HR News Updates | November 2019

The CSU Employee Fee Waiver and Reduction Program provides for the waiver or reduction of certain fees for employees who enroll in work-related courses offered by the CSU for the purpose of improving skills for existing jobs, or advancement in accordance with a career development plan.  In addition, an eligible CSU employee may transfer his or her fee waiver benefit to a spouse, domestic partner, or eligible dependent child. Only one person may use this benefit per semester, regardless of whether the individual uses the full two (2) courses or 6 units.

The CSU Fee Waiver module is currently available for Spring 2020 registration. In order to ensure timely processing, please submit your application no later than November 1, 2019

For more information, visit: http://www.csun.edu/benefits/fee-waiver-reduction-program.

As a reminder, you can view your current Benefits Summary and Dependent Coverage in the CSUN portal. If you submitted changes as part of the annual Open Enrollment period, you can view those changes in the portal by changing the date field on those pages to "01/01/2020".  Changes made during Open Enrollment (which closed October 4, 2019) will be effective January 1, 2020.

Thank you to all faculty and staff who attended the Benefits and Wellness Fair held September 12, 2019 in the University Student Union (USU), Northridge Center. The interactive event enabled the more than 400 attendees to meet with over 30 health care providers and campus partners.

We hope you enjoyed the event and that your visit assisted you with getting ready for open enrollment and learning about the many on and off campus health and well-being resources available.  We look forward to seeing you again next year!

If you would like to provide any feedback, recognize the helpfulness of a specific exhibitor, or make a suggestion for next year, please let us know at benefitsadminstration@csun.edu.

You can view your 2019 Annual Member Statement by logging in to your MyCalPERS account at: https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/active-members/retirement-benefits/service-credit/annual-member-statement.

If you haven’t already done so, visit our LifeMatters@CSUN website to learn about all of the services and resources available to you and your family/household members as part of your Employee Assistance Program benefit.

You can access the LifeMatters website on your desktop, or mobile device. Visit https://www.mylifematters.com/.

Monthly Webinar

In addition, LifeMatters hosts monthly Webinars. Most Webinars are live, and some are posted for download.

This month’s webinar (LIVE) will be held on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, TWO OPTIONS:  9:00 – 10:00 a.m. OR 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. PDT  

Care for Caregivers:

This webinar discusses how Caregiving can take a toll on people. Learn about compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and burnout, and how to manage it with self-care and stress reduction techniques.

To register for the live webinar:

• Click on the preferred time above, or
• Go to mylifematters.com/my/webinars and log in using the password “Matadors.”
• You must register prior to the start of the webinar in order to attend.

Dependent Re-Verification (DRV) is the process of re-verifying the eligibility of your spouse, domestic partner, children, stepchildren, and domestic partner children (family members) enrolled for state health and dental benefits. Government Code section 22843.1 mandates re-verifying the eligibility of your family members. Government Code section 22959 authorizes extending this review to your family members enrolled for dental benefits.

• The eligibility of your family members will be re-verified once every three years. The re-verification period is based on your birth month. Employees born during the following months are required to re-verify family members during 2019: February, May, August and November.
• For those employees with birthdays in November, CalPERS, will mail you information explaining the process and the documentation required to maintain health coverage for your dependents. Please read and ensure Human Resources has your documents prior to November 1, 2019 in order for your dependent(s) to continue receiving health coverage and avoid cancellation on 12/1/2019.
• For more information visit the following page: Health Care Dependent Re-Verification

Please ensure that your vacation balance as of January 1, 2019 is at or below your maximum carryover per your applicable bargaining agreement. You may view your leave balances online through the portal at www.csun.edu. Once in the portal, find the HR/Employee – Time & Attendance pagelet; click on View Absence Balances. If you are not able to view your balances, please see your department Timekeeper.

Also, remember to consider your vacation accruals for November and December when calculating the number of hours you must use before January 1st. For details concerning the calculation of your “Maximum Carryover Hours” refer to http://www.csun.edu/benefits/vacation.

Special note for Faculty: After one (1) full year of employment, a California Faculty Association (R03) employee who accrues vacation [Full-time ten (10) month and twelve (12) month faculty unit employees] shall take at least forty (40) hours of vacation each calendar year. Any part of the forty (40) hours not taken during the calendar year shall be forfeited by January 1 of the subsequent year (Article 34.7).

Whether you are already a PERS Select member or considering joining, we encourage you to stay informed and make sure you understand your choices and how the different types of health plans work. 

Learn more at: https://www.anthem.com/ca/calpers/.