Life Events
Life can be unpredictable, but your benefits shouldn’t be. Learn how your Local 30 Benefits Trust Fund benefits are affected by different life events you might encounter.
If You Get Married
Health and Welfare Benefits
When you get married:
- Your spouse becomes eligible for certain Local 30 Private Sector or Municipal health and welfare benefits;
- Coverage for spouse begins on the date of your marriage
- Notify the Fund Office within 30 days after your marriage date
- Your spouse is the default beneficiary.
To enroll your spouse as a dependent, you must provide the Fund Office with:
- A copy of your marriage certificate
- Your spouse’s date of birth
- A copy of your spouse’s medical insurance information, if he or she is covered under another plan.
If your spouse is covered under another group medical plan, your spouse’s coverage will be coordinated with Local 30 benefits.
Pension and Annuity Benefits
If you get married, your spouse is your default beneficiary in the Local 30 Pension and Annuity Plans.
You may choose different types of pension plans that allow your spouse to continue receiving your benefit if you die before your spouse. These plans include:
Pension Plan
- 50%Husband-and-Wife Plan
- 75% Husband-and-Wife Plan
- 100%Husband-and-Wife Plan
If you are a Municipal employee, your pension is through the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Please visit the NYCERS website for more information.
Annuity Plan
- Lifetime Husband and Wife Annuity
If you wish to name someone as a beneficiary other than your spouse, you must have your spouse’s consent in writing and notarized by a notary public.
If You Add a Child
Health and Welfare Benefits
If you add a child as a dependent, the child’s date of eligibility depends on whether the child is:
- Your biological child, he or she is eligible for coverage on his or her date of birth;
- Placed under your guardianship through adoption or a court order, coverage will become effective on the date of placement as long as you are responsible for health care coverage and the child meets the Plan’s definition of a dependent;
- Adopted from birth, the child is considered a dependent from birth;
- A stepchild due to marriage, the child is eligible for coverage on the date of your marriage.
When you add a child, provide the Fund Office with:
- The birth date, effective date of adoption or placement for adoption, or the date of your marriage (for stepchildren);
- When you add a stepchild, you must submit a copy of your spouse’s divorce decree to establish if there is other coverage for that child;
- A copy of the birth certificate, adoption papers, court order, or marriage certificate (for stepchildren);
- A copy of your child’s other medical insurance information, if he or she is covered under another plan.
Learn more about a dependent child’s eligibility and enrollment for the Private Sector or Municipal Health and Welfare benefit plans.
Pension and Annuity Benefits
You can name your eligible dependent child as a beneficiary in the Local 30 Pension and Annuity Plans.
Pension Plan
If you are unmarried, or if your spouse dies while receiving your benefit, your child may receive the remainder of your benefit.
If you are a Municipal employee your pension is through the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Please visit the NYCERS website for more information.
Annuity Plan
If you are unmarried and have a child, you may name your child as your beneficiary. Your child will receive your Annuity benefit if you die before you start receiving monthly payments.
You can add or change a beneficiary by contacting the Fund Office.
If You Get Legally Separated or Divorced
Health and Welfare Benefits
If you and your spouse get a legal separation or divorce, your spouse will no longer be eligible for coverage as a dependent under the Plan.
However, your spouse may elect COBRA Continuation Coverage if you are in a Private Sector or Municipal plan for up to 36 months. You or your spouse must notify the Fund Office within 60 days of the divorce or legal separation date for your spouse to obtain COBRA Continuation Coverage.
If you legally separate or divorce, provide the Fund Office with:
- A copy of your separation or divorce decree
- If you have children for whom you do not have custody, a copy of any Qualified Medical Child Support Orders (QMCSOs).
Other Benefits
Your spouse is your default beneficiary in the Pension, Annuity, Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (Private Sector/Municipal) plans, as well as the Municipal Death Benefit (Active/Retired) plans.
If you get divorced, you must contact the Fund Office to remove your spouse as a beneficiary.
Divorcing your spouse converts any Husband and Wife annuity payment plan into Single Life Annuity payment plans.
If you are a Municipal employee your pension is through the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Please visit the NYCERS website for more information.
If You Enter the Uniformed Services
Notify the Fund Office in writing before you enter the Uniformed Services.
Health and Welfare Benefits
If you are called into the Uniformed Services for up to 31 days, your health coverage will continue as long as you make the required self-payment.
If you are called into the Uniformed Services for more than 31 days:
- You may continue your coverage by paying the required self-payments for up to 24 consecutive months or sooner, in accordance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).
- Coverage under USERRA will run concurrently with COBRA Continuation Coverage (Private Sector/Municipal). The cost of continuation coverage under USERRA will be the same cost as COBRA Continuation Coverage.
If you do not continue coverage under USERRA, your coverage will end immediately when you enter the Uniformed Services. Your Dependents will have the opportunity to elect COBRA Continuation Coverage.
When you are discharged or released from the Uniformed Services, you may apply for reemployment with your former Employer.
For more information on USERRA and how your benefits are affected by joining the Uniformed Services, contact the Fund office.
Pension Benefits
You will continue to earn your Pension Plan credit while you are away on active duty with the Uniformed Services. You must return to active employment with a Contributing Employer within 90 days of being honorably discharged from active duty.
