BENEFITS

As a regular employee, you receive comprehensive and significant benefit programs to help protect you and your family against the financial hardships caused by sickness, death, and other emergencies. In addition, available retirement programs can provide you with a source of continued income after you retire.

Group Insurance

From your first day of employment, you will be provided with an automatic coverage benefit that includes a basic medical plan (includes prescription drug coverage), a dental plan, a life insurance policy, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance. UT Southwestern pays the entire premium cost of your automatic coverage benefit. However, the automatic coverage benefit does not include any optional coverage or dependent coverage. During your first 60 days of employment, you may elect additional coverage or optional benefits including dependent coverage. (After 60 days, you may be required to establish proof of insurability satisfactory to the insurer in order to obtain additional or optional coverage.) If you decide to select additional coverage or optional benefits after first receiving automatic coverage, you must select all desired coverage because all automatic coverage will end as a result of your selecting any additional coverage. Failure to make all selections at this time could result in your not being able to obtain desired coverage until the next annual enrollment period. Any premiums for additional and optional coverage will be deducted from your paycheck.

Changes in Insurance Coverage

You may make changes in your insurance coverage during the annual enrollment period or as a result of a qualifying family status change.

Annual Enrollment

An annual enrollment period usually occurs in July and/or August of each year. Changes in available plan benefits or premiums will be announced during the annual enrollment period. During this period you may elect to add, change, or cancel insurance coverage and make UT Flex elections. Certain changes made by you may require that you establish eligibility of insurability. Plan and premium changes, as well as your coverage changes made during the annual enrollment period, take effect on the first day of September.

Qualifying Family Status Change

Family status changes such as marriage, divorce, new dependents, and a spouse's loss or gain of employment are qualifying family status changes that enable you to alter your insurance coverage as it pertains to such changes in status. These changes must be made within 31 days of the qualifying family status change.

Available Group Insurance

To obtain detailed information about the following available insurance coverage, including how to make changes in your current coverage, you may contact the Systems and Benefits Division of the Office of Human Resources at 214-648-9830, review benefits information accessible through the Office of Human Resources home page at http://hr.swmed.edu/ or refer to your benefits brochures:

Unemployment Compensation Insurance

If you are separated from your employment with UT Southwestern for reasons other than misconduct or voluntary resignation, you may be eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits through the Texas Workforce Commission. UT Southwestern will submit protests to applications for unemployment benefits when the termination was due to a violation of a policy, violation of law, neglect or mismanagement of your position, or failure to perform work acceptably when you are capable of doing so. Protests will also be submitted when the termination was due to voluntary resignation.

Workers' Compensation Insurance

Unless you elect not to be covered, beginning with your first day of employment, you are covered by The University of Texas System's self-insured Workers' Compensation Insurance Program. If you experience an injury or contract an occupational disease while in the course and scope of your employment, you may be eligible for Workers' Compensation benefits under the program.

  1. Notify your supervisor immediately or as soon as possible. If your injury is a medical emergency, call 214-648-8911 or have someone call to request an emergency medical response and transportation to an emergency facility. If your injury does not require emergency treatment, you should obtain appropriate medical care. In either event, you have the right to obtain treatment from the health-care provider of your choice;
  2. Request your supervisor to complete and submit a First Report of Injury to
    the Office of Human Resources WCI/Leave Administration Division. The First Report of Injury must be submitted within 24 hours from the time that the injury occurred; and
  3. If your attending physician places you on an off work status, notify your supervisor immediately. You will be required to submit periodic status reports from your attending physician, and you will not be permitted to return to duty until you have received a medical release from your attending physician.

UT Flex

Regular employees and retirees employed on modified service are eligible to participate in the flexible benefits plan. Participation in this plan may decrease the amount of income tax you pay each year by allowing the use of pre-tax (tax-free) dollars for the following:

Insurance Premium Payments

Certain premiums that exceed UT Southwestern's contribution for medical, dental, term life, accidental death and dismemberment, and long-term disability insurance can be paid with pre-tax dollars.

Medical and Dental Expenses

Pre-tax dollars may be used to pay certain medical or dental expenses not otherwise covered by health insurance, including co-payments, deductibles, co-insurance, and expenses that exceed coverage maximums.

Dependent Care Expenses

UT Flex allows for the use of pre-tax dollars for payment of day-care expenses for dependent children and certain other dependents.

You must enroll in UT Flex during Annual Enrollment for each year you wish to participate. If you fail to reenroll in UT Flex during Annual Enrollment, you will not be eligible to participate during that year. No changes are allowed during the year except those based on family status changes approved by the Internal Revenue Service.

Employee Assistance Program

UT Southwestern is concerned for your health and well being and is aware that personal matters can affect your job performance. As a result, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available as a resource to you should you become confronted with medical or behavioral issues (whether yours or those of family members) that adversely impact upon your well being or your ability to carry out your responsibilities. These issues include, but are not limited to, alcoholism and drug abuse, marital, family, financial, legal, gambling, psychological, or other medical or behavioral difficulties or disorders.

