New Employee Benefit information: Review benefit programs and consider deadlines to apply
New employees have a waiting period before their health, dental & vision insurances begin. Please choose your respective benefit summary for information on these waiting periods and more. Enrollment in health insurance and retirement must be done within 30 days of your start date.
Health Insurance: please review the Choices booklet along with the current Rates booklet from the link. SUNY Potsdam has four plans to choose from: The Empire Plan 001, CDPHP 300, HMO Blue 160 and MVP 360.
Plan Comparison Tool: To generate a side-by-side comparison of the benefits provided by each of the NYSHIP plans in your area, use the NYSHIP Plan Comparison tool, available on NYSHIP Online. Go to www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits and choose your group and plan, if prompted. From the NYSHIP Online homepage, select Health Benefits & Option Transfer. Click on Rates and Health Plan Choices and then NYSHIP Plan Comparison. Select your group and the counties in which you live and work (Potsdam is in Saint Lawrence county). Then, check the box next to the plans you want to compare and click on Compare Plans to generate the comparison table.
To enroll in a plan, complete the NYS Health Insurance Transaction Form PS 404 and submit with required proofs on your on-boarding checklist.
To Opt-out of taking our insurance, you will also need to complete NYS Health Insurance Transaction Form PS 404, the Attestation Form PS 409 and submit with required proofs on your on-boarding checklist, including proof of other insurance.
NYSHIP Opt-out Program information: *UUP employees are not eligible for the opt-out program and should simply choose decline on the PS 404 if not enrolling.
Eligible employees who can demonstrate and attest to having other employer-sponsored group health insurance may elect to opt-out of the insurance. Employees who elect to opt-out, will receive $1,000 for waiving individual coverage or $3,000 for waiving family coverage. This amount will be credited to bi-weekly paychecks as taxable income over the plan year. For the purpose of the Opt-Out Program, other employer-sponsored group health insurance coverage is through employment other than with the State University of New York (SUNY). Therefore, if the other coverage is through a NYS employee or retiree, the employee is not eligible for the Opt-Out Program. However, coverage through another employer such as a municipality, school district or public benefit corporation qualifies as other coverage.
Dental/Vision Programs: coverage provided at no cost, enrollment is through the appropriate group linked below:
Retirement plans: Please note, full time UUP and MC employees have a choice of plans. Full time CSEA, PEF and University police will be automatically enrolled in the NYS ERS plan.
Guides, comparison charts and a video can be helpful in choosing a plan and are available on the bottom of the linked page.
How to Enroll in a Retirement Program
Once you have carefully reviewed your options, your first step is to register with Retirement@Work by setting up your username and profile. The second step is to elect your retirement program and provide your retirement system history. Below are some guides to help with the process:
SUNY Voluntary Savings Program - provides employees with the opportunity to save for their retirement through the SUNY 403(b) Plan and the NYS Deferred Compensation Plan. Participating in a voluntary savings plan is a great way to build your retirement savings and allows for retirement savings on a pre- and post-tax basis.
All employees who receive a W2 from SUNY are eligible to participate in the SUNY Voluntary Savings Options. You may choose to enroll at any time.
SUNY offers a wide array of benefits outside of the ones listed above. I encourage you to check out the options by visiting the SUNY-wide benefits page at: https://www.suny.edu/benefits/.
For assistance with your enrollment in our benefits, please contact: Nicole S Bacon-Ward, baconwns@potsdam.edu or by calling (315) 267-2090.