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[pmAS] Maternity Leave Grievance Survey

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

Last September, AFA published information about management granting our grievance #36-99-2-24-17 (Violation of Section 15.M.1.a & 2.a, Failure to Allow Minimum Coordination While on Maternity Leave) and grievance #36-99-2-25-17 (Failure to Allow Minimum and/or Maximum Coordination While on Maternity Leave).

Grievance #36-99-2-24-17 applies to the time period of 6/8 weeks post-birth to the 120th day post-birth.  It mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to use minimum coordination with sick leave and/or vacation from 6/8 weeks’ post-birth to 120 days’ post-birth.  Previously management required maximum coordination with at least 70 TFP of sick leave monthly.

Grievance #36-99-2-25-17 encompasses 121st day post-birth up to one to eight months leave post-120th day.  Again, this mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to coordinate minimum or maximum sick leave and/or vacation from one month up to eight months following the 120th day post-birth.

As part of the resolution process, AFA is collecting information from Flight Attendants who may have been affected by the grievance. If you were on maternity leave any time between December 2014 and now, we ask that you complete the survey below to provide us with additional details regarding your leave.

Click here to access the Maternity Leave Grievance Survey

If you have already completed this survey in paper form, there is no need to complete the survey again.  The survey will be available through Monday, February 12, 2018.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

[AS] Annual Benefits Enrollment

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants

Annual Enrollment is the time to review your benefits and make changes if desired for the upcoming plan year. Annual enrollment began today (10/23/17) and ends 11/13/17.

Optional ADD, Life Insurance and Short Term Disability may be selected during Open Enrollment, to take effect 01/01/2018.

A few highlights for 2018 include:

  • Added coverage for medical treatment for temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ) to both Premera Plans
  • Optional Group Legal and Identity Theft insurance available
  • Massage Therapy Benefit added to Consumer Choice PPO ONLY (High deductible plan) – 12 visits/ year

Additional optional Accidental Death and Dismemberment (ADD) insurance, Life Insurance and Short Term Disability (STD) benefits may be selected during Annual Enrollment, to take effect 01/01/2018. As a reminder, Short Term Disability payments are offset by an employee’s Social Security payments. If you are collecting your own Social Security, it may not make sense to select or continue with STD.

If you are planning to start a family in 2018, Open Enrollment will allow you select an extra 20% of Short Term Disability coverage, which will go into effect January 1, 2018. If you are currently pregnant, the additional income replacement will not apply to this maternity leave.

Remember, Travel Benefits Changes occur separately, not during Annual Enrollment.

If you need assistance or have questions, contact a Benefits Committee member for your base. You can also contact the Alaska Air Group Benefits Center with questions, at 1-844-231-3476.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

[AS] Maternity Leave Grievances

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants

Last month, management granted our grievance #36-99-2-24-17 (Violation of Section 15.M.1.a & 2.a, Failure to Allow Minimum Coordination While on Maternity Leave).  Information about the grievance was published on August 7.  The grievance applies to the time period of 6/8 weeks post-birth to the 120th day post-birth.  It mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to use minimum coordination with sick leave and/or vacation from 6/8 weeks’ post-birth to 120 days’ post-birth.  Previously management required maximum coordination with at least 70 TFP of sick leave monthly.  That was a huge win for all Alaska Flight Attendants.

Recently, management sustained another grievance #36-99-2-25-17 (Failure to Allow Minimum and/or Maximum Coordination While on Maternity Leave) which encompasses 121st day post-birth up to one to eight months leave post-120th day.  Again, this mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to coordinate minimum or maximum sick leave and/or vacation from one month up to eight months following the 120th day post-birth.  This was even a bigger win for all Alaska Flight Attendants.

These sustained grievances mean that a Flight Attendant on maternity leave, may use minimum or maximum sick leave/vacation per section 15.M of the contract.  They will get paid when they are on a longer maternity leave and will be eligible for active employee rates for insurance for as long as 8 months following the 120th day post-birth (up to a year post-birth).  This will allow Flight Attendants to stay off work much longer with their newborns while receiving pay from their sick leave and/or vacation banks and maintaining active rate insurance.  This will also allow the look back calendar to be applied in calculating flight attendants TFP toward the yearly 480 requirements for vacation, insurance and uniform benefits.

If you have any questions about maternity leave, please contact your Local Benefits Committee Chairperson (or Local Benefits Committee Member who specializes in maternity-related issues).  You can find contact information on your Local Council’s Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

Benefits Committee News

In This Edition

  • Leave of Absence Insurance Changes
  • Understanding your Health Savings Account (HSA) and your Limited Use Healthcare (FSAEE) account.
  • How to Get Benefits Help

Leave of Absence Insurance Changes

If you are planning to take a health-related leave of absence, please be advised that management is changing the way health care premiums will be handled.  The process for paying for continuing health care coverage while on such a paid leave of absence will be changing.  We have been advised that leaves will be coded differently in PeopleSoft in the future.  This change in coding will mean that health benefit premiums will no longer automatically be deducted from your paycheck EVEN IF you are coordinating.

If you are coordinating sick leave, vacation or PTO with Short Term Disability or California State Disability, management considers these to be a paid leave.   Under this new policy, you will receive a letter from Cobra Management Services (CMS) with instructions for paying the employee portion of your health benefits premium each month.  Once you have been on a Worker’s Compensation leave of absence for twelve weeks, and begin coordinating sick leave, vacation or PTO with Worker’s Compensation time loss payments, the process will be the same.

