-time and eligible part-time employees. If health or dental insurance coverage is
elected, a college subsidy is provided to full-time employees only. Insurance coverage begins on the first calendar day of the month following the hire date,
unless employment begins on the first day of the month, whereby coverage begins immediately. In order to receive benefits for a spouse/same-sex domestic
partner, the employee and spouse/ same-sex domestic partner must complete a Declaration of Relationship form available in Human Resources. Specific details
of this coverage are outlined in a booklet provided by Human Resources.
5.4 Long-Term Disability Insurance
After a regular or special full-time employee has been employed at the College for one year, the College provides long-term disability insurance. This
insurance plan provides financial protection for you by paying a portion of your income while you are disabled. The long-term disability policy has a 6-
month elimination period following the date of disability and long-term disability benefits begin, if approved, the day after the elimination period is
completed. Optional, supplemental disability insurance is available for purchase at the employee’s expense.
5.5 Short-Term Disability Program
After a regular or special full-time employee has been employed with the College for one year, the employee is eligible for the short-term disability
program for non-work related injury or illness. The College has engaged an insurance firm to administer a short-term disability program for regular and
special, full-time employees. The insurance administrator provides independent medical reviews and length of disability determinations for sick leave or
disability absences with an expected duration of more than 7 calendar days. In the event you become unable to perform the duties of your job and expect to
be absent for more than 7 calendar days, you must contact Human Resources to file a short-term disability claim.
Upon approval of a short-term disability claim, disability payments will begin the later of when employees exhaust unused, accrued vacation and sick leave
or day eight of the disability. If you do not have any unused, accrued sick or vacation leave to use during the first 7 days of disability, you may use
available personal/family leave, if any, otherwise these disability days will be unpaid.
The short-term disability program will provide weekly payments at 60% of monthly salary prorated in weeks for the length of time determined by the
insurance administrator up to 6 months. Special (9, 10, or 11 month) full-time employees short-term disability weekly payments will be 60% of their monthly
salary prorated in weeks for the months in which they are receiving a paycheck.
Insurance coverage will continue while an employee is on short-term disability, and employees will be invoiced the premiums once the payroll deductions
stop. Retirement contributions cease once an employee is being paid by short-term disability. Employees have the option to recoup the College’s retirement
contributions upon returning to work. Employees can repay their normal employee contribution and receive the College’s contribution that was suspended while
on short-term disability.
If an employee is eligible for the Family and Medical Leave Act discussed in Section 3.17, then short-term disability will run concurrent with that Act.
Optional, supplemental disability insurance is available for purchase at the employee’s expense.
5.6 Flexible Spending Accounts
The College allows the establishment of Flexible Spending Accounts designed to allow you to pay for unreimbursed medical and dental expenses (commonly
referred to as “out-of-pocket” expenses) and dependent day care expenses (child care/elderly care) on a pretax basis.
5.7 Optional Insurance
The College allows certain corporations to offer optional insurance products such as supplemental life insurance, long term care, cancer and intensive
care insurance, personal accident and short-term disability insurance and a prepaid legal services program. The College does not make any contribution
toward the cost of such products. Rates vary with age and coverage. Information about these programs is made available at your orientation and any
questions may be directed to the Office of Human Resources.
5.8 Same-Sex Domestic Partner Benefits Policy
Overview
Randolph-Macon College (R-MC) offers benefits to same-sex domestic partners of full-time faculty and regular full-time or special full-time staff. For
purposes of this Policy, the term “domestic partner” means an individual who satisfies the requirements set forth in the “Status and Declaration” section of
this policy. Potential benefits extend only to same-sex domestic partners who are legally prohibited from becoming married in the jurisdiction in which they
reside and who otherwise meet the enrollment qualifications outlined in this policy. Unmarried opposite-sex domestic partners of R-MC employees are not
eligible for the benefits outlined in this Policy.
Reporting Requirements
1. Status and Declaration
In order to receive benefits for a same-sex domestic partner, the employee and domestic partner must complete a Declaration of Relationship form available
in Human Resources and satisfy the following criteria:
The employee and the domestic partner:
- consider each other to be life partners;
- are of the same sex;
- are both at least 18 years of age and mentally competent to enter into a contract in the state in which residency is established;
- are not married to another individual;
- are each other’s sole domestic partner and intend to continue as such indefinitely;
- are not blood relatives to a degree that would prohibit marriage under the laws of the state of residency;
- share a common household and intend to do so indefinitely;
- are financially interdependent, share common necessities of life and are jointly responsible for the common welfare and shared financial obligations of
each other.
