Human Resources Benefits Update

Transcription

1 Loyola University Health System Human Resources Benefits Update Employee Edition New Time-Off Programs To Begin Jan. 1, 2014 This newsletter will share information about our plan to adopt the Trinity Health (TH) paid-time-off (PTO) program. On an ongoing basis, we review Loyola University Health System s programs for paid time-off and disability benefits to ensure that we meet the needs of our employees and the organization. We believe that quality of life is important for our employees and that it is vital for our physical, mental and spiritual health to take scheduled time away from work. Taking care of ourselves by taking time off will make us better able to care for our patients and to help support our patient safety initiatives. These new benefits, combined with our existing benefit programs, support these values and will continue to provide a competitive total rewards program for all employees. Please note: Clinical Faculty and residents are not affected by this change but will retain long-term disability benefits through Hartford Insurance. Why are we making this change? Changes within the PTO and disability plans will ensure that LUHS total rewards program is consistent with benefit programs offered at other hospitals in Chicago. The change will also increase employee flexibility to move within Trinity Health locations. Total rewards encompasses those attributes of an organization that employees value, which includes both tangible and intangible benefits, such as such as compensation, group benefits, retirement, recognition and engagement/culture. The following chart illustrates LUHS progress towards providing employees with a more comprehensive Total Rewards package that is at or is slightly better than the market. 1 Reward LUMC GMH LUHS FY14 Compensation average rate of pay At or slightly above market At or slightly above market At or slightly above market Medical Benefit Slightly below market Significantly above market At or slightly above market Dental Benefit Slightly below market Slightly below market At or slightly above market Vacation/Personal day Significantly above market Slightly below market Sick Above market At market PTO At or slightly above market Freeezing sick time above market Holiday Significantly above market At market At market Short-term disability Significantly below market Below market At or slightly above market Long-term disability At market At market At market Retirement At market Slightly above market At or slightly above market Tuition Significantly above market At market No Change LoyolaMedicine.org

2 2 Changes at a Glance: What s New? PTO and the enhanced short-term disability plan will replace vacation, personal and sick time hours Regular full-time and part-time employees hired to work at least 20 hours per week are eligible to earn PTO. You will earn/accrue PTO time based on your hours worked including any down-staffed hours during low census hours. PTO programs have become the industry standard at Chicago-area hospitals. In the most recent benefits survey from the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC), 80 percent of 65 hospitals surveyed offered PTO instead of traditional vacation, sick, personal day banks. See How Does Paid Time Off (PTO) Work? for more detail on how PTO works on page 2. Short-term disability benefits significantly improved Employees will be eligible for short-term disability on the first day of the month following 30 days of service beginning January (The former eligibility requirement was one year of service at LUMC and three years of service at GMH) For short-term disability benefits, the waiting period for eligibility has been reduced to 14 calendar days (previously 45 days at LUMC and 30 days at GMH). Starting January 1, 2014, these benefits also will be offered to part-time employees who are classified as.50 FTE or greater. Details about these plans are available in How Will LUHS Disability Plans Change? on page 5. Holidays for 2014 In addition to six standard holidays New Year s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day full-time 1.0 FTE employees will receive one floating holiday to use with supervisor approval. This plan will standardize the recognized holidays between the two LUHS campuses (LUMC and GMH) and is consistent with those offered at the majority of hospitals in the Chicago metropolitan area that still offer holidays as a separate bank of time. This plan will eliminate Good Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve as standard holidays on the LUMC campus. You can read more about holiday benefits in How are Holiday Benefits Changing? on page 4. Sick Time Banks Accrued sick time will be frozen as of December 28, 2013, but will remain available for employees. Changes to this benefit is described further in What Happens to Accrued Sick Time? on page 4. Please read this newsletter and plan to attend an employee meeting to learn more about these changes. Funeral leave and jury duty remain separate from PTO. How Does Paid Time Off (PTO) Work? We want all of our employees to take scheduled time away from work. Taking time away from work allows you to relax, recharge and refocus. Each individual is different in how he or she may want to use PTO but it s important to both you and to LUHS that you take some time to care for yourself so we can better care for our patients. Patient safety is important and our employees play a critical role in assuring that safety. PTO is used for vacation periods, time to go to doctor s appointments and for other personal needs. PTO also is used for sick days in the period before your short-term disability benefits begin (unless you have accrued time in your frozen sick time bank as detailed in What Happens to Accrued Sick Time? on page 4). How does PTO accrue? Under the new plan, you will earn/accrue PTO time based on your hours worked including any downstaffed paid hours during low-census hours. You will not earn/accrue PTO time when you use PTO hours or for hours off on a holiday. You will not earn/accrue PTO hours when you use hours from your frozen sick bank. PTO hours also will not be earned during an FMLA leave period or during time periods when you are receiving short-or long-term disability benefits. PTO is pro-rated for those with less than one year of service. The rate at which you accrue PTO is based on your years of service with the health system. New employees have access to accrued PTO time after three months of employment. It is important to note that because PTO accrues based on hours worked, the amount of PTO accrued each pay period is likely to vary from one pay period to another. New PTO bank maximums are established at 1½ years accrual. Setting the PTO bank maximum at 1½ years accrual is consistent with most hospitals in the Chicago area.

