Official State of Rhode Island website

State of Rhode Island Office of Employee Benefits

New Employees

Welcome to the State of Rhode Island!

New employee benefits enrollment checklist
New Employee Benefits Enrollment Checklist

Be sure to make your State benefits elections within 31 days of your date of hire!

When you are loaded into the State's online benefits enrollment system Workterra, the Office of Employee Benefits automatically sends you the New Employee Benefits Enrollment Checklist mailer, Take some time to review that mailer and visit the virtual benefits fair for general overviews of all the State's employee benefits offerings.  You'll also find detailed guidance on enrollment and assigning beneficiaries there.  You should also consider having a talk with Alex, the State's online benefits decision support platform - he can make choosing your benefits a breeze (and he may even make you laugh).  While you're on this page, please review the New Employee Benefits Checklist and see below for some enrollment tips. 

  • If you do not make elections within your new hire 31-day benefits election period, you will NOT have any State health coverage, and you will NOT receive any medical waiver opt-out payment by default. You also will not be able to elect benefits coverage or the medical waiver opt-out payment until the next open enrollment period unless you experience a qualifying status change.
  • If you are adding any dependents, you must submit supporting documentation during your enrollment process.
  • The coverage you elect will be effective as of your date of hire.
  • If you’re interested in enrolling in the Anchor Choice Plan with HSA, please note that the State only makes HSA contributions in January and July and you will NOT receive a prorated contribution if you enroll after January 1 or July 1.
  • All new employees can enroll into basic and/or supplemental life insurance freely without having to answer any medical questionnaires or satisfy The Hartford’s evidence of insurability requirements. If you do not add supplemental coverage now but want to do so at a later date, or if you waive basic coverage now and want to add some level of coverage later, you will have to provide evidence of insurability to The Hartford and be approved for coverage.
  1. Before making any benefit elections, it is recommended that you review our frequently asked questions, visit the virtual benefits fair, and review our decision support materials to better understand your options and choose the best coverage for you and your family. Be sure to talk to ALEX, the State’s interactive online benefits counselor!
  2. You will make your health benefits elections using the State’s online enrollment system Workterra. Please review the Workterra User Guide for guidance on using Workterra.
  3. Instructions and confirmation emails regarding health benefits enrollment using Workterra will be sent from doa.enrollmenthelp@hr.ri.gov to the email address you provided during onboarding. This email address is often your personal, not your work email. The emails will all have “State of Rhode Island Workterra” in their subject line. Be sure to check all of your email inboxes/folders if you don't see any benefits-related emails from doa.enrollmenthelp@hr.ri.gov. Keep an eye out for the following emails:
    • Login Credentials (This indicates you have been added as an eligible user of Workterra and provides your initial log in credentials)
    • Notification of Your Password Change (This confirms that your password was updated any time it is changed)
    • Election Receipt Notification (This only acknowledges receipt of your benefits elections. It does NOT mean that your elections have been approved!)
    • Notification of Rejected Pending Elections (Generally new hire elections are only rejected if you failed to upload supporting documentation proving your dependents’ eligibility)
    • Notification of Accepted Pending Elections (THIS is the confirmation that your election has been approved)
  4. Be sure to gather all necessary information/supporting documentation for EACH family member you intend to add to your coverage BEFORE you begin your enrollment process:

Dependent Relation

Supporting Documentation

Notes / Exceptions

Spouse

A copy of the marriage certificate
  • Dual State-employed spouses – Where two State-employed spouses were both hired on or after June 29, 2014 and are both covered under one family plan, the co-share shall be based on the income of the higher earner as determined by the annualized total rate of pay. Further, the spouse that does not pay the co-share is ineligible to receive the waiver opt-out payment.
  • Ex-spouse – If your divorce was finalized after January 1, 2014, your ex-spouse is not eligible for State health coverage.

