Some part-time faculty will be eligible for district-subsidized health benefits under Article 22A. The Foothill-De Anza Community College District contracts with CalPERS for the purposes of providing health benefits. There are a variety of medical plans to choose from. The health benefits plans run on the calendar year (January – December), while part-time faculty eligibility is based on the previous academic year’s teaching load.
Links to all of the plans and the current year’s costs are available at https://hr.fhda.edu/benefits/_medical-revised.html.
Under Article 22A, the district pays a percentage of the Kaiser plan for each of the three tiers: single, employee plus 1 dependent, employee plus family. Although the district subsidy is based on the Kaiser plan, any of the CalPERS health benefit plans may be selected with the faculty member paying the difference in cost. Part-time faculty who taught between 0.400 and 0.499 load in the prior academic year will have a subsidy of 50% of the Kaiser plan, loads between 0.500 and 0.5999 will have a subsidy of 60% of the Kaiser plan, loads of 0.600 or above will have a subsidy of 70% of the Kaiser plan. (Article 22A.4)
To be eligible to enroll in the district-subsidized health benefit plan, a part-time faculty member must have load of at least 0.400 and attained/retained reemployment preference during the academic year (fall, winter, spring) prior to the plan year (January – December). In addition, the part-time faculty member must also fill out an affidavit (Appendix K) that they have no access to medical insurance as either a primary insured or a dependent, where all or part of the premium, or cash in lieu of the premium, is paid through some other source. (Article 22A.1)
For example, a part-time faculty member teaching a total of at least 0.400 load during Fall 2022, Winter and Spring 2023, and having reemployment preference by the end of Spring 2023, would be eligible for benefits in Plan Year 2024 provided she or he meets the criteria of Appendix K. Summer assignments do not count toward the load for eligibility for health benefits.
The employee’s share of the cost is deducted pre-tax from paychecks. In any month without a regular paycheck, or without a paycheck that covers the employee’s share of cost, the part-time faculty employee needs to pay for benefits through the District Benefits Unit. Specifically, “When off pay and receiving health benefits: Starting January 1, 2022, you are no longer required to go through Direct Pay to continue health coverage with CalPERS. Instead, you must prepay for your monthly employee contributions directly with the District Benefits Unit.”