Insurance Eligibility

 

AFA would like to clear up any confusion regarding insurance eligibility. CBA Section 23.B. [Eligibility For Insurance] states,

 

“1. Flight Attendants must fly or be credited four-hundred eighty (480.0) TFP in a calendar year to be eligible for Company-paid medical, dental and vision insurance inclusive of the following:

 

1. Worked TFP;
2. Sick leave TFP; and
3. Maximum vacation TFP (based on years of service, no pay or flying requirement.

 

Years of Service                                                                       Maximum Days of Vacation

< 1year                                                                                            1.167 days per month employed

1-4                                                                                                      14 days

5-9                                                                                                     21 days

10-17                                                                                                 28 days

18+                                                                                                    35 days”

 

Vacation credit towards insurance based on years of service

 

Worked TFP and sick leave count toward insurance eligibility. The TFP value of your vacation based on years of service also counts toward the 480 threshold for insurance—even if you do not fly enough to accrue your vacation.

 

This means that if you have two years of service, you have 14 days of vacation @ 4 TFP/day, resulting in 56 TFP credited toward your insurance. If you’ve been a flight attendant for 18 years, you have 35 days of vacation @ 4 TFP/day, resulting in 140 TFP credited toward your insurance. This is an improvement over the prior contract, in which there was a flying requirement (i.e. you had to be eligible for vacation) in order to have it count towards the 480 for insurance.

 

Important: Look up your current year-to-date TFP so you can plan accordingly

 

It is important that you look up your current TFP for the year-to-date, so you can plan accordingly for the remainder of the year and make sure that you are on track for the appropriate 480 provisions. Log onto the Inflight page –> ”My Schedule” –> “Calculators” –> “All-in-one calculator.” The TFP calendar has been corrected, and you now have the ability to look up your accurate year-to-date TFP calculation to determine your insurance, uniform, vacation and Longevity PTO eligibility.

 

When you select the “Insurance Calculator” you will see a chart depicting your year-to-date totals. Under the “My Results” section it will list your Worked TFP to date, your sick leave and your maximum vacation TFP based on your years of service. It will then list the total amount credited toward the insurance benefits. It will also indicate how much TFP you need to earn your insurance benefits for 2016.

 

Leaves with Coordination Look-Back Provision

 

For those Flight Attendants who have been on a leave and coordinated with sick leave or vacation there is a look-back provision. Section 15.M [Leaves with Coordination…]:

 

“There is a 12-month look-back not including any month with an applicable leave. If you have been on a medical, maternity, FMLA, Workers’ Compensation or parental leave of absence WITH coordination of sick leave (or vacation with short-term disability or workers’ compensation) in any bid month then that month will not count toward the look-back threshold calculation for purposes of applicable provisions in Section 13 [Uniforms], 14 [Vacations], 23 [Insurance Benefits] and 32 [Attendance Policy].”

 

Therefore in order to determine your eligibility, you will need to count back 12 months that do not include applicable leaves. The look-back will be based on a calendar year but may extend into the prior year(s) to include additional bid month(s) equal to the number of excluded bid month(s), such that 12 full bid months are included in determining if either threshold (480 TFP/240 TFP) has been met.

 

Unpaid Leave Credit of 1.333 TFP per day

 

If you are on any type of unpaid leave and are NOT coordinating sick leave (or vacation with short term disability or Worker’s Compensation), you will receive an unpaid credit of 1.333 TFP for each day on which you are on such leave for the purposes of applicable provisions.

 

When to contact a Pay Analyst

 

If your look-back goes back prior to 2014, or if you find any errors in the calculation of your year-to-date TFP, you will need to contact a Pay Analyst. In order to find your Pay Analyst, logon to the Inflight page –> “Links” –> “Inflight Resource Directory,” then scroll down to “Inflight Administration” on page 6 and find the applicable Pay Analyst.

 

* * *

 

Questions? Contact a Local Executive Council officer or your local Benefits Committee representative.

 

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt; MEC Grievance Committee chairperson Jennifer Wise MacColl and Grievance Committee member Stephanie Adams; and MEC Benefits Committee chairperson Terry Taylor

It has recently come to light that Premera Blue Cross, the company that manages a large number of Alaska Airlines employer-sponsored health plans, has experienced a cyber attack that might have exposed the personal data of up to 11 million customers.  The attack was discovered on January 29 of this year but initially occurred on May 5, 2014.  There is no indication that the attackers have used the data illegally as of this time.

Premera has indicated that they will provide two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to those affected.  A special website has been set up by Premera to provide more information at http://www.premeraupdate.com.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt and MEC Benefits Chairperson Terry Taylor