30 Day Rule

If you experience a qualifying event, you must contact the Office of Faculty & Staff Benefits in order to make changes to benefit plans subject to Open Enrollment rules within 30 days of the occurrence of the qualifying event. Even though you have 30 days to inform us of the change, we strongly encourage you to inform us of the change as soon as you possibly can, because the coverage effective date for adding a dependent or spouse will be retroactive back to the date of the event, as will the change in your premium, if applicable.
 
Please Note: There is another compelling reason to notify us as soon as possible regarding the qualifying event. There is an important exception to this “30 day” rule for events that occur at the end of the calendar year. If you experience a qualifying event in November or December, you need to notify the Office of Faculty and Staff Benefits of any changes to the Flexible Spending Account plan prior to the cutoff day for the last payroll run of the calendar year. This is because these changes affect your taxable income and must be reflected in the tax year for which the change applies. If you have a qualifying event at the very end of a calendar year, and have no remaining paychecks left in that year, you will not be able to make any changes to your plan in that year, but can do so for the following calendar year.