Offering optional benefits outside of the SEBB Program
We’ve received a number of questions about the benefits that SEBB organizations are authorized to offer outside of the SEBB Program. We’ve put together the SEBB Optional Benefits fact sheet to provide clarification. The fact sheet also includes detailed restrictions on offering, endorsing, or making available any benefits that compete with those authorized as part of the SEBB Program.
Start determining employee eligibility early
From September 3 to September 10, you’ll need to upload eligibility files to SEBB My Account so your employees can enroll online during the first annual open enrollment. Before you can do that, you’ll need to determine employees’ eligibility for SEBB benefits. You can get a head start now by beginning to build your list of eligible employees.
The quickest way to do this is to separate your employees into three categories:
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Eligible – Any employee of a school district or charter school, or represented employee of an educational service district, is eligible if you anticipate they will work 630 hours or more during the school year (September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020). You can use these criteria to pick an FTE threshold that you’re comfortable with and have strong confidence that employees who fall within that FTE threshold are likely eligible for SEBB benefits.
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Ineligible – Any employee who is anticipated to work below 630 hours, and has consistently worked below 630 hours for the past two years (since the 2017–18 school year), is likely not eligible for SEBB benefits.
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It’s complicated – If there are circumstances that make it difficult to determine whether some employees meet the eligibility criteria, then more analysis is needed. You’ll need to use resources and guidance from the SEBB Outreach and Training unit to help determine their eligibility. You’ll receive this guidance at training, and you can contact the Outreach and Training unit directly to help work through the more complex eligibility scenarios.
We’re working on providing more eligibility resources for you, which will be available in the July 17 SEBB Update. In the meantime, check out these other eligibility resources:
REMINDER: SEBB My Account authorization forms due July 12
In order for your employees to make SEBB benefit elections beginning October 1, 2019, your organization must have a SEBB My Account authorized administrator. All superintendents should have received an email from DocuSign requesting their signature. Once the authorization form is signed, HCA will create an administrator profile in SEBB My Account for your authorized administrator. These authorized administrators will be responsible for uploading eligibility files to SEBB My Account in September. Please contact hcasebbitsupport@hca.wa.gov with any questions or concerns.
Have your school leadership contacts changed?
Please let us know when your school leadership changes, or if you have new people working in payroll, benefits, or human resources that need to be added or updated on our distribution list. You can easily update or add their contact information so we can send them important SEBB Program information.
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