December 12, 2021
End of 2021 benefits updates and reminders
Since 2021 is drawing to a close, it’s a good time to review your UW retirement benefits. We are sharing the Annual Benefits Letter from the Faculty Council on Benefits and Retirement (FBCR). It’s packed with good links and information that is relevant to professional staff. Below, we highlight a few upcoming benefit changes and information about a review of the UW Retirement Plan (UWRP):
- WA Cares Fund: Starting in 2022, all employees in Washington State must contribute to the WA Cares Fund, a new mandatory long-term care insurance operated by the State. If you have private LTC insurance, make sure to review the UW HR UW Cares Fund Overview page for instructions on how to obtain an exemption.
- Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance: Also starting in 2022, all UW employees will be automatically enrolled in a new employee-paid long-term disability (LTD) insurance. You can reduce the coverage to 50% or decline the LTD insurance.
- Possible Errors in UWRP Contributions: Several faculty members have alerted UW about possible errors in past contributions to the UWRP. See here for a recording of an FBCR meeting about this topic. The UW Administration has agreed to conduct an outside review of the UWRP for the years 2017 to 2021 and to determine corrective measures based on the review. We will keep you updated on the status of this review.
We have uploaded a copy of the letter for your own reading to dig into more information about retirement benefits and options.
We want to thank FBCR for sharing the document with us and allowing us to excerpt portions of the letter in our newsletter on our website. As you may know, the PSO board has representatives on Faculty and University Councils to stay informed about issues on campus and represent professional staff interests.