Common Law Spouse

Copy of most recent IRS Form 1040
  • Married federal income tax filing status – The IRS allows common law spouses to file their taxes married-joint if they live in a state like Rhode Island that recognizes common law marriage. Because common law spouses receive the same favorable pre-tax benefits treatment as spouses that can provide a marriage certificate, employees wishing to cover a dependent as a common law spouse must provide a copy of their most recent federal income tax filing showing married-joint or married-separate tax filing status. In the absence of such a tax filing status, the dependent may still be eligible for coverage as a domestic partner.

Domestic partner

Domestic partnership affidavit (completed as a digital form in Workterra), AND

Proof that you and your domestic partner have resided together for at least one year, AND

At least TWO of the following four items (items in #3 count as one):

  1. Domestic Partnership Agreement or a Relationship Contract
  2. Joint mortgage or joint ownership of primary residence
  3. TWO of the following four items proving financial interdependency:
    1. Joint ownership of vehicle
    2. Joint checking account
    3. Joint credit account
    4. Joint lease
  4. Employee's will, retirement contract, or life insurance showing domestic partner as beneficiary
  • Imputed Income – Pursuant to federal guidance, under the State employee health plan the fair market value of any health coverage extended to a domestic partner will be imputed to you as income on your paycheck. This imputed income would be added to the your federal taxable gross wages, State taxable gross wages and social security taxable wages. Additionally, any coverage provided to a domestic partner is paid for on an after-tax basis. You will have additional tax withholdings based on the imputed income and the increased taxable wages due to the reduction in pre-tax contribution. The amount of imputed income is generally around $200 per pay period for medical/prescription, dental and vision coverage, and the amount of the reduction in pre-tax contribution is generally around $100 for the same coverage. This means that you will have additional tax withholdings based on approximately $300 per pay period. Generally, the additional tax withholdings will be in the same proportion as your normal tax withholdings are to your regular pay.
  • Marriage – If you and your domestic partner get married, it is YOUR responsibility to inform the Office of Employee Benefits in writing immediately. Your failure to do so will prevent you from obtaining refunds of additional tax withholdings based on imputed income. The Office of Employee Benefits will not coordinate such refunds if it is not notified within 31 days of the date of the marriage.
  • Termination of domestic partnership – If your domestic partnership ends, you will not be able to drop your domestic partner from your coverage until open enrollment (for effect January 1 of the following year) unless your domestic partner experiences a qualifying status change.
  • Addition of new domestic partner – If you drop your domestic partner, you will not be able to add a new domestic partner for at least 6 months, assuming your new domestic partner meets all eligibility requirements.

Child
  • Birth – A copy of the birth certificate (We understand that this takes time. Please add your newborn as a dependent within 31 days of date of birth and follow up with the birth certificate once received; same for the social security number.)
  • Adoption – A copy of the adoption decree
  • Legal guardianship – A copy of the court decree awarding legal guardianship
  • Step-children – Step-children are eligible. A birth certificate proving the employee’s spouse is the step-child’s parent must be provided.
  • Foster children / grandchildren – Foster children and grandchildren are not eligible unless the employee adopts or has legal guardianship over them.
  • Handicapped / disabled children – Handicapped / disabled children are eligible beyond their 26th birthday if their physician certifies them as handicapped / disabled and if they are receiving Social Security benefits. Please contact OEB for additional information or assistance.
  • Children of domestic partner – Children of a domestic partner are not eligible unless the employee adopts them or marries their parent.
  1. If you plan to enroll yourself and any family members in the State medical plan, please note that you will need to designate primary care physician(s) (PCPs) for each person during the enrollment process. You designate a preferred PCP by entering the PCP’s National Provider Identifier (NPI) number in Workterra.
    • See the PCP Coordination of Care flyer to learn more about how the PCP requirement works as part of your State medical coverage.
    • Follow these Step-by-Step Instructions to find your preferred PCP(s) and their 10-digit NPI(s). Write down the number(s) so that you will be ready to enter them when you make your elections in Workterra.
    • You may also choose to have your PCP(s) chosen for you by checking the “Auto Allocate” box on the PCP pop-up page in Workterra.

Your State Benefits

To learn more about your benefits, visit the links below:

*In addition to the initial 31-day enrollment period, you may enroll or make changes to this benefit at any time during the year.