3 Years of Service PTO Accrual Rate per Hour Worked* (example of 1.0 FTE employee) Bank Maximum Hours (1.5x Full-Time employee) Less than 1 year 0.068/hr up to 16 days/yr Up to 192 hours (24 days) 1 to 4 years 0.081/hr up to 19 days/yr 228 hours (28.5 days) 5 to 9 years 0.095/hr up to 22 days/yr 264 hours (33 days) 10 to 14 years 0.110/hr up to 25 days/yr 300 hours (37.5 days) 15 or more years 0.124/hr up to 28 days/yr 336 hours (42 days) * PTO is accrued on hours worked and/or Low Census time Unused PTO hours stay in your PTO Bank until you use them. Your PTO Bank maximum is shown in the chart above. At any point during the year when your PTO Bank reaches the maximum, PTO accrual will stop until you use PTO hours. As with our current vacation/ personal time program, PTO, time should be scheduled in advance with your supervisor s approval, following your department s procedures. If using PTO for illnesses lasting fewer than 14 days, you must also follow your department s normal call-in procedures. Also, as with our current vacation time plan, any PTO time remaining in your bank when you leave employment with the health system is paid at termination. Here s an example of how the PTO Bank maximum works. Susan is a 1.0 full time employee with 12 years of service and she takes 4 weeks of vacation each year. She works 1,864 hours per year (2080 hours 56 holiday hours 160 PTO hours = 1864 regular hours) which means she accrues 205 PTO hours each year (1,864 x = 205). Since she is a 1.0 full-time employee, her PTO Bank maximum is 300 hours. Susan s hours go into her PTO Bank as she accrues them, and she can use her PTO hours throughout the year. The system tracks the number of hours in her PTO Bank, and if her Bank reaches 300 hours, Susan s PTO accrual automatically stops. She will need to start using her PTO in order to begin accruing PTO hours again. For example, if Susan takes a week of vacation and lowers her PTO Bank by 40 hours, her PTO accruals will begin again until she reaches the 300-hour PTO Bank maximum. If Susan has 60 hours of vacation time converted to PTO time in December 2013, she will begin her bank with 60 PTO hours and additional PTO hours will accrue based upon her hours worked until she reaches the 300-hour PTO Bank maximum. What Happens to my Accrued Vacation Time? Vacation time will continue to accrue through December 28, 2013, and will be recorded on your January 3, 2014, pay check stub. You are encouraged to check your vacation accrual balances using Lawson s employee self-service applications (personal information section) and to keep a record of these year-end balances for future reference. Your current vacation accrual will end as of December 28, 2013, and your new PTO accrual, as listed above, will begin on December 29, You will not lose any accrued vacation time. 3

