News Archive: 1/1/07 - 6/30/07
6/21/07 - The Legislature has passed OMCE legislation (S.4694/A.6311) that will provide an optional 25-year retirement plan for Police Investigators employed by the NYS Office of the Attorney General. You can show support for this important legislation by sending a message to the Governor urging him to sign the bill when it reaches his desk. It's easy to do: Just Click Here or select ACTION LINE from the menu in the left-hand column and follow the step-by-step instructions. Your email will be on its way in seconds.
6/11/07 - We have been soliciting nominees for election to the OMCE Board of Directors and have received expressions of interest from several members. The nomination process ends on June 25, so there is still time to advise us of your interest. If you are not interested in running yourself, consider recommending someone you think might be interested. We are seeking active state employees who are willing to commit their time, energy and talent to addressing the issues facing M/C employees in the Executive and Judicial branches and other government jurisdictions. The Board meets quarterly in Albany, on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings in June, September and December. The March meeting is on the Monday evening before our annual Legislative Day, which is always on a Tuesday. Travel expenses are reimbursed. Send your resume and a statement suitable for use on the ballot, describing your interest and "qualifications" for serving on the Board, to the OMCE Nominating Committee by the June 25 deadline. Email or regular mail is acceptable.
5/3/07 - Spousal Benefits Eligibility Change: Effective May 1, 2007, the Civil Service Department revised its employee benefits policy to afford recognition to any same-sex marriage that is legal in the jurisdiction where it was performed and where the couple possesses a legal marriage certificate from that jurisdiction, for purposes of providing spousal benefits eligibility in the NYS Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) and in all other benefits programs administered by the Department’s Employee Benefits Division. These other programs include: NYS Vision Program, M/C Life Insurance Program, NY Public Employee and Retiree Long Term Care Program (NYPERL) and NYS Dental Program (including the Retiree Dental Plan administered by GHI). At this time, a same-sex marriage from the following jurisdictions will be recognized if it is legal in the jurisdiction itself: Massachusetts, Canada, including all its provinces, Spain, South Africa, Belgium and the Netherlands. Civil unions will continue to be acceptable as part of proof requirements for domestic partner coverage.
To implement this change, there will be a special one-month enrollment period, from May 1 to May 31, 2007, during which time enrollees may enroll same-sex spouses without regard to the usual effective date rules in NYSHIP (health insurance, dental and vision care). Enrollment rules for M/C Life Insurance will be detailed separately. During the special enrollment period, the effective date of the spouse’s coverage will be May 1, 2007, if a legal marriage took place prior to May 1 and the enrollee requests a May 1 effective date. Applications submitted during the special enrollment period for marriages that occur after May 1 will be effective on the date of the marriage. Applications signed after May 31 will be subject to the usual effective date rules used for spousal eligibility due to marriage.
The Department of Civil Service will communicate this change to all enrollees through its Empire Plan Reports publication and the What’s New section of the Employee Benefits Division website. Active employees seeking coverage of a same sex spouse should contact their agency/facility Health Benefits Administrator, usually in the Personnel Office. Retirees should send their same sex spousal coverage change requests to the following address: NYS Department of Civil Service, Employee Benefits Division, 80 South Swan Street, Albany, NY 12239.
Notes: For purposes of the Pre-Tax Contribution Program (PTCP), a change of coverage request due to same-sex marriage is a qualifying event and will be allowed on the same basis as any other change that is requested due to the addition of a new dependent. These spouses will also be entitled to all the usual COBRA continuation of coverage rights upon loss of eligibility. Since the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage, Medicare and plan primacy rules for same-sex spouses of active enrollees will remain the same as the rules for domestic partners.
4/20/07 - Bills have been introduced in the State Legislature (S.1617/A.6758) to amend Civil Service Law Section 71 and extend from one year to eighteen months the period for a leave of absence by reason of disability resulting from occupational injury or disease for public employees. This bill has the support of OMCE and the public employee unions.
4/19/07 - Pursuant to the authorization contained in Budget Bulletin D-1119, dated 3/21/07, the Office of the State Comptroller has issued guidelines and processing instructions (Payroll Bulletin #724, dated April 16, 2007) for the payment of M/C cash merit award payments in fiscal year 2007-08. The cash merit award is a lump sum payment and not added to the employee's basic annual salary. Cash merit awards are not included in the calculation of overtime, but they are pensionable. As in the past, agencies can submit merit award payments for processing any time during the fiscal year. The eligibility period is 4/1/06 to 3/31/08. An employee may receive more than one cash merit award, but the cumulative value of all such payments earned and paid in fiscal year 2007-08 may not exceed 5% of the employee's basic annual salary.
