Leave Without Pay (LWOP) Employees

Overview

When you go on an approved unpaid leave of absence, including personal leave of absence and worker's compensation, you are considered a leave without pay (LWOP) employee, and you are responsible for paying the co-shares/premiums for your benefits. Failure to pay your co-shares/premiums will result in your benefits being terminated. See below for what you need to be aware of when you go on LWOP.

What You Should Know About..

What Happens to My Co-share Payments?

Your State health plan co-shares (for medical/pharmacy, dental and vision coverage) are normally automatically deducted from paychecks on a biweekly basis. When you go on LWOP, you will receive invoices and you must make timely payments or risk termination of coverage:

  • Invoice You will receive invoices from the State for your missed co-share deductions. Invoices are mailed on pay days. You must remit payment by the date indicated on your invoice or you will receive a delinquency notice.
  • Delinquency notice If you do not timely submit full payment for an invoice, your account will be in delinquent status, and a delinquency notice will be mailed to you along with your second invoice on the following pay day.
  • Termination notice If you fail to pay two consecutive invoices in full, a termination notice will be mailed to you along with your third invoice. The termination notice sets a health coverage termination date and gives you at least 30 days to pay your outstanding balance. During this period, you will receive additional invoices indicating your prior receipt of a termination notice. You must pay all invoices in full before the termination effective date or your coverage will be terminated.
  • Termination grace period If your coverage is terminated, there is a one week grace period that follows. If you pay your entire outstanding balance and/or return to work during this grace period, your coverage will be reinstated. If you do not pay your entire outstanding balance, or if you do not return to work during the grace period, your health coverage termination will be irrevocable, and you will not be eligible to re-enroll until you return to work. At that time, you will have a 31-day status change window within which to re-enroll.
  • Re-enrollment Re-enrollment does not occur automatically. To re-enroll, please contact OEB for guidance. If you fail to re-enroll during your 31-day status change window, you must wait until the next open enrollment period to re-enroll. You must address any outstanding co-share balance with your HR office before your re-enrollment is processed.

How Should I Pay My Co-shares?

Click here to Pay Online

Payments may be made by credit card or ACH (echeck).

Additional fees will apply to payments submitted online: 2%+$2.00 will be added to payments made by credit card and $2.00 will be added to payments made by ACH (echeck).

Mail a check or money order

Write your employee number on your payment, make it payable to “RI General Treasurer”, and mail it to:

  • Co-Share Processing Unit
    Office of Employee Benefits
    One Capitol Hill, 3rd Floor
    Providence, RI 02908

Hand-deliver your payment

Drop your check or money order payment in the locked drop box marked “HEALTH INSURANCE CO-SHARE PAYMENTS” in the HR reception area on the 3rd floor of the Department of Administration building at One Capitol Hill in Providence.

Who do I Contact With Questions?

Please call the number listed on your invoice/notice. If you do not have an invoice/notice, please contact the OEB.

  • If you miss one payroll contribution to your FSA due to LWOP, your account will be suspended. Your FSA debit card will also be deactivated.
  • Claims incurred prior to the date your LWOP began are eligible for manual reimbursement through ASIFlex.
  • Claims incurred during your LWOP period are eligible for manual reimbursement, but can only be processed by ASIFlex after you return to work during the plan year that they were incurred (including claims run-out period).
  • Your FSA will be reinstated when you return to work and resume receiving your paycheck. Your payroll contributions will be adjusted to reflect your annual FSA election amount. If your FSA is underspent (total reimbursements do not exceed annual election amount) at that time, you may initiate a qualifying event in Workterra within 31 days of your return to work and request a new annual election amount.
  • Your FSA account and debit card will be reactivated within one pay period of your return to work. If you incur claims after you return from LWOP but before your FSA card is reactivated, you may manually submit these claims to ASIFlex for reimbursement.
  • Please contact ASIFlex if you need to submit a manual reimbursement:
  • Please contact the OEB if you have any other questions.