The EAP is available to you, your spouse, and children, and should you or they be confronted with a personal problem, you are encouraged to take advantage of the diagnostic counseling and treatment services of the EAP. Professional counselors provide EAP services, and the specific nature of any problem you or your family member discusses with the EAP is confidential and will not be discussed with supervisors or other employees. Records kept by the EAP are accessible only to EAP personnel and will not become a part of your personnel file. The EAP will not reveal any information to UT Southwestern or anyone outside the EAP, except when you consent in writing, the law requires disclosure, or it is believed that an individual's life or safety would be threatened by a failure to disclose.

Although supervisors are not expected to be qualified to diagnose personal problems or otherwise to make judgments about the causes of behavioral problems, your supervisor may refer you to the EAP based upon deteriorating or unsatisfactory job performance. You have a right to accept or refuse your supervisor's referral to the EAP.

The EAP does not replace current procedures for dealing with unsatisfactory job performance. Employees who seek the services of the EAP are nevertheless expected to meet existing job performance standards and established work rules. You will not be discriminated against because of your participation in the EAP.

UT Southwestern recognizes that alcoholism, drug dependency, and mental and emotional problems are illnesses for which there are effective treatment and rehabilitation. We support any employee who seeks assistance for these or other problems through the EAP. No adverse action will be taken against you if you voluntarily seek treatment from the EAP or enter an approved alcohol or drug abuse treatment program. However, it does not, in and of itself, act to suspend disciplinary action that was previously initiated or is being considered due to work performance or misconduct issues.

Retirement Benefits

State law requires that upon your initial employment as a regular employee, you automatically become a member and participant in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). Full-time faculty and certain eligible staff members are given 90 days from the date of employment to make a lifetime choice to relinquish membership in the TRS and to become a participant in the Optional Retirement Program. This choice is irreversible and cannot be changed.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas is a state agency established by a 1936 amendment to the Texas Constitution. The TRS retirement benefit plan is a defined benefit plan. This means that the amount of the benefit to be paid to you is determined under a formula that is established by law. As a qualified retiree, you will receive a particular monthly benefit without regard to the amount of the contributions you made as an active employee.

As long as you are employed in an eligible position, your member contribution (currently 6.4% of your annual compensation) will be withheld from your salary and transferred to your account each month. UT Southwestern currently contributes an amount equal to 6.0% of your annual salary to your account. If you end your employment with UT Southwestern, you may elect to withdraw the contributions that were withheld from your salary, plus applicable interest. However, you will lose all credit for the contributions made to your account by
UT Southwestern.

For additional information on TRS retirement, including eligibility requirements, refer to the TRS Benefits Handbook that was given to you during your benefits orientation, write to TRS at 1000 Red River Street, Austin, Texas 78701-2698, or contact the Systems and Benefits Division of the Office of Human Resources at 648-9830.

Optional Retirement Program

By enrolling in the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) within the first 90 days
of employment, eligible employees can opt out of the TRS. ORP is a personal retirement plan that can be purchased by eligible employees to which
UT Southwestern contributes a share. As an eligible employee, you may select a carrier that has been approved by The University of Texas System to provide ORP products. After you have been a participant in ORP for one year and one day, the funds contributed into your account by both you and UT Southwestern become your property. However, you may not cash in or borrow against the funds until your participation terminates. Participation terminates only upon death, retirement, or termination of all employment in public institutions of higher education in Texas.

Since ORP is a personal retirement plan selected and purchased by you at your own risk, it is your responsibility to select the plan that best fits your individual needs. The System and Benefits Division is not permitted to offer tax or legal advice. You are encouraged to consult your personal investment counselor, tax advisor, and/or attorney regarding the potential tax and/or legal consequences of ORP investments. To obtain additional information or to sign-up for ORP, contact the Systems and Benefits Division of the Office of Human Resources at 648-9830.

Tax-Sheltered Annuities

Pursuant to Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRS), as an eligible employee, you may purchase a non-transferable annuity from an approved company with automatic deductions from your paycheck. Within IRS limits, the purchase of an annuity may lower your current taxable income. You are encouraged to consult your personal investment counselor, tax advisor, and/or attorney regarding the potential consequences of this type of investment. To obtain additional information or to sign-up for a tax-sheltered annuity, contact the Systems and Benefits Division of the Office of Human Resources at 648-9830.

Retirement and Modified Service

Pursuant to The University of Texas System Board of Regents' Rules and Regulations, it is the policy of UT Southwestern that there shall be no compulsory retirement age except for licensed pilots. A person who retires may be appointed to modified service if the service of the individual will result in a significant benefit to UT Southwestern. Retirement is defined as withdrawal from employment with The University of Texas System or a component institution with a retirement benefit.