This does NOT mean that you are being required to pay for COBRA coverage under this coding change, but you will have to self-pay the employee premium directly to CMS.  It is very important that the premiums be paid on time, or health benefits will end.

If you are already on a leave of absence and are coordinating to keep health benefits in place, we suggest that you double-check your paychecks each month to be sure that premiums have been deducted.  If not, contact your leave coordinator immediately.

Understanding your Health Savings Account (HSA) and Your Limited Use Healthcare (FSAEE) Account

The high deductible PPO comes with a prefunded health savings account (HSA) that was funded on January 1, 2017 with $1000 from Alaska Airlines (and a portion of your designated contributions). Your FSAEE should be completely funded at this time.

Both of these accounts are managed with your Premera Healthcare Payment card.  When you use this card, vision and dental will withdraw from the FSAEE contributions and medical expenses will withdraw from the HSA.  Under our plan, you can roll over $500 each year to the FSAEE while roll over to the HSA is currently unlimited.  This means that your HSA dollars can be used to pay for medical cost after you separate from the company.

This healthcare payment card is used like a credit card and should be treated as such.

You can learn more about these two accounts, your balances, payments and what both accounts can be used for at: www.premera.com.  After logging in, proceed to Member > Member Services > My Account > Personal Funding Account > Manage Your Account (shows balances, how much you can contribute each year, payments, etc.) You will also find a Help and Tools tab here for qualified medical expenses and FAQs.

How to Get Benefits Help

Your Local Benefits Committee is available to assist you.  You can find contact information at http://afaalaska.org/benefits.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC Benefits Committee Chairperson Terry Taylor

2016 Open Enrollment Information

Open Enrollment starts tomorrow (Monday, November 2nd). Your AFA Benefits and Retirement Committee compiled the following information in order to assist you with navigating Open Enrollment.

General Changes

 

  • Mailer will be sent to employee’s home addresses 10/15 to advise that Open Enrollment begins on 11/02/15.
  • Follow up emails will be sent as reminders through Outlook beginning 10/30.
  • A new tool will be added to the web portal. It is called “Alex,” and is a user-friendly tool to enter information, which will then enable employees to compare and contrast different health benefits options.
  • A ‘My Alaska Benefits-Annual Enrollment Tab’ will be added to the Alaskasworld website.
  • If desired, an employee can enroll or make changes by telephone.
  • This year, confirmation of changes/enrollment emails will be sent to employees in Outlook. There will be links in these emails directing F/As back to their selections in the portal, and their portal message folder if need be.
  • Employees may carry over up to $500 in unspent Flexible Spending Account (FSA) funds into 2016.

 

2016 Consumer’s Choice (Health Savings Account/HSA)

 

  • In Washington State only, the Premera Network will change from the current Heritage Network to the Premera Prime network. This only affects Washington. In Alaska, the Heritage network will remain in place. All other states use the Blue Shield network, which will not change. F/As should be reminded to check to see that their current health providers are also Premera Prime participants.
  • The company contribution will remain $1,000 for employee only and $2,000 for a family. This year all enrollees in the plan will receive an additional $500 company contribution to the plan for an individual and $1,000 for a family. This bonus is available during open enrollment only, both for those switching plans and for current Consumer’s Choice plan participants.
  • A new “HSA On-Demand” feature will be added to the Health Savings Account (HSA) website. It will be called “Click to Pay,” with a sign up and usage explanation. It will automatically draw funds from the employees account to pay bills, similar to an online bill pay service.
  • A change in the crediting and access to the company contributions will begin in 2016. Similar to a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), the company contributions will be credited at the beginning of the year. IRS regulations require than an employee’s personal contributions cannot be credited until the beginning of the month in which they were actually deducted, and transferred to the HSA account.
  • If an employee has prior year contributions and/or an investment balance in their account, their cash balance would be used first. Next, they could access their investment balance, and then the company’s contributions. This might prove very beneficial for someone who incurs a large expense in the early part of the year.
  • The Health Saving Account (HSA) statements will look different this year—more information will be added. A “HSA for Dummies” booklet will be posted on the website.
  • For prior HSA plan participants who become ineligible (due to Medicare, or other disqualifiers which are listed in the booklet), the Company will contribute $500 to a Special Purpose FSA, which can be used for dental and vision expenses, as well as medical expenses after the relevant deductible is met in one of the other AS plans.
  • The 2016 HSA limit is $6750 for an individual under the age of 55.

 

Premera PPO

 

  • For 2016 forward, the plan is no longer ‘grandfathered’. The plan will provide 100% preventative health care coverage beginning in January.
  • Like the Health Spending Account (HSA), the Washington network will be Premera Prime for 2016 forward.
  • Hospice and palliative care will now be covered even for non-terminal conditions when appropriate.
  • Over the counter medications in the categories of Flonase, Nexium, and Claritin will no longer be covered, but can be submitted as a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) claim with a doctor’s written prescription.
  • Up to 90-day prescriptions for maintenance medications can now be filled in retail stores as well as through mail order. There are some exceptions depending on the medication.

* * *

 

Questions? Contact your local Benefits Committee chairperson.

 

In solidarity,

 

MEC Benefits & Retirement Committee Chairperson Terry Taylor and your AFA Benefits Committee

AFA Alaska

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