Extension County Operations

Employee Benefits for UGA-Funded Employees

For specific benefits assistance / questions contact:

Whitney Gaughan, Benefits Coordinator, CAES Business Office

Phone: 706-542-9002

Fax: 706-542-2378

E-Mail: wgaughan@uga.edu

Note: County-funded employees, please contact your county's benefits officer.

New UGA-Funded Employees
Commonly Requested Information

NEW UGA-FUNDED EMPLOYEES

UGA Online Orientation

All new employees funded through UGA are required to complete the
UGA Online Orientation.

Online Orientation may be found here: http://www.hr.uga.edu/ori/orient.html

Choosing Your Benefits

It is imperative that all new UGA-funded employees make informed decisions concerning their benefits. CAES is committed to providing individual guidance to each new employee.

Five Things All New Employees Need to Know:

You have 31 days

Benefit-eligible employees have 31 days from their employment date to enroll in their benefits, with the exception of their retirement choice (see #2). Benefits decisions include, but are not limited to:

- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Long term Disability
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
- Flexible Spending Accounts

For a complete list of benefits information and enrollment instructions, vist: http://www.hr.uga.edu/benefits/benefits.html

NOTE: Premiums are NOT prorated if your benefits begin in the middle of a month. For example: If a person is employed on January 28 and signs up for family health insurance to begin on the first day of employment, then they still must pay the full premium for the month of January even though they were only covered for 3 days.

Selecting Your Retirement Plan
All faculty and newly-hired exempt benefit-eligible staff may choose between the TRS and ORP. Non-exempt, benefit-eligible staff must participate in TRS. Also, UGA temporary employees moving to exempt, benefit-eligible positions may choose between TRS and ORP.

New employees have 60 days from their employment date to choose between Teachers Retirement (TRS) or the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP). This decision is irrevocable. For a brief comparison between the TRS and ORP plans, click here: http://www.hr.uga.edu/benefits/bensumm/trs_orp_comparison.pdf

NOTE: For employees receiving a county paycheck in addition to a UGA paycheck, ORP retirement deductions will be based only on the UGA portion of your salary.

Dental Insurance Enrollment
Unlike health insurance, dental insurance does not have an open enrollment every year. If you do not enroll when you are first eligible, you may not have the opportunity to do so in the future. If you choose to enroll in the dental plan, you will pay 100% of the monthly premium with no contribution from UGA.
Use Flexible Spending Accounts to Your Advantage
The Payflex Flexible Spending Account allows you to make pre-tax contributions into an account to provide a means of paying for eligible out-of-pocket healthcare expenses and work-related dependent daycare expenses. Your PayFlex account may be used for dental visits, contacts, glasses, eye exams, co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, etc. The main advantages of PayFlex are that you do not have to pay taxes on the amount you elect to contribute to the account, and your contributions will lower your taxable income.

NOTE: PayFlex is a use it or lose it account. You must spend all of your contributions within the plan year or you will lose the money left in the account. You must enroll each plan year to participate in this program.

The Benefits of Long Term Disability
Long Term Disability insurance provides income replacement for employees unable to work for at least 90 days as a result of serious illness or injury. Employees who should consider Long Term Disability insurance are those who are not yet vested in the TRS retirement system; and those employees who choose ORP, who do not have disability coverage regardless of their number of years of service. Long Term Disability insurance is a low cost way to provide protection for you and your family. We all know that we have life insurance if we die, but what if we live? What if you cannot work again? LTD will pay up to 66 2/3% of your lost income.

Extension County Operations

Employee Benefits for UGA-Funded Employees

NEW UGA-FUNDED EMPLOYEES

COMMONLY REQUESTED INFORMATION

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