4 4 We are initiating communication prior to the change to allow you to manage any accrued vacation time above the new PTO bank maximums. You may use accrued vacation time through December 28, Any remaining accrued vacation time above the new PTO bank maximums, as of December 28, 2013, will be paid out in your January 17, 2014, pay check. You ll have a choice to make Employees can request vacation hours over the next few months to ensure their accrued vacation will be less than the new PTO bank maximum. That way, new PTO accruals will begin immediately in the pay period that starts December 29, 2013, and ends January 11, OR You may elect to receive a lump sum payout of accrued vacation time above the new PTO maximum. The employee may then request some time off in January/February to reduce accrued PTO below the new bank maximum. Using PTO hours early in 2014 will allow additional accrual time into the new PTO banks. You are encouraged to evaluate your current accrued vacation time, any planned vacation time for the duration of 2013 and the pros and cons of accepting a lump-sum payout of some of your accrued vacation time. How are Holiday Benefits Changing? Holidays will be separate from PTO and are maintained in a separate bank. Full-time 1.0 FTE employees and designated nursing programs are eligible for holiday benefits. Holidays will be available for employees to use 60 days before or after the recognized holiday. Under the new plan, you will receive seven paid, eight-hour holidays. Six of these holidays will be fixed and one will be designated as a floating day that you can use when you choose with supervisory approval. The floating holiday gives us the opportunity to recognize the diversity and personal needs of all LUHS employees. Pay for working on a holiday will remain the same. The Human Resources Holiday policy will be updated and distributed this fall. The majority of Chicago-area hospitals provide seven holidays for their employees, as reported in the January 2013 MCHC Benefits Survey. LUHS HOLIDAYS 2014 New Year s Day (Wednesday, January 1) Memorial Day (Monday, May 26) Independence Day (Friday, July 4) Labor Day (Monday, September 1) Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 27) Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25) Plus one floating holiday to be scheduled at an employee s discretion with supervisory approval Employees will still be able to use remaining 2013 holidays through the time allowed by current LUMC or GMH policy (60 days following the recognized holiday). Beginning in 2014, we will have one common holiday policy What Happens to Accrued Sick Time? The amount of sick time that you have as of December 28, 2013, will be frozen and banked so that you can still access it as follows: You may continue to use your frozen sick time for your own illness, this includes intermittent FMLA, beginning December 29, 2013, provided you have used a total of three (3) days of PTO for illness (based on FTE) in the previous rolling 12-month period. If the rolling 12-month period expands into 2013, sick days will be counted to satisfy the (3) PTO sick time requirement. If you have not used 3 days of PTO for illness, the first 3-consecutive or non-consecutive days off will be deducted from your PTO time. If you do not have a frozen bank of sick time hours, you will use accrued PTO hours for illness. If you are eligible for Short-Term Disability, you can access that benefit on the 15th consecutive day of your illness. (See article on page 5.)