3/23/07 - The Division of the Budget has authorized payment of the April 1, 2007 general salary increase (an across-the-board increase in base salary of $800 payable over 26 payroll periods) and 2007-08 performance advances, merit awards and longevity payments for Managerial and Confidential (M/C) employees (Budget Bulletin D-1119, dated 3/21/07). The general salary increase and 2007-08 performance advances will be paid effective 3/29/07 (Institution payroll) and 4/5/07 (Administration payroll) beginning with paychecks dated 4/26/07 (Institution) and 5/2/07 (Administration). The longevity payment, which is available to M/C employees in grades M/C-17 and below, is effective from the first day of the payroll period following completion of five or ten years of continuous service at or above the job rate. Merit awards are payable, at agency discretion, at any time during the fiscal year. (Click Here to view the '07-'08 M/C Salary Schedule.)
3/21/07 - The Civil Service Department has announced that it is suspending administration of the Promotion Test Batteries, pending a review of its examination program. The Department also will not use currently banked battery scores in promotion examinations that have not yet been announced. Instead, the Department will use a variety of other examination tools to evaluate candidates for promotion, including written and oral test and training/experience evaluations. Additional information, including a listing of previously-announced examinations in which currently banked battery scores will be used to establish eligible lists, is available on the Department of Civil Service’s FAQ page (Click Here). Additional questions may be directed to your agency/facility human resources office; OMCE members may call us at 800-828-6623 (456-5241 in the Albany area).
2/27/07 - Health Insurance Rate Change and Special Option Transfer Period: In January 2006, the State began requiring State employees and retirees enrolled in the New York State Health Insurance Plan (NYSHIP) to share in the cost of reimbursing the Medicare Part B premium paid by Medicare-primary enrollees by adding a surcharge to health insurance premiums. OMCE and others challenged this action in State Supreme Court and won an Appellate Division decision directing removal of the surcharge from the 2006 and 2007 Empire Plan and HMO premiums.
In implementing this decision, the State will revise the 2007 NYSHIP premium rates effective April 1, 2007 and, at a later time, make retroactive adjustments to account for removal of the Medicare Part B surcharge from the rates charged between January 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007. (We will advise when and how the retroactive adjustments will be made, as soon as the information is available to us.) In the meantime, a special option transfer period will be conducted through March 30, 2007 for HMO enrollees whose premium will increase as a result of the April 1, 2007 rate change. To explain: Health insurance premiums for most employees will decrease. However, for employees enrolled in HMOs that are more costly than The Empire Plan, premiums will increase. This is because, while the State pays 90% of the cost of individual coverage and an additional 75% for the cost of dependents for family coverage, the State’s share of the costs of HMO premiums is capped at the amount of the State’s share of The Empire Plan premium. Since the 2007 rates currently in effect include the cost of the Medicare surcharge, the premium for The Empire Plan has been higher than it should have been, resulting in overpayment by the State of the State’s share of the premium for HMOs that cost more than The Empire Plan. Note (added 3/1/07): We have been notified that the State will not seek to recoup the overpayment from HMO enrollees whose premiums increase as a result of removal of the Medicare Part B surcharge from The Empire Plan premium rates.
NYSHIP enrollees are being mailed a new premium rate chart, along with a letter explaining the rate change and special option transfer period for eligible enrollees. Along with the letter and rate chart, HMO enrollees whose premiums will be increasing will receive a special option transfer form and HMO enrollment form. Information and new rate charts will be available soon on the Department of Civil Service website (www.cs.state.ny.us). Go to: Benefit Programs; then NYSHIP Online and select your group (M/C and State Legislature, if prompted); then Health Benefits and Option Transfer. Next, choose Rates and Health Plan Choices. Questions may be addressed to your agency/facility health benefits administrator.
1/30/07 – We printed a tip in our January 2007 OMCE Newsletter on reverse use of your PIN to alert police if you’re being forced to withdraw money from an ATM machine. It turns out that, while the technology for such a system exists and some states have considered legislation, it has not yet been adopted, at least not here in the United States. The banking industry favors finding ways to protect ATM users, but opposes this system because of fear that its use will increase the chances of ATM machine-related violence.
