The university offers certain health & welfare benefits to part-time faculty and staff who work an equivalent of at least halftime as defined by the terms of these guidelines. The cost of the plan will be partially subsidized by the university and available to faculty and staff who meet the eligibility defined in the Procedures section of this policy. The benefit plans offered to benefits-eligible part-time employees are: Blue Cross Blue Shield BlueEdge Consumer Driven Health Plan medical coverage with a Health Savings Account, dental coverage, vision coverage, flexible spending accounts, and the pre-tax transportation program.
Eligibility:
As a general rule, eligibility for part-time faculty and part-time staff employees is determined by looking back at the hours of service the employee earns during a 12-month period. If the employee earns the minimum hours (described below) or average equivalency during the 12-month period, the employee is eligible to elect coverage under the health and welfare benefit options for a subsequent 12 months.
Initial Eligibility:
For newly-hired part-time employees, the Office of Human Resources reviews an employee’s hours of service credited during his or her first 12 months of employment to determine the employee’s eligibility. The procedures outlined below also apply to newly-hired temporary part-time staff employees who are hired into positions that will last six months or less and that require the temporary part-time employee to work less than 30 hours per week.
- Part-time faculty members must be credited with the hours equivalent to a teaching load of at least six 4-credit hour courses (at least four courses for the Law School) during the initial 12 months of employment.
- Part-time staff employees must be credited with at least 1,000 hours of service or an average of 83.33 hours per month during the initial 12 months of employment.
A part-time employee who is initially determined to be eligible for health and welfare benefits will be notified and will have 31 days to enroll in benefits. If a part-time employee elects health and welfare benefit coverage, the initial election will be effective for the 12-month period immediately following the determination of eligibility.
Note: If a part-time staff is hired into a position in which he or she is reasonably expected, as of his or her date of hire, to work 30 or more hours each week, the employee will be eligible to enroll in the health and welfare benefit options for coverage effective in the month following the employee’s date of hire.
On-going Eligibility:
In addition to the initial eligibility determination made based on your initial 12 months of employment, the Office of Human Resources reviews benefits eligibility for ongoing part-time faculty members and part-time staff members each October to determine eligibility for the following plan year. In order to be eligible for benefits in any plan year:
- For part-time faculty members, you must be credited with the hours equivalent to a teaching load of at least six 4-credit hour courses (at least four courses for the Law School) during the October 3 – October 2 timeframe immediately preceding the benefits eligible plan year.
- For part-time staff members, you must be credited with at least 1,000 hours of service or the average of 83.33 hours per month during the October 3 – October 2 timeframe immediately preceding the benefits-eligible plan year.
If you meet the applicable requirements, you will be eligible to enroll in the benefit programs offered to part-time employees.
In determining whether a newly hired or ongoing part-time employee has been credited with the required minimum hours during the measurement period, the Benefits Department utilizes reports from the Office of Institutional Research & Market Analytics (IRMA) and the Payroll Department. The following rules will apply for part-time hours determinations:
- For part-time staff members, hours worked in all part-time positions will be taken into account.
- For part-time faculty members, hours worked for administrative assignments are added to the calculation.
- Generally, course loads are converted to hours based on a 1:4 ratio. Thus, as a general rule for part-time faculty members, for every contact hour an employee has in a given week, DePaul will credit an additional four hours of non-contact service.
- Certain categories of part-time employees use equivalencies that differ from the general equivalency, due to the unique characteristics of the specific department, and based on agreement with the college. Part-time employees in the following departments should contact the Benefits Department and their department head for specific details of the equivalency used to determine eligibility for the Health Plans benefit programs:
- Individual Professional Development (IDP)
- Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
- English Language Academy (ELA)
- Community Music (CM)
- If a part-time staff member is employed by DePaul but is not actively working, or a part-time faculty member is employed by DePaul but is not teaching, hours are credited based on the average hours worked during the months in which work was completed or courses were taught for that measurement period. Months in which no work was completed, or no courses were taught, will be removed from the calculation.
- Note that hours credited for Fall Term are split between two measurement periods due to the overlap of the academic calendar and the measurement period (October 3 – October 2). For example, the Fall Term for 2020 spanned from September through November. Due to the timing of the measurement period, hours credited for September through October 2, 2020 (1/3rd of the hours for the 2020 Fall Term) count towards the measurement period for October 3, 2019 – October 2, 2020. Hours credited for October 3, 2020 through the end of Fall Term (2/3rd of the hours for 2020 Fall Term) count towards the measurement period for October 3, 2020 – October 2, 2021.
For part-time faculty who do not meet the course load criteria (six courses for most colleges, four courses for Law), and part-time staff who do not meet the 1,000 hours threshold for part-time benefits eligibility as described above, the Office of Human Resources completes an additional calculation that may result in eligibility for part-time benefits. Specifically, using the hours crediting rules outlined above, the Office of Human Resources determines the part-time employee's average hours worked per month during the measurement period. If a part-time faculty or staff member is credited with an average of 83.33 hours per month worked during the 12-month measurement period (1,000 hours /12 months), they are determined to be eligible for part-time benefits and will be given the opportunity to enroll in accordance with the procedures described in Initial Enrollment or Annual Enrollment under our Health Benefits Plan Summary Plan Descriptions.
Learn more about part-time employee benefits. See guidelines and procedures and Part-time Eligibility Rules SMM (April 2021).