- Your time while in the Uniformed Services counts as vesting service.
- You may earn up to four years of pension credits while away on military leave.
If you do not return to employment with a Local 30 Contributing Employer and are no longer a participating member of the Local 30 Union, you may collect your Local 30 Pension Plan benefits.
- Depending on your eligibility, you may receive a reduced benefit for being under the normal retirement age.
- You may also keep your Pension Plan account open until you are eligible to receive the full amount of your vested benefits.
If you are a Municipal employee your pension is through the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Please visit the NYCERS website for more information.
For more information about how your Pension benefits are affected by joining the Uniformed Services, please contact the Fund office.
Annuity Benefits
For more information about USERRA, contact the Fund Office.
If Your Child Loses Eligibility
In general, your child is no longer eligible for coverage in a Private Sector or Municipal health and welfare plan at the end of the calendar year in which he or she reaches age 26 or is no longer considered disabled if covered.
You must notify the Fund office within 60 days of the date your child is no longer eligible for coverage. Your child may elect to continue coverage by making COBRA (Private Sector/ Municipal) self-payments for up to 36 months.
If You Take a Family and Medical Leave
Health and Welfare Benefits
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows you to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period due to:
- The birth or adoption of a child or placement of a child with you for foster care or adoption;
- The care of a seriously ill spouse, parent, or child;
- Your serious illness; or
- You have an urgent need for leave to care for your spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty in the Uniformed Services.
You are eligible for a leave under FMLA if you:
- Have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months;
- Have worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12 months; and
- Work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within a 75-mile radius of the employer’s location.
During your leave, you will maintain medical coverage offered through the Fund.
The Fund will maintain your prior eligibility until the end of the leave, provided your employer properly grants the leave under the federal law and makes the required notification and payment to the Fund.
You may be required to provide:
- 30-day advance notice of the leave, if possible;
- Medical certifications supporting the need for a leave; and/or
- Second or third medical opinions and periodic recertification (at your employer’s expense) and periodic reports during the leave regarding your status and intent to return to work.
Your leave will end on the earlier of your return to work or 12 weeks. If you do not return to work within 12 weeks, you may qualify for COBRA Continuation Coverage (Private Sector/Municipal).
Pension Benefits
You will continue to earn Pension Plan credits while away on leave under FMLA.
If you are a Municipal employee your pension is through the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Please visit the NYCERS website for more information.
Annuity Benefits
For more information about FMLA, contact the Fund Office.
If Your Employment Ends
COBRA Continuation Coverage
If you and your eligible dependents lose coverage under a Local 30 Benefits Trust Fund health plan due to a qualifying life event, you and your eligible dependents may continue coverage through COBRA Continuation Coverage. COBRA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, lets participants in medical plans to pay for the same coverage out of their own pocket.
Qualifying life events for you and your dependents include:
- Termination from employment
- Reduction of work hours
- You divorce or legally separate
- Your dependent children no longer qualify as dependents (for example, due to age)
- You become entitled to Medicare
- You die
If you or your dependent experiences one of these qualifying events and is no longer covered under the Local 30 Benefits Trust Fund medical plan, you or your dependent qualify for COBRA Coverage.
With COBRA coverage:
- You keep the same medical, dental, prescription drug and optical plan you had before the qualifying event;
- You must enroll within 60 days of the day you lose your previous coverage;
- You pay for the full cost of coverage plus an administration fee, which typically adds to 102% of the cost of your previous coverage;
- You may extend COBRA coverage after a second qualifying event.
Your coverage lasts from 18 to 36 months, depending on the qualifying event. See below for a table of how different qualifying events affect how long you may participate in COBRA Continuation Coverage.
| If You Lose Coverage Because of This Qualifying Event… | These People Would Be Eligible for COBRA Coverage… | For Up To… |
|---|---|---|
| Your employment terminates for reasons other than gross misconduct | You and your eligible Dependents | 18 months |
| You become ineligible due to reduced work hours | You and your eligible Dependents | 18 months |
| You die | Your eligible Dependents | 36 months |
| You divorce or legally separate | Your eligible Dependents | 36 months |
| Your Dependent children no longer qualify as Dependents | Your eligible Dependent children | 36 months |
| You become entitled to Medicare | Your eligible Dependents | 36 months |
Converting Your Coverage to Individual Coverage
Life insurance
If you wish to convert your group life insurance to an individual life insurance policy after your life insurance benefit ends, you must apply to the insurance company in writing and pay the first premium within 31 days after your employment ends.
Contact the Fund Office for more information about converting coverage.
All other Fund benefits
You cannot convert prescription drug, dental, vision, short-term disability, legal, or accidental death & dismemberment or death benefits to individual coverage.
Pension Benefits
- If you are vested in the Pension Plan, you have a non-forfeitable right to a pension benefit, even if you leave covered employment before you retire.
- If you are not vested in the Pension Plan, your previously earned pension credits and vesting service and your participation in the Plan are cancelled.
Time spent away from work due to service in the Uniformed Services or for disability does not count as a break in service.
For more information about how your Pension benefit is affected if your employment ends, please contact the Fund office.
If you are a Municipal employee your pension is through the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Please visit the NYCERS website for more information.