Please be advised that the benefits descriptions in this Handbook are designed to be general guidelines, and any applicable summary plan descriptions (SPDs) will control.
Health Insurance
In accordance with the Affordable Care Act, the College provides medical insurance to regular full-time employees and employees that work on average 30 hours per week. The effective date of our health and dental benefits will be the first of the month after the hire date. The cost and specific coverage details are based on plan choice and who is covered. Regular full-time employees also have access to dental insurance. Employees must choose the type of medical coverage they desire within 30 days of employment. Full details about the medical and dental insurance are available on the website.
Retirement Plan
Gettysburg College offers a retirement program for employees who work at least 1,000 hours annually. After a two-year waiting period, the College will contribute 7% of your base salary to a retirement annuity with TIAA.
Waiving the Waiting Period:The two-year waiting period can be waived for eligible employees who have participated in a 403(b), 401(a), or another retirement plan at a college or university within one year of their hire date and received fully vested employer contributions during that period. To qualify, you must provide the Human Resources Office with satisfactory proof of this prior participation.
New employees must submit a Documentation of Service Form to request the waiver. Please note that Gettysburg College will not retroactively reimburse contributions if this documentation is not received in a timely manner.
Supplemental Retirement Annuity: You may immediately contribute to a Supplemental Retirement Annuity (Tax-Deferred Annuity) through TIAA. Please log into PeopleSoft self-service and use the benefits dashboard to start, stop, or update your voluntary contribution.
ROTH Option We now offer a ROTH option for current employees. This allows you to make after-tax contributions and accumulate earnings tax-free, enhancing your retirement savings.
You can contribute a flat dollar amount or a percentage of your pay. If you're not contributing the maximum amount, using a percentage (e.g., 10%) can help ensure your contributions increase with salary changes.
You can adjust your voluntary contributions at any time throughout the year.
Gettysburg College's Retirment Healthcare Savings Plan
To help our employees prepare and pay for medical expenses in retirement, Gettysburg College established the Retirement Healthcare Savings Plan through TIAA.
To participate in the plan, employees must be at least 35 years old and have been employed at Gettysburg College for a period of at least 2 years. All employees over the age of 21 may make voluntary after-tax contributions to the plan.
This plan complements the employee’s retirement program and offers tax advantages as the employee accumulates savings. When the employee retires, they have access to:
- Tax-free employer contributions
- Tax-free investment earnings
- Tax-free reimbursement for qualified medical expenses during retirement
In addition, employees have the opportunity to save even more by making their own contributions on an after-tax basis. Any earnings are tax free as long as the money is used to pay qualified healthcare costs.
Because it is a post-retirement health program, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that the employee be retired from the College in order to access the benefits (VEBA and Grantor Trust money and access to Medicare supplement plans) provided by the program. Therefore, the retirees may not work on a part-time basis at the College and have access to the post-retirement benefits.
Group Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
The College provides Group Term Life and AD&D insurance to regular full-time employees. It is valued at one and one-half times the annual budgeted salary rounded to the next higher $1,000, not to exceed $400,000. The Internal Revenue Service imposes an imputed income tax on employer-provided group life insurance in excess of $50,000. The employee must pay the tax on the value of the premium for the amount over $50,000.
Long Term Disability Insurance
Eligibility
Gettysburg College provides Long Term Disability (LTD) insurance for employees who meet the eligibility requirements. The LTD insurance plan coverage begins on the first of the month following the employee's one-year anniversary date of entry into an eligible class. The eligible class, as defined by the plan, are employees who work at least 34 hours a week. The waiting period is waived for employees who show proof of continuous long-term disability coverage prior to hire at Gettysburg College. An employee may elect to pay the premium for this benefit, and if they qualify for LTD the income is not taxable.
Coverage
After six months of total disability, the LTD insurance plan provides a monthly income benefit equal to 60% of monthly salary up to a maximum monthly benefit of $7,000. The monthly disability income will be reduced by other disability income benefits, (i.e. Social Security and or/workers compensation).
In addition to insurance of income, the LTD plan provides insurance for the Gettysburg College retirement annuity contribution made on your behalf to the TIAA retirement annuity. Once eligible to receive the retirement annuity benefit, the annuity insurance coverage will ensure continued contributions to the retirement annuity at the rate of 7% of annual salary at the time of disability until age 65.
COBRA Benefits
Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reform Act (COBRA), an eligible employee and/or the eligible employee's family has the right to continue health insurance protection when any of the following qualifying events occur:
- the employee terminates for any reason other than gross misconduct
- the employee has insurance for dependents and the insured dependent:
becomes a widow(er)
becomes an orphan - the employee ceases to be eligible for coverage as a dependent under the terms of the plan, or
- the dependent is separated or divorced from the employee
- the employee’s job or the employee’s spouse’s job changes in such a way that health insurance benefits are significantly changed or lost.
In order to be eligible for COBRA coverage, an employee must have been covered immediately prior to the qualifying event. Employees must let the College know of their divorce or legal separation or if a dependent ceases to be eligible under the College's group health insurance plan. Employees and their qualified beneficiaries are also responsible for notifying the College within 60 days of qualifying for social security disability benefits.
There may be other coverage options for the employee and their family. The employee will be able to buy coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. In the Marketplace, they could be eligible for a new kind of tax credit that lowers your monthly premiums right away, and they can see what their premium, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs will be before they decide to enroll. Being eligible for COBRA does not limit their eligibility for coverage for a tax credit through the Marketplace. Additionally, they may qualify for a special enrollment opportunity for another group health plan for which they are eligible (such as a spouse’s plan), even if the plan generally does not accept late enrollees, if they request enrollment within 30 days.
Domestic Partnership
The College extends many of the same benefits to qualified domestic partners (same-sex and opposite-sex) of eligible benefited employees as those offered to lawfully wedded spouses of otherwise eligible employees. Both the employee and the domestic partner must sign an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership. This affidavit outlines a specific set of criteria, which must be met to qualify for such benefits.
Gettysburg College employees typically may enroll a domestic partner in the benefit plans offered to other Gettysburg College spouses. Domestic partners are subject to the same eligibility requirements and plan provisions, which govern all other participants in the benefit programs.
Electing this benefit may have tax implications to the employee. As a result, employees are strongly advised to seek guidance from a tax advisor before choosing whether or not to elect this benefit. It should also be noted that any contributions related to such coverage will be made on an after-tax basis.
Employees must notify the Human Resources Office within 15 days should a domestic partnership be terminated. Upon termination of the relationship, domestic partners covered under the College's health care plan would then be offered the opportunity to continue their health insurance under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reform Act (COBRA).
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
The College carries workers’ compensation insurance as prescribed by law, which is designed to cover certain lost wages and medical expenses that may result from an injury or illness incurred during the course of employment. Injuries, no matter how minor, must be immediately reported to your supervisor. Supervisors must notify the Human Resources of all injuries in writing as soon as possible after the occurrence and in all cases, within 24 hours.
Incidents must be reported at the time they occur.
Employees should consult the College’s panel of approved physicians prior to seeking treatment for a work-related injury. Employees failing to treat with a physician listed on the panel may not be eligible for reimbursement of payments to that physician under the Pennsylvania Worker's Compensation Act.