Compensation and Staffing News
August 2021
UUA Office of Church Staff Finances Mission
Guided by the values of our faith,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being.
You may need to click on continuation dots to view all articles and/or to see each one in its entirety.
Insurance: Critical Enrollment Windows
Many congregations are welcoming new ministers and other staff this month. As the program year begins, please pay special attention to the enrollment deadlines for UUA insurance plans: 30 days from the employee's start date for the Health Plan, and 60 days from start date for Life, Long-Term Disability, and Dental Plans.

There is no open enrollment for Life or Disability insurance. If an eligible employee does not get signed up within the 60-day enrollment period, their only chance of getting these important benefits is through an Evidence of Insurability (EOI) process. This can be cumbersome, and approval by our insurance company is by no means guaranteed. Too often we learn of eligible employees who were not offered Life and Disability coverage upon hire. In some cases, these benefits were named in their employment agreements; nevertheless, they did not get enrolled. There is no easy workaround. Contact InsurancePlans@uua.org with any questions.
 
Heads of staff and supervisors, please be aware of your own benefits and those of your staff. Have employees been offered the benefits to which they are entitled? Do you have sound onboarding protocol in place to track dates and ensure that forms are completed and submitted? Are key staff and lay leaders aware of eligibility requirements and enrollment windows for all benefits? Use our Benefits Tune-Up Workbook to refresh your knowledge.
Forms and Communications
Summer is a busy time for our team because we get a lot of transition-related questions and communications. We do our best to respond to inquiries in a timely fashion. Thank you for your patience.

The best way to reach the Office of Church Staff Finances team is via email. Do not send any correspondence by US mail. We are rarely at headquarters to receive mail.

From the Insurance Team
Our email is InsurancePlans@uua.org. Any forms can be sent by email. If you prefer to send forms by fax, the number is 617-948-6487. If you wish to call us, use our toll-free number: 888-792-7496.

From the Retirement Team
Our email is RetirementPlan@uua.org. Employer Participation Agreements can be sent by email. Participants, your distribution requests need to go directly to TIAA. For questions about requesting a distribution, our TIAA dedicated line is 800-842-2829.

Additional Church Staff Finances Contacts
Health Plan Audit
The UUA Health Plan is audited according to Department of Labor standards by RSM, LLP, an outside auditing firm. Results are reported annually to the UUA Audit Committee and to the Trustees of the Heath Plan. 

Each year, the participation records of about 10% of participating congregations are selected for review. Letters go out to selected congregations around August 1. Responding is simple. We urge selected congregations to respond promptly to this contractually mandated IRS audit reporting requirement.
Retirement Plan Notes
TIAA Remittance and Payment Process Survey
Some of you have received an email from the Retirement Plan Team seeking feedback on your experiences remitting contribution data and payments to our recordkeeper, TIAA. Please complete the survey or forward it to the person with remitting responsibility in your organization. Response requested by August 15th. 

Employer Contributions: Once Eligible, Always Eligible
Any employee who has already met the Year of Eligibility Service provision 
while working for a UU employer that offered our Retirement Plan is immediately eligible for employer contributions when hired by another participating congregation. "Eligible for" means "must receive."
 
Have you hired someone who previously worked for a UU employer? Please find out if they already met the eligibility criteria for employer contributions through their prior service. (Write to RetirementPlan@uua.org if there is any question.) If so, your congregation's employer contributions begin upon hire. In such a situation:

  • The employee doesn't need to work for 12 months first.
  • It doesn't matter how many (or how few) hours they work for your congregation. Once they become eligible, contributions are due on all wages paid.
  • It doesn't matter if there's been a gap since they last worked for a participating congregation.

Remember: Once eligible, always eligible.

Every month from September through June, we'll feature one of the Top 10 Tips (PDF) to increase your knowledge of UUA Retirement Plan requirements and help ensure error-free benefit administration.
From the UUA COVID-19 Resource Team
As the COVID-19 landscape continues to evolve, we're reviewing our current Guidance on Gathering In Person and our many other pandemic-related webpages. We will edit as appropriate over the course of the month.

While our key principles (see graphic) haven't changed, their meaning and application are shifting. For instance, inclusion – centering the needs of the most vulnerable – means something different now than it did a year ago because different populations are most at risk.

If you're cranky, frustrated, and fatigued, you are not alone. All the more reason to take care of yourself, and to be extra kind to your staff and lay leaders.
July Poll Results: Why Do You Read Compensation and Staffing News?
The MAIN reason I read Compensation and Staffing News is that:
44% said: As a lay leader, I use the content to help me carry out my responsibilities.
30% said: As an employee, I use the content to help me in my work.
11% said: As an employee, I am interested in information related to my own employment.
11% said: I look for relevant content to share with others.
4% said: The content is interesting to me for other reasons.

Stay tuned for more polls this fall.
UUA Office of Church Staff Finances
24 Farnsworth Street | Boston, MA 02210