1/26/07 - OMCE Treatment Team Leader Members: We are developing issues on which to create a dialogue with the Spitzer administration and need to update the information we have from the 2002-03 survey of Treatment Team Leader positions to determine if there is any basis for reopening the issue of Treatment Team Leader compensation. In order to make this determination, we need to know whether or not there have been any substantive changes in Treatment Team Leader duties and responsibilities since the last survey. Necessary background information and a brief online questionnaire are available in the Members Only section, which is accessible via login. (Members call 800-828-OMCE for your user ID and password.) Your assistance in completing the questionnaire will help us make a preliminary determination concerning whether or not there is a sufficient basis to move forward.
1/19/07 - OMCE member/dependent SPECIAL - expires February 28, 2007. Laser eye correction for members, spouse and dependent children ages 18-25. Show your OMCE membership card and receive a $1,000 discount ($500 per eye) off the regular price. Example: Tier 1 regular price $1,850 per eye, with discount $1,350. Tier 2 regular price $2,150 per eye, with discount $1,650. Bladeless lasik procedure with Intralase® laser $350 additional per eye. For further information and to locate a participating doctor: Click Here (New pricing after March 1, 2007 to be announced.)
1/19/07 - New York State reimburses its employees who travel based on a mileage allowance established by the Internal Revenue Service. By adhering to this allowance, reimbursements for mileage are not taxable to the employee. Effective January 1, 2007, the standard mileage rate for car use is now 48.5 cents per mile.
1/18/07 - The Attorney General’s Office and United Healthcare (UHC) reached a settlement last month (December 2006) that requires UHC to stop providing misleading information to its policyholders and to provide restitution to consumers. The case began when the Attorney General’s Office received a complaint from a consumer who had received services from a doctor erroneously listed as participating in UHC’s Empire Plan network. Because UHC processed the consumer’s claim as one for out-of-network services, the consumer had to pay the difference between the amount the doctor billed and the amount UHC paid, a much higher sum than the co-pay for an in-network, participating doctor. Investigation revealed that UHC erroneously listed certain doctors as participating in the Empire Plan at certain locations. The State Department of Civil Service relied on this erroneous information in its written and online directories of providers for Empire Plan enrollees in the NYS Health Insurance Plan. These errors, which UHC attributed to computer programming problems, first occurred in 2000 and were included in its published directories until October 2005. The errors were corrected earlier in the online directory, in May 2004. In addition to correcting the errors in its directories, UHC agreed to review Empire Plan claims back to January 2000 in order to identify all claims that were improperly processed and reimburse all members who incurred costs higher than the co-pay for in-network care. UHC, which the Attorney General’s Office said cooperated fully in the investigation, further agreed to pay $20,000 in penalties and $25,000 in costs. If you believe you have a claim that was improperly processed, call UHC at 1-877-7NYSHIP (1-877-769-7447).
1/4/07 - As of January 1, Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) became the sole national participating provider of laboratory services for the Empire Plan. In addition to LabCorp, many other regional and local laboratory providers will continue to participate, thereby ensuring Empire Plan enrollees continued broad access to participating laboratory services providers. Quest Diagnostics will no longer be a participating provider of laboratory services. United Health Care is working to expand its network of regional and local laboratory providers in the areas where Quest has provided services in the past (downstate New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) and LabCorp is working to increase its presence in these areas, as well. United Health Care, in cooperation with LabCorp, has been notifying physicians of these changes. Nevertheless, in order to minimize your out-of-pocket expense, it is important that you verify with your physician that the laboratory the doctor uses is a participating provider. As long as your physician uses a participating laboratory, you will not be responsible for any cost beyond a co-payment for covered services.
1/3/07 - Gov. Spitzer signed five new executive orders on his first day in office, including orders establishing stricter ethical conduct guidelines for state employees and eliminating politics from government decision-making. During an early morning signing ceremony at the executive mansion on New Year’s Day, the governor said he was fulfilling a promise that one of his first official acts as governor would be "to put in place a series of ethics guidelines and strictures that would begin the process of restoring government to what it should be, which is responsive, open, transparent, available to the public and to the extent feasible, insulated from the influence of improper gifts and contributions." OMCE applauds the Governor's actions and we urge our members to read these new Executive Orders (Follow Links below) and take careful note of their provisions, particularly Executive Order #1, Establishment of Ethical Conduct Guidelines , and Executive Order #2, Eliminating Politics from Government Decision-making.
Link to Executive Order 1 (Click Here)
Link to Executive Orders 2 - 5 (Click Here)