Joint responsibility for each other’s common welfare and shared financial obligations must be demonstrated upon request by the existence of two of the
following, with at least one form of documentation for items “c” through “f”.
- a. Official registration of same sex partner relationship.
- b. Joint mortgage or deed.
- c. Designation of partner as primary beneficiary for life insurance benefits or retirement/pension contracts or accounts.
- d. Designation of partner as primary beneficiary in last will and testament.
- e. Designation of partner as holding a durable property or health care power of attorney.
- f. Joint ownership of a motor vehicle, joint checking account, joint credit
account, or joint investment account.
R-MC reserves the right to request proof that a partnership meets the residency and financial interdependency eligibility criteria listed above, and
retains the discretion to determine whether the conditions for domestic partner benefits under this Policy have been satisfied.
Termination of Domestic Partnership
R-MC’s Human Resources Office must be made aware of any change in domestic partner status. Domestic partner benefits will terminate at the end of the
month in which the domestic partnership ends. The employee must submit a Statement of Termination of Relationship for available in Human Resources
immediately upon termination of the domestic partnership.
Benefits Extended to Same-Sex Domestic Partners
1. Health and Dental Coverage
R-MC offers health and dental coverage for its full-time employees and their eligible beneficiaries. A domestic partner is eligible to enroll in R-MC’s
health and dental plans as outlined in the benefit plan documents. In order for the domestic partner to be covered under the health or dental plan, the
employee must be a participant in the applicable plan.
Health/Dental Coverage for Children/Dependents
As is true for all R-MC full-time employees, children of employees may be covered as dependents under R-MC’s health and dental plan, if the employee is
legally and financially responsible for the children and their medical care. Children of an employee's domestic partner, for whom the employee is not legally
or financially responsible, may not be covered under R-MC’s health or dental plan. Generally, a child of a domestic partner who qualifies as a tax dependent
of the employee is eligible for coverage under R-MC’s plans. The specific eligibility requirements for coverage are set forth in R-MC’s benefit plans and
policies. As with the covered children of all R-MC employees, R-MC reserves the right to request proof of the employee’s financial and legal obligation
(such as birth certificates, adoption records, court-approved guardianship papers, federal tax filings or divorce decrees) for the child.
Tax Consequences of Health/Dental Coverage for Domestic Partners
The employee's share of premiums for health and/or dental coverage provided to a domestic partner will be deducted from the employee's paycheck on either
a bi-weekly or monthly basis, depending on the employee's pay cycle. Under current federal and state law, including the Internal Revenue Code and the Defense
of Marriage Act, unless the domestic partner is the employee's tax dependent (see "Code Section 152 Dependents" below), deductions for benefits for the
domestic partner must be made on an after-tax basis.
If the domestic partner receiving health and/or dental benefits is not the employee's tax dependent, current tax law requires that the employee include in
gross income the fair market value of the domestic partner's health coverage, less the amount of premiums paid by the employee. In other words, the employee
will be taxed on the value of the health and/or dental coverage provided by R-MC for the domestic partner, less any premiums paid by the employee for such
coverage.
Finally, unless the domestic partner qualifies as the employee's tax dependent, the employee will have to pay Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA)
tax on the value of the coverage, less any premiums paid by the employee.
Any federal or state tax consequences of providing health and/or dental coverage to domestic partners under this Policy are the sole responsibility of the
employee and domestic partner.
Continuation Rights
In accordance with the Defense of Marriage Act, federal health/dental coverage continuation rights under COBRA are not available and will not apply to the
domestic partner. In addition, Virginia's laws regarding health and dental coverage continuation rights do not apply to domestic partners. This means that if
the domestic partner's health and/or dental coverage with R-MC are canceled as a result of the termination of the employee's employment or the ending of the
domestic partner relationship, the domestic partner will not be eligible to continue the coverage.
Code Section 152 Dependents
To qualify as a Code Section 152 "tax dependent," the domestic partner must receive more than half of his or her support for the year from the employee,
and must have been a member of the employee's household during the employee's entire taxable year. In addition, the Code requires that the relationship
between the employee and the dependent may not violate local laws. If an employee annually certifies with a notarized affidavit that his or her domestic
partner qualifies as a tax dependent under Code Section 152, the value of the coverage provided will not be included in the employee's taxable income and
will not be subject to FICA taxes. In addition, the employee's share of premiums for health and/or dental coverage may be deducted from the employee's pay on
a pre-tax basis. The certification described above must be provided annually to R-MC.
