Department of Civil Service

NY08-09

TO: State Agency SUNY Health Benefits Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP)
DATE: April 30, 2008

PEP for 2008

The Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) allows eligible UUP-represented and SUNY M/C (bargaining unit 13) employees to exchange previously accrued annual leave (vacation) in return for a credit to be applied toward their employee share NYSHIP premiums on a biweekly basis. In no case can the credit available under the program be applied to the employer share of NYSHIP premiums. As detailed below, the program will be administered on a NYSHIP plan year (hereafter “plan year”) basis.

To be eligible to enroll in PEP, employees must meet the following criteria:

• Be employed on a Calendar Year or College Year basis;
• Be a full-time employee with an annual salary no greater than $56,313 for enrollment for the 2008 plan year, respectively or a part-time employee whose biweekly salary does not exceed $1,099 for enrollment for the 2008 plan year;
• Be an employee covered by the 2007-2011 New York State/UUP Collective Bargaining Agreement or a SUNY M/C employee in bargaining unit 13;

NOTE: EBD has created a NEW benefit program A 29 for SUNY M/C 13 enrollees effective 4/3/08.

• Be a NYSHIP enrollee (contract holder) in either the Empire Plan or an HMO;
• Be eligible to receive an employer share contribution toward NYSHIP premiums (or be on leave without pay from a position in which the employee is normally eligible for an employer share contribution toward NYSHIP premium);
• Have a sufficient annual leave balance to make the full leave forfeiture without bringing their annual leave balance below 8 days for fulltime employees or 4 days for part-time employees respectively.

Exchanged Leave

Eligible UUP represented employees and SUNY M/C employees (NU 13) exchange 2 days of Annual Leave for the PEP credit.

Enrollment

All eligible employees who wish to participate in the 2008 PEP must have filed an election form with their agency personnel office on April 30, 2008 through May 24, 2008.

The 2008 enrollment forms for PEP are attached to this memo for your use.

Agencies are responsible for distribution and retention of the enrollment forms and coordination between the agency personnel office and the HBA with respect to certification of accrual adjustment(s) and initiating the PEP credit on NYBEAS.

Health Insurance Premium Contribution Credit for PEP

For the 2008 PEP, the credit that will be applied to the biweekly employee share of the health insurance premium and can be calculated as reflected below:

Full-Time Employees
The biweekly credit is equal to $17.65 ($300/26 paychecks) OR the biweekly cost of the enrollee’s employee share NYSHIP contribution, whichever is less.

Part-Time Employees
The biweekly credit for part time UUP and SUNY M/C program participants is $8.83 ($150/17) OR the biweekly cost of the enrollee’s employee share NYSHIP contribution, whichever is less.

The amount of credit will only be adjusted if the enrollee moves from individual to family coverage during the program year. For example:

Blue Choice (066)

Individual Premium (2008): $15.24
Family Premium (2008): $72.95
Calculated PEP credit: $17.65

An enrollee with individual coverage with Blue Choice, option 066, would get a PEP credit of $15.24, not the calculated credit of $17.65. If that enrollee moves to family coverage, the credit would change to $17.65.

NYBEAS PROCESSING

To ADD the Health Insurance Premium Contribution Credit for PEP

HBA’s will process a PEP/ENR to add the credit to NYBEAS (see below). T

PEP Eligibility for UUP and SUNY M/C 13

Attachments:
2008 PEP SUNY Summary
2008 PEP SUNY Enrollment Form