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Carpenters Southwest Administrative Corporation |
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Health & Welfare Eligibility |
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To establish eligibility during an Eligibility Quarter, you must work for Contributing Employers at least 300 hours in a Work Quarter as follows:
If you work more than 300 hours during a Work Quarter, the excess hours will be credited to a "Reserve Account" established for you, up to a maximum of 600 hours. You will be eligible during an Eligibility Quarter whenever the hours worked by you (if any) in the preceding Work Quarter, plus the hours in your Reserve Account, total at least 300 hours. Your eligible dependents are your legal spouse and your unmarried children (including step-children, legally adopted children or foster children by virtue of a court order, if they depend upon you for support and maintenance) if they are:
To establish coverage for your dependents, you must provide a marriage certificate for your spouse and a birth certificate for your children. New dependents must be added within 30 days of the date of marriage or the date of birth. Student status forms must be submitted for each new quarter or semester that the child is enrolled. If you become divorced or legally separated you must submit a copy of the divorce decree or court approved legal separation to the Administrative Office within 30 days of the event. Otherwise, you will be responsible for any costs the Trust incurs on behalf of your former spouse. Click here for a form to add a dependent. Click here for a Student Status Form. DEPENDENT ELIGIBILITY CLARIFICATION The following is a clarification of the Plan’s eligibility rules for dependent children. Unless your dependent child falls under the Plan’s age exception for children with a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, a dependent child’s eligibility terminates the day he or she turns age 19 or, if the dependent child is a full-time student in an accredited institution of learning, then eligibility ends on the day he or she turns age 23. For non-bargaining employees paid premium coverage, eligibility terminates at the end of the last day of the calendar month in which he/she turns 19 or the end of the last day of the calendar month in which he/she turns 23 if the dependent is a full time student. For more information, please contact the Administrative Office. |
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COBRA You and your family may temporarily continue health coverage under the Plan after coverage would otherwise end because of a “qualifying event.” Under a federal law known as “COBRA,” continuation coverage must be offered to each person who is a “qualified beneficiary.” A qualified beneficiary is someone who will lose coverage under the Plan because of a “qualifying event.” Depending on the type of qualifying event, employees, spouses of employees and dependent children of employees may be qualified beneficiaries. Qualified beneficiaries who elect COBRA continuation coverage must pay premiums on a monthly basis. Notice of the amount of the premium is included in the COBRA election notice sent after a qualifying event. You and your Dependents may each choose independently whether or not to continue coverage under COBRA. A COBRA participant can continue coverage only under the options he was enrolled in as of the date his coverage would have otherwise ended. He can change his coverage options only during the Trust’s regular annual open enrollment period. For example, someone enrolled in the Kaiser medical option and the Pacific Union Dental option as of the date his coverage would otherwise end can continue coverage only under those options until the next annual open enrollment period. Exceptions are made only if someone is enrolled in an HMO or DMO and moves out of the service area. For details regarding the COBRA continuation coverage, please see your Summary Plan description booklet or contact the Administrative or satellite office in your area. |