{"id":34862,"date":"2015-07-01T14:24:25","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T14:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=34862"},"modified":"2015-07-01T14:24:25","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T14:24:25","slug":"state-employee-benefits-extended-for-same-sex-spouses-beginning-july-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/07\/01\/state-employee-benefits-extended-for-same-sex-spouses-beginning-july-1\/","title":{"rendered":"State employee benefits extended for same-sex spouses beginning July 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Community College employees and retirees eligible for benefits through the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) can enroll their same-sex spouses and dependent children of those spouses in coverage beginning July 1.<\/p>\n<p>Details about benefits coverage and enrollment dates is on the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ers.state.tx.us\/ERS_News\/GBP-same-sex-spouses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Employee News<\/a> webpage. ERS administers benefits for the college. A few details:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For same-sex marriages occurring previously in other states, the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s decision legalizing those marriages in Texas is considered a Qualifying Life Event (QLE). The QLE enrollment period is June 26 &#8211; July 25. Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.state.tx.us\/Employees\/Life-Events\/Overview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Qualifying Life Events<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>For marriages occurring on and after June 26, employees must enroll eligible spouses or dependents within 30 days of the event (the standard QLE period), or June 26 &#8211; July 25. Coverage added through the QLE process is effective the first day of the month following the date of the QLE, or in this instance, July 1.<\/li>\n<li>For marriages occurring during ACC\u2019s upcoming annual benefits enrollment period (July 10 \u2013 July 24), employees should follow the QLE process to enroll spouses or dependents.<\/li>\n<li>Medicare-eligible retirees can add a spouse to coverage during the fall Medicare enrollment period or during the QLE enrollment period. Retirees who are not enrolled in Medicare may add a spouse and\/or dependent during summer enrollment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More information about ACC\u2019s annual benefits enrollment will be available in the coming weeks. The college will host its annual enrollment fair and presentation on\u00a0Friday, July 24, from 9 a.m. to noon\u00a0in Highland Business Center Room 201. Employees can talk with vendors and ask questions about various benefit plans.<\/p>\n<p>Employees also can access benefit information and change their plan enrollment by going to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.state.tx.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ERS<\/a> website. For questions, contact ERS at 877-275-4377, or ACC\u2019s benefits staff at <a href=\"mailto:hrbenefits@austincc.edu\">hrbenefits@austincc.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Community College employees and retirees eligible for benefits through the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program (GBP) can enroll their same-sex spouses and dependent children of those spouses in coverage beginning July 1. Details about &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/07\/01\/state-employee-benefits-extended-for-same-sex-spouses-beginning-july-1\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3932,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[343,342],"class_list":["post-34862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facstaff-news","tag-benefits","tag-human-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3932"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}