Coverage may be continued for you and your Covered Dependents for up to twelve weeks while you are on leave from employment under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This is unpaid, job protected leave. The Plan requires documentation from you that your leave is in accordance with the FMLA. FMLA coverage runs simultaneously with other continuation coverage, except COBRA. Your Employer will need to notify the Plan that you qualify for leave under the FMLA and must pay the required contribution to the Trust on a timely basis. Your Employer can provide additional details concerning your eligibility for FMLA coverage.
Benefit Portability
If your coverage under this Plan ends, and you become eligible under a new health plan, the length of time you were covered under this Plan may be used to reduce the length of a pre-existing condition exclusion period contained in your new plan. A certificate of creditable coverage provides information regarding your period of coverage under this Plan, which your new plan may need to credit coverage.
This Plan will automatically provide a certificate of creditable coverage when Plan coverage ends or when you become entitled to elect COBRA continuation coverage, as well as when your COBRA continuation coverage ceases.
You may also request a certificate of creditable coverage before losing coverage, or within 24 months after losing coverage, by contacting the Trust Administration Office. If you have any questions regarding your coverage, or if you would like to request a certificate of creditable coverage, please call the Trust Administration Office at (206) 441-7574 or toll free at (800) 732- 1121.
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Periods of Military Service—USERRA Continuation Coverage
If you leave employment with a contributing Employer for military service, you have the following options:
You may elect to run-out your Dollar Bank. When your
Dollar Bank has less than the cost of one month of eligibility, you may elect to extend coverage by making self-payments for USERRA continuation coverage.
You may elect to freeze your Dollar Bank until you return
from military service. If you freeze your Dollar Bank, you still have the option of electing to self-pay for USERRA continuation coverage.
Notice of Military Service
You are responsible for notifying the Trust Administration Office that you are entering military service. If you want to freeze your Dollar Bank, you must notify the Trust Administration Office within 60 days of beginning military service or your Dollar Bank will continue to run-out.
If you want to run-out your Dollar Bank, and then elect USERRA continuation coverage, you must notify the Trust Administration Office of your military service within 60 days of termination of your Dollar Bank coverage. If you fail to notify the Trust Administration Office within the 60-day time period, you will not be entitled to elect USERRA continuation coverage.
Election of USERRA Continuation Coverage
After timely notification to the Trust Administration Office of military service, you will be sent an election form to affirmatively elect to freeze your Dollar Bank and/or elect USERRA continuation coverage. Your completed election form must be sent to the Trust Administration Office, and postmarked or received within 60 days from the later of the date coverage would otherwise end, or 60 days from the date the notification is furnished. If you do not return your election forms by the due date, you will not be
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allowed to freeze your Dollar Bank or elect USERRA continuation coverage.
Length of USERRA Continuation Coverage
If you provide timely notice and properly elect to freeze your Dollar Bank, it will be frozen the first of the month following the month in which you begin military service.
If you properly elect to freeze your Dollar Bank and elect USERRA continuation coverage, the USERRA continuation coverage will begin on the first day of the month following the month in which you begin military service, provided the required self-payments are made.
If you decide to run-out your Dollar Bank before commencing USERRA continuation coverage, USERRA continuation coverage will begin the first of the month following depletion of your Dollar Bank, provided the required self-payments are made.
USERRA continuation coverage will end on the first of the dates indicated below:
24 months following the month your Dollar Bank
terminates or is frozen because of your entry into military service;
The last day of the month in which you fail to return to
employment or apply for a position of reemployment within the time required by USERRA;
The last day of the month for which a timely self-payment is not received or postmarked.
Available Coverage
You may elect to self-pay for USERRA continuation coverage for yourself, yourself and your Covered Dependents, or only your Covered Dependents.
You may elect the following coverage options:
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Medical, Prescription Drug, Life, Accidental Death and
Dismemberment, and Dependent Life. (Dental, vision, and Weekly Disability coverage are not included.)
Once you elect a coverage option, that election cannot be changed for the duration of USERRA continuation coverage. Benefits are the same as those provided to similarly situated active Participants. If the Trust changes its benefits, USERRA continuation coverage will also change.
Monthly Self-Payments Required
If your military leave is for 31 days or more, a monthly self- payment is required for USERRA continuation coverage. The Trust Administration Office will notify you of the self-payment amount when it sends you the election forms. The rate for USERRA coverage is the same as the COBRA continuation coverage rate.
The initial payment for USERRA coverage is due within 45 days from the date the Trust Administration Office receives a completed election form. The first payment must cover all months for which coverage is sought through the month in which the first payment is made. Eligibility will not commence, nor will claims be processed until the initial payment has been made, at which time eligibility will be retroactive to the date your Dollar Bank coverage ended (or was frozen).
After the initial payment, monthly payments are due on the first of each month for that month’s coverage. USERRA continuation coverage terminates if a monthly payment is not postmarked or received by the Trust Administration Office within 30 days from the beginning of the month to be covered.
USERRA continuation coverage must be continuous and must immediately follow the date your Dollar Bank coverage ended (or was frozen).
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Reinstatement of Eligibility Following Military Service
If you properly elected to freeze your Dollar Bank when you entered military service, the balance in your Dollar Bank will be carried over until you are discharged from military service. Your Dollar Bank eligibility will be reinstated the first of the month in which you are discharged. Following reinstatement, Dollar Bank eligibility will terminate the last day of any month in which your Dollar Bank Account has less than the cost of one full month of coverage at the current Dollar Bank deduction rate. You are responsible for notifying the Trust Administration Office of your discharge from military service.
If you return to employment with a contributing Employer immediately following military service and within the time period required by USERRA, your Dollar Bank eligibility will be reinstated on the first day of the second month after your Dollar Bank Account has the minimum required for a month of coverage. Pending reinstatement of Dollar Bank eligibility, you may make self-payments for coverage. If you elected to freeze your Dollar Bank when you entered military service and you return to employment within the time period required by USERRA, you may make self-payments if you fail to work sufficient hours to reinstate Dollar Bank eligibility before the previously frozen Dollar Bank runs out.
To request self-pay continuation coverage after leaving military service, you must notify the Trust Administration Office within 30 days following your return to employment. After timely notification, the Trust Administration Office will provide an election form. Your completed election form must be sent to the Trust Administration Office, and postmarked or received within 60 days from the date it was mailed to you. The initial payment to continue coverage must be included with the completed election form, and cover all months through which the first payment is made. The self-payment rate is the same as the COBRA continuation rate. The coverage provided will be that stated under USERRA continuation coverage.
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The self-pay coverage must be continuous, and must commence the later of the first of the month in which you return to employment within the time specified by USERRA or the first of the month following the termination of your previously frozen Dollar Bank eligibility. The reinstated coverage terminates on the earliest of your receipt of 18 consecutive months of reinstated coverage, reinstatement of your Dollar Bank eligibility based upon your hours worked, or the last day of the month for which a timely self-payment is not received or postmarked. Self-pay coverage runs concurrently with any COBRA coverage that you and your Covered Dependents may be entitled to receive.
If you are on the out-of-work list at the local union, it is considered a return to employment with a contributing Employer for purposes of making self-payments for coverage.
Regardless of whether you want to make self-payments for coverage, you should contact the Trust Administration Office if you return to employment within the time required by USERRA, so that your Dollar Bank may be credited with any dollars that remained in your account when you left for military service, and eligibility can be reinstated without satisfying the rules for initial eligibility.
Relationship of USERRA Continuation Coverage to COBRA
You may have the right to elect COBRA continuation coverage in lieu of USERRA continuation coverage. The length of USERRA continuation coverage may be different from that of COBRA continuation coverage. If you have questions regarding election or duration of COBRA continuation coverage, please see page 35 or contact the Trust Administration Office at (206) 441-7574 or toll free at (800) 732-1121.
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MAJOR MEDICAL BENEFITS