Employers will continue to pay the full employer contribution for employees who go on approved leave without pay if they have already worked 630 hours during the school year or if they are on approved FMLA.

If the school employee has not worked 630 hours and the employer no longer anticipates the school employee will work 630 hours during the school year, the school employee is no longer eligible for the employer contribution toward SEBB benefits.

When the school employee returns to work after their unpaid leave, the employer will determine whether the employee is eligible for the employer contribution toward SEBB benefits. Employees who return from approved leave without pay will establish eligibility for the employer contribution if their work schedule, had it been in effect at the start of the school year, would have resulted in the employee being anticipated to work the minimum hours to meet SEBB eligibility in the school year.

The Health Care Authority (HCA) administers the continuation coverage for COBRA and unpaid leave starting January 1, 2020. At that time, once a SEBB organization notifies the SEBB Program through Benefits 24/7 that a school employee has lost eligibility for SEBB benefits, HCA will mail a SEBB Continuation Coverage Election Notice booklet to the subscriber and/or any enrolled dependent who lost SEBB coverage. The subscriber and/or dependents will work directly with HCA to enroll in and pay for benefits under SEBB Continuation Coverage. They cannot enroll in continuation coverage through Benefits 24/7. A paper enrollment form will be included in the SEBB Continuation Coverage Election Notice. See the SEBB Continuation Coverage webpage for more information.

Benefit administrators can view dependent verification requests from the Benefits 24/7 dashboard or through a downloadable report.

Employees who waive medical coverage will not be automatically enrolled in a medical plan. If they do not officially waive medical coverage and do not enroll, they will be automatically enrolled in UMP Achieve 1 (medical), Uniform Dental plan, MetLife Vision, MetLife basic life and basic accidental death and dismemberment, and The Standard employer-paid and employee-paid long-term disability insurance.

Dependents are enrolled in plans only after the dependent eligibility document is approved. During open enrollment, dependents will be enrolled at the same time as the employee and will be verified before the employee’s coverage begins the following January.

For new hires and during special open enrollments, there may be a difference between when the employee is enrolled and the dependent is enrolled, based on when verification is approved and the reason for the dependent’s enrollment.

If the dependent verification document is uploaded to Benefits 24/7 and approved, it is kept for a short while and then deleted. Some documents might be kept longer for auditing purposes. If the verification is denied, the uploaded document is kept until any appeals are completed. If a paper document is given to the benefits administrator and approved, it can be returned to the employee.  

Here's a list of valid documents to verify dependents. New employees can upload their dependent verification documents for review via Benefits 24/7. Alternately, employees can take their paper documents to their benefits administrator for review and approval. Dependent verification documents must be approved during the SEBB Program timelines.

The SEBB Program requires employees to provide documentation that verifies the relationship between the employee and their dependent(s) before they can be enrolled in an employee's SEBB medical, vision, and/or dental coverage.

The E-1 and E-2 worksheets, located on the Eligibility tools and worksheets page, provide guidance on the various types of allowed dependents and the type of documentation needed in order to verify the relationship with the employee.

Yes. In 2018, the Washington State Legislature passed Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2408, which calls for this participation.

Benefits 24/7, the online enrollment system, is only available in English for now. However, non-English speakers can enroll in SEBB using paper forms. Print publications and enrollment forms are available in additional languages upon request. Additional supported languages include: Amharic, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Laotian, Oromo, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tigrigna, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. To request materials in supported languages, see HCA’s Language Access webpage.