United Independent School District

David Garcia
Assistant Superintendent
Human Resources

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

United I.S.D. realizes employees produce their best results when allowed to concentrate fully on the tasks at hand. Personal family concerns especially in the areas of health or personal welfare have a tendency to distract from this concentration. Towards this end, United I.S.D provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package designed to address some of the more common situations that most of us face at one time or another.

HEALTH CARE INSURANCE

All full-time employees of United I.S.D. are eligible to participate in the District Group Health Insurance Plan. Employees may choose from two plans: a “High” plan and a “State” plan.
The District pays $247.60 towards the purchase of any plan chosen by the employee.
A brief summary of the health plans are outlined below:

High Plan

Coverage:
$25 MD Office Visits
$5/$20/$35 Prescription Program

Pays 80% of Most Charges
$200 / $600 Annual Deductible

Rates:

Employee Only ………....................... $25.00 Total
Employee / Children .......................... $194.66 Total
Employee / Spouse …………………… $298.73 Total

Employee / Family …………………..… $496.45 Total
Dual family Plan....................................$248.85 Total
(UISD pays $247.60)

State Plan

Coverage: $15 MD Office Visits

$5 / $10/$35 Prescription Program

Pays 90% of Most Charges
$100 / $300 Annual Deductible

Rates:

Employee Only Coverage ................ $402.64 Total
Employee / Children …….....……... $1,107.45 Total
Employee / Spouse ……….......…… $1,415.42 Total
Employee /Family ...........................$2,019.03 Total
Dual Family Plan ………….........…. $1,771.43 Total
(UISD pays $247.60)

LIFE INSURANCE

1. UISD Provides all regular fulltime employees with $25,000

of free life insurance.

2. Teachers Retirement System provides participating

employees with up to $80,000 of free life insurance.

SUPPLEMENTAL LIFE INSURANCE

For employees in need of additional life insurance, United I.S.D. makes available to full-time employees a low cost group supplemental life insurance plan. Employees may purchase up to $120,000 of life insurance on demand without a physical. Rates are based on age and start as low as 5¢ per $1,000 (example: $100,000 = $5.00 per month). Coverage for spouses and children is also available.

GROUP DENTAL INSURANCE

Group dental is a program that allows employees the choice of a reasonably priced basic service plan or an optional expanded benefit plan. Membership gives employees accessibility to both U.S. and Mexican licensed dentists. Premiums are deductible through the District Cafeteria Plan which means they are tax free (a savings discount of 16% to 25%)

Basic Plan Premium.......... Employee $13.25......... Family $35.75

Expanded Plan Premium.... Employee $17.25........ Family $46.50

TRS DISABILITY INSURANCE

TRS eligible employees are automatically covered for disability insurance free of charge. Participants with 10 years or less of service qualify for $150 per month for every month of service. Participants with 10 or more years of service qualify for regular monthly retirement benefits.

SUPPLEMENTAL DISABILITY INSURANCE

The District Group Disability Insurance provides employees the opportunity to protect against the loss of income due to extended injuries or illnesses.

Highlights of the plan include:

Affordable cost: Premiums are based on age, amount of

desired coverage, and length of elimination period.

Example: Employee age 31 wishing
$1,000 per month (tax-free) with a 14 day

elimination period pays only $12.60 per month.

Flexibility: Employee chooses amount of coverage,

elimination period, and length of coverage.

VISION CARE INSURANCE

The District Group Vision Care Insurance Plan affords employees the opportunity to provide vision care for themselves and their family.

Highlights of the plan include:

1. Flexibility: Two plans to choose from,

the “Advantage” plan and the “Gold” plan.

2. Affordability:

Advantage Plan- Employee $8.50 Employee and Family $22.95

Gold Plan Employee $16.85 Employee and Family $43.20

3. Generous benefits: After a small co-pay, annual eye exams,

frames, and lenses are covered 100%.

3. Large provider network: Seven (7) optometrists and three (3)

ophthalmologists in the Laredo area.

LEGAL EASE (PRE-PAID LEGAL)

Pre-Paid legal insurance is a unique and fairly new addition to the insurance field. For a low monthly fee employees can have access to legal service from licensed attorneys. Benefits include a free simple will, free consultation sevices, Criminal and Misdemeanor defense, consumer, residential, and family law services
plus many more services.

Employee Only …………….………… $13.34
Employee Family …………………… $14.32

SECTION 125 PLAN (Cafeteria Plan)

United I.S.D has an established Section 125 program for the benefit of its employees. The Section 125 Plan, also known as the Cafeteria Plan, refers to the Internal Revenue Code and its guidelines. It allows employees to pay for many of the district insurance plans with before tax dollars resulting in a savings of from 16% to 25% on premiums. The Section 125 Plan also includes a Flex Medical and Flex Dependent Care spending account feature that allows employees to pay for certain unreimbursed medical expenses and dependent care expenses with “before tax” dollars. The benefit to employees of the Section 125 plan is lower total income taxes and
increased net pay.

TAX SHELTERED ANNUITIES (TSA)

United I.S.D. participates in Tax Sheltered Annuity programs for it’s employees. A Tax Sheltered Annuity is a personal retirement plan available only to employees of non-profit organizations such as school districts. Premiums for these plans are taken out before
taxes. By making contributions to a TSA with “before tax” dollars, employees get the benefit of investing not only their money but also tax money that otherwise would be sent to the IRS. A list of approved TSA companies and agents is available from the Risk Management Office at (956) 717-6390.

DIRECT DEPOSIT

United I.S.D provides a direct deposit program for all employees. Direct deposit is a fast, easy, and convenient method of depositing a payroll check directly into a checking or savings account. For employees choosing to enroll, the deposit is guaranteed to be in their account on payday.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

State Personal Leave (all full-time employees)

State personal leave consists of five days per year, with no limit on accumulation and no restrictions on transfer among districts is provided. An employee may use up to five (5) days of accumulated State Personal Leave during an employment year for timely attention to personal business, personal illness, family illness, family emergency, or death in the immediate family and/or religious observances.

Local Leave

Professional employees shall earn seven days of local sick leave per school year.

Sick Leave Bank

The District provides additional sick leave days to members of the bank in the event of an unexpected extended illness, non-elective surgery, or a temporary disability due to an injury. Days may be requested from the bank only after the member has exhausted all accumulated state and local sick leave days. The Superintendent shall set guidelines, which also require Board approval.

All interested employee may choose to contribute sick leave bank and become eligible to receive up to30 days per year of local accrued days from other employees. The Sick Leave Bank is not available to employees who are receiving benefits from Workers Compensation. Please contact the Human Resources Department and request the form to enlist in the sick leave bank program. You must contribute a minimum of two days in order to qualify for eligibility to use the bank at a later date if necessary. The enrollment period for current employees and new employees hired prior to the opening of the school year shall be July 1st through October 31st.

Catastrophic Leave:

Policy DEC

Any employee who has exhausted all state leave, local leave, and (if applicable) U.I.S.D. sick leave bank days, can receive up to a Maximum of 30 days per year of local accrued days from other employees for a catastrophic illness.
Contact the Human Resources Department at 717-6254 for more information.

Transfer of Accrued Local Sick Leave:

An employee of the District may assign a maximum of ten (10) of his/her accrued sick leave days per year to a full time employee that has a catastrophic illness as defined by Leave and Absence policy. (See Policy DEC)