LWOP Life Insurance Eligibility

If you are on leave without pay you may be eligible to continue your life insurance under one of the following provisions:

  •  Limited continuation of coverage for anyone on an approved leave from the workplace
    • There are several different triggering events for this continuation, and they each have their own duration.
    • See the different reasons and different durations for each type of leave this provision applies to on pages 20 and 21 of The Hartford's Plan Document here.
    • Portability and conversion would both be available at the end of the applicable life insurance eligibility period.
  • Disability extension
    • Only available if a severe disability event occurs prior to age 65, and continuing coverage is only available until age 65.
    • See more details on pages 21 and 22 of The Hartford's Plan Document here.
    • Conversion would be available at age 65.

Please note that if you port or convert your coverage before retiring under ERSRI, you will not be able to continue State life insurance coverage in your retirement.  Additional information on portability and conversion can be found in the “Portability and Conversion” section of the active employee life insurance page.

LWOP Life Insurance Premium Payments

You must make your premium payments through HR if you want to maintain your life insurance coverage while on LWOP:

  • Your HR office will bill you directly for the first premium payment when you go on LWOP.
  • If you do not make the first payment, HR will stop your life insurance coverage as well as any subsequent billing.
  • Contact your HR office for instructions on continuing your premium payments.

If You are Insured With Aflac

  • Short-term disability
    • When you miss your first payroll deduction while on LWOP, Aflac will bill you directly, and you will have 30 days to pay any premium accrued during this period. If you do not send in your premium within the first 30 days then your policy is terminated, and you will receive a termination letter from Aflac.
  • All other Aflac products
    • When you miss your first payroll deduction while on LWOP, Aflac will bill you directly, and you will have 45 days to pay any premium accrued during this period. If you do not send in your premium within the first 45 days then your policy is terminated, and you will receive a termination letter from Aflac.
  • Coverage reinstatement
    • You can always request to reinstate your policy; you will not have coverage between the terminated date and the reinstated date, and Aflac would not pay any claims generated during this period.
    • If you disagree with your policy termination, please write and state your reason to Aflac. If Aflac approves your policy reactivation, you must pay back any premiums due. Any claims during this period would be covered.
  • Contact
    • Please contact the Rhode Island AFLAC office at (401) 475-9936 and indicate that you are a State of Rhode Island employee.

If You are Insured With Colonial Life

  • Disability claim
    • It is your responsibility to initiate a disability claim directly with Colonial Life. This can be done online or via a paper claim form (obtain from Colonial).
    • The claim form have separate sections that need to be completed by you, your doctor, and your employer.
    • Your doctor must indicate on the form how long you will be out of work (in weeks). That amount of time (minus your chosen waiting period) will be used to calculate your benefit payments.
    • Most employees have a 6-month benefit duration and either a 7- or 14-day waiting period, although other options are available. For example, if your doctor says you will be out of work for 8 weeks, and you have a 6-month benefit duration, you still only get paid for the 8 weeks.
    • There is a continuation of benefits process that is used if your doctor adds more time to the initial suggested amount.
  • Premium payments
    • You are responsible for your premium payments while you are out on a disability claim.
    • You can make premium payments directly to Colonial or have your premiums taken from your claim payment.
    • All disability plans include a 90-day waiver of premium clause—i.e., after 90-days of being on disability claim, you are no longer responsible for your plan premiums until you return to work.
  • Contact
    • Please contact the RI District Colonial Life office at (866) 349-8011 or visit VisitYouville RI.

You must directly make your premium payments through HR if you want to maintain your legal coverage while on LWOP:

  • Your HR office will bill you directly for the first premium payment when you go on LWOP.
  • If you do not make the first payment, HR will stop your legal coverage as well as any subsequent billing.
  • Contact your HR office for instructions on continuing your premium payments.
  • Contact MetLife Legal if you need to confirm your coverage status while on LWOP: