Because of ongoing COVID-19 safety restrictions on large gatherings, our annual live benefit open enrollment meetings on the Twin Cities and Winona campuses will be replaced this year with a recorded PowerPoint presentation you can watch at your convenience. That presentation, together with the 2021 Employee Benefit Guide, instructions for submitting your benefit elections, and other helpful information, will be posted to the HR page of Blackboard on Nov. 9.
During open enrollment, which runs Nov. 9-24, you may add, drop, or change benefit coverage without a qualifying life event. Your elections will take effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
We are pleased to announce that for the second consecutive plan year, the university is absorbing the cost increase so employee premiums for all tiers of medical, dental, and vision plans will remain unchanged.
The 2021 plan year is a passive enrollment. You are not required to re-enroll in your current benefits if you do not want to make any changes. However, you must re-enroll in all Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) if you wish to use them for 2021. These benefits — Health FSA, Dependent FSA, and Limited FSA — are “use it or lose it” each plan year, so a new annual salary deferral election is required each year. If you do not re-enroll in your FSA benefits, they will be cancelled effective Jan. 1, 2021.
To enroll or change elections, please login to the Faculty/Staff Portal, then My Payroll, Benefits, and Open Enrollment. Whether you make benefit changes or not, we encourage all benefit eligible employees to review and update their beneficiaries, home address, and phone numbers during the open enrollment period.
Please view the recorded open enrollment presentation starting Nov. 9 for more details. If you still have questions or need assistance afterwards, you can email hr@smumn.edu or visit the human resources office on your campus. If you prefer to call, dial 507-457-8706 (or Ext. 8706 from any campus phone).