2. Flexible Spending Accounts
Under current federal tax law, medical and dependent care expenses incurred by or on behalf of an employee's domestic partner who qualifies as a tax
dependent may be reimbursable under terms of the spending account programs if the domestic partner and the employee certify that the domestic partner is a
Code Section 152 tax dependent. Domestic partners who do not qualify as tax dependents of employees may not participate in R-MC’s pre-tax dependent care and
health care flexible spending account programs.
3. Tuition Benefits
The domestic partner of a full-time employee will be able to participate in R-MC’s tuition benefit program.
Children of a domestic partner are potentially eligible for the tuition benefit program under the standard criteria established if the child qualifies as
a tax dependent of the employee.
IRS regulations require that the "fair market value" of tuition benefits extended to domestic partners be treated as taxable income to the employee.
4. Other Benefits
A domestic partner is included in the family member definition under the current policies that include family such as bereavement leave and access to the
Brock Sports Recreational Center, Library and athletic events. This inclusion legally cannot apply to R-MC’s Family and Medical Leave provisions.
Confidentiality
Note: The above Policy provides a general description of the benefit programs that are currently offered to eligible, same-sex domestic partners of
Randolph-Macon College full-time employees. Where benefits are governed by a formal plan document or a matter of policy, the exact terms of the plan or
policy will govern. While it is presently R-MC’s intent to continue all current benefit plans and policies, R-MC reserves the right to change, supplement,
amend or terminate at any time any benefit plan or policy presently in effect.
5.9 General Liability Insurance
The College provides general liability coverage for any employee "acting within the scope of his duties as such." If an employee uses a privately owned
vehicle, however, the owner's insurance will be the only carrier protecting the employee. The College insurance protects only the College.
5.10 Workers’ Compensation
In accordance with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation statute, the College provides Workers’ Compensation insurance for all employees. The cost for this
coverage is supported entirely by the College.
REPORTING A CLAIM
If you are injured on the job, you must report the accident immediately to your supervisor. All non-emergency injuries occurring on College property
should be treated by a physician listed on the panel of providers found in the Office of Human Resources. The employee must notify Human Resources within 24
hours or the next business day to file a First Report of Accident.
COMPENSATION
While temporarily unable to work, employees must use any unused, accrued sick and vacation leave, for the first 7 calendar days of absence. If you do not
have any unused, accrued sick or vacation leave to use during the first 7 calendar days, you may use available personal/family leave, if any, otherwise these
workers’ compensation days will be unpaid.
If the claim is approved for benefits, the payment of workers’ compensation benefits will be determined in accordance with the Virginia Workers’
Compensation statute.
BENEFITS
Insurance coverage will continue while an employee is on Workers’ Compensation, and employees will be invoiced the premiums once the payroll deductions
stop. Retirement contributions cease once an employee is being paid by Workers’ Compensation. Employees have the option to recoup the college’s retirement
contributions upon returning to work. Employees can repay their normal employee contribution and receive the college’s contribution that was suspended while
on Workers’ Compensation.
If an employee is eligible for the Family and Medical Leave Act discussed in Section 3.17, then Workers’ Compensation will run concurrent with that
Act.
5.11 Unemployment Compensation
The College participates in government programs that may provide benefits for employees who become unemployed. The College, rather than its employees,
pays taxes to support these programs. The College does not determine an individual's eligibility for benefits under these programs; this is done by the
Virginia Unemployment Commission.
5.12 COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act)
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) is a federal law that requires the College to offer employees and their families the
opportunity for a temporary extension of health and dental coverage in certain instances where coverage under the College plan would otherwise end. The
employee, spouse, or dependents have the right to continue this coverage for either 18 or 36 months, depending upon the reason why the employee/dependent is
no longer eligible for regular group coverage. The College has engaged a third party firm to administer COBRA benefits and details of the COBRA plan and
eligibility requirements will be provided to you by by this firm.
Please note that if you have a spouse or dependents who are covered under the group health and dental plans and a change in status qualifies your spouse
and/or dependents for COBRA, it is the employee’s responsibility to inform Human Resources of these changes so that proper notification can be sent.
Previous | Contents | Next