5 With the implementation of the new accruals into the PTO banks and the improved short-term disability benefits, you will not accrue any additional time into your bank of frozen sick time. Medical certification will continue to be required for extended illnesses according to the attendance and leave of absence policies and the requirements for the short-term and long-term disability plans. Employees hired between September 29, 2013, and December 28, 2013, must complete 90 days of employment before they are eligible to access frozen sick time as described above. Both LUMC and GMH have had a sick time benefit with sick bank accrual maximums greater than other hospitals in the Chicago area. However, neither hospital offered a competitive short-term disability benefit. Most hospitals have transitioned to a PTO plan combined with an enhanced short-term disability benefit to provide employees with a common benefit. See the How Will LUHS Disability Plans Change? on page 5 to learn more. How Will LUHS Disability Plans Change? The disability plans provide you with income if you are unable to work due to a non-work-related injury or illness. LUHS provides both short- and long-term disability benefits. The Short-Term Disability (STD) Plan benefit is changing and is being enhanced. The enhanced short-term disability plan design will apply to approved claims that result in a last day at work occurring on or after January 1, Employees currently on disability or whose last day at work is before January 1, 2014, will continue to receive benefits based on the existing short-term disability plan design. When approved for short-term disability pay, you will receive 50 percent of your base pay for up to six months. STD payments will start after you have been unable to work for 14 consecutive calendar days due to a non-workrelated illness, injury or maternity leave as defined by the STD Plan and approved by The Hartford. This represents a significant improvement over the current short-term disability benefit (previously a 30-day waiting period at GMH and 45-day waiting period at LUMC). The first three days of the 14-day waiting period for STD will be deducted from your current PTO bank, unless you have used a total of three (3) days of PTO for illness (based on FTE) in the previous rolling 12-month period, after that, you must access your frozen sick time, if applicable. If you do not have frozen sick time, you may use your PTO time for the 14-day waiting period or go unpaid. You must use your frozen sick days, if applicable, before you can start STD payments. The Hartford has become the new administrator for our short-term and long-term disability plans. The Hartford will review disability applications for short-term and long-term disability, approve benefit payments for eligible disabilities and determine how long payments should continue. The Hartford is a leader in customer service and also will help our employees return to work when medically appropriate. New hires will be eligible for short-term disability benefits on the 1st of the month following 30 days of service. Previously an employee was required to have one year of service at LUMC and three years of service at GMH to be eligible for short-term disability. In addition, effective January 1, 2014, benefits are offered to part-time employees whose FTE is.50 or greater. The Long-Term Disability (LTD) Plan will offer two coverage options- Base LTD: LUHS pays the total cost of this coverage, which provides 50 percent of your base pay, and Buy-Up LTD: You can choose to purchase this higher level of coverage of 66-2/3 percent of your base pay. (The LTD buy-up option will be offered as a benefit during the 2014 LUMC and GMH s annual openenrolment period.) Employees will receive LTD payments for eligible disabilities that last longer than six months. The Hartford determines the eligibility and duration for LTD payments based on the LTD Plan rules. 5

6 6 What You Need to Do Your PTO plan is scheduled to change effective with the pay period beginning December 29, 2013, and the pay check of January 17, As you consider your personal needs and evaluate your current vacation bank, you will need to plan on how you will use your time. Please work with your supervisor to schedule time away from work if you will have accrued vacation time over the new PTO maximum of 1½ years accrual. Please Note: Accrued vacation over the new PTO bank maximums as of December 29, 2013, will be paid to the employee on the January 17, 2014, pay check. You will receive additional information in the next couple of months. When You ll Hear More This newsletter is intended to give you a high-level overview of the coming changes. Plan to attend one of the following meetings to hear more detail and to get answers to your specific questions about these changes. Thank you for your continued efforts in providing highquality care and fulfilling our Mission to our community. Our success has always reflected our ability to serve together while responding to a changing environment. We appreciate your efforts and support. If you have any questions, please contact the Benefits Hotline, (708) LUMC EMPLOYEE INFORMATION MEETINGS Date Monday, Sept p.m. Tuesday, Sept a.m. Wednesday, Sept 11 Wednesday, Sept p.m. Monday, Sept p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19 Monday, Sept. 20 What SSOM, Room 160 SSOM, Room 160 SSOM, Room 160 GMH EMPLOYEE INFORMATION MEETINGS Date 1:00-2:00 p.m. Monday, Sept 9 5:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept 10 1:00-2:00 p.m. Wednesday, Sept 11 10:00-11:00 a.m. Wednesday, Sept 16 Tuesday, Sept. 17 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept 18 What POB Room E & F POB Room C & D DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this Announcement Letter is designed to assist you with understanding your plans under the Loyola University Medical Center and Gottlieb Memorial Hospital employee benefits program. It is only an overview; it is not intended to be a comprehensive description of your benefit plan design(s). The summary plan descriptions and official plan documents cover these plans in more detail, and should be referred to with inquiries on what services are covered by the plan. Whenever there is a discrepancy between printed materials, the official plan documents will prevail. Loyola retains the right to make changes to or terminate its benefit plans at any time Loyola University Health System. All rights reserved. August LoyolaMedicine.org