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Understanding benefit eligibility
Dec 05, 2023
Categories: Employee Benefits, News
Similar to employees in other workplaces, health-care system employees are subject to a specific waiting period or required minimum hours of work before they receive full coverage from their Employee Benefit Plans.
The inclusion of a waiting period is commonplace in employer-sponsored benefit plans and helps ensure the sustainability of the plan.
If you are hired as a permanent full-time or permanent part-time employee, your Group Life and disability coverage kick in as soon as you begin working. If you are a casual or temporary employee, your eligibility for Group Life and disability is determined after 26 weeks.
For health and dental coverage, all employees must wait 26 weeks to be eligible. Full-time employees will receive 100 per cent coverage, and coverage for other-than-full-time employees will be based on a minimum of 390 hours (40 per cent of a typical full-time employee’s hours) in the first 26 weeks. The more hours you work, the higher the level of health and dental coverage you will receive.
If you do not qualify after 26 weeks, don’t worry – your hours will be measured again after you have worked a full calendar year. If you have worked 780 hours at that point, you will be eligible.
This measurement takes place on December 31 each year.
Once you qualify for benefits, you will receive a welcome package at your home address that will provide all the information you need to get started.
If you have questions about your benefit plan, call 3sHealth at 1.866.278.2301 or email ebp@3sHealth.ca.