Employee Assistance Program (EAP) SPD

All regular full-time and part-time employees are eligible for the Rochester Institute of Technology Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Coverage begins on your date of hire. Your spouse/partner and eligible children are also covered under the EAP.

The eligibility rules for children are as follows:

• The child of the employee or the employee’s spouse who is under age 26.
• The child of the employee’s domestic partner who is under age 26.
• The foster child (under age 18) of the employee, defined as an individual who is placed with the employee by an authorized placement agency or by judgment decree, or other court order.
• Any other child who is under age 26, and
  • for whom the employee is the legal guardian or custodian, and
  • who resides in the employee’s home, and
  • who is claimed as a tax dependent on the employee’s federal income tax return.

RIT pays the total premium of providing employee assistance services to employees.

This no-cost counseling service helps you address stress, relationship and other personal issues you and your family may face. It is staffed by Guidance Consultants – highly trained masters and doctoral level clinicians who will listen to your concerns and quickly refer you to in-person counseling and other resources for:

• Stress, anxiety and depression
• Relationship/marital conflicts
• Problems with children
• Job pressures
• Grief and loss
• Substance abuse

Counselors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When you call, you connect immediately with a counselor. Each eligible family member is eligible for up to six (6) counseling sessions (phone and in-person combined) per person per calendar year per issue (number of sessions approved is based on counseling need so it may be less than six). If further sessions are needed, you pay the cost of the visits in full. You may be eligible for coverage under your medical plan; contact your medical insurance carrier directly for further details.

To obtain services, simply contact the EAP directly and the representative will help you over the phone or schedule an appointment for you. There are participating counselors in Monroe and the surrounding counties.

Speak by phone with GuidanceResources Certified Public Accountants and Certified Financial Planners on a wide range of financial issues, including:

• Getting out of debt
• Credit card or loan problems
• Tax questions
• Retirement planning
• Wills/Estates planning
• Saving for college

Talk to GuidanceResources attorneys by phone. If you require representation, they will refer you to a qualified attorney in your area for a free 30-minute consultation with a 25% reduction in customary legal fees thereafter. Call about:

• Divorce and family law
• Debt and bankruptcy
• Wills/Estate planning
• Landlord/tenant issues
• Real estate transactions
• Civil and criminal actions
• Contracts

The GuidanceResources Work-life specialists will do the research for you, providing qualified referrals and customized resources for:

• Child and elder care
• Moving and relocation
• Making major purchases
• College planning
• Pet care
• Home repair

GuidanceResources Online is your one stop for expert information on the issues that matter most to you….relationships, work, school, children, wellness, legal, financial, free time and more.

• Timely articles, Help Sheets, tutorials, streaming videos and self-assessments
• “Ask the Expert” personal responses to your questions
• Child care, elder care, attorney and financial planner searches

Examine, without charge, at the Plan Administrator’s office and at other specified locations, such as other worksites, all documents governing the plan, including insurance contracts, collective bargaining agreements and a copy of the latest annual report (Form 5500 Series) filed by the plan with the U. S. Department of Labor and available at the Public Disclosure Room of the Employee Benefit Security Administration.

Receive a summary of the plan’s annual financial report, if any. The Plan Administrator is required by law to furnish each participant with a copy of this summary annual report.

Continue health care coverage for yourself, spouse or eligible children if there is a loss of coverage under the plan as a result of a qualifying event. You or your dependents may have to pay for such coverage. Review this summary plan description and the documents governing the plan of the rules governing your COBRA continuation coverage rights.

You are entitled to a reduction or elimination of exclusionary periods of coverage for preexisting conditions under your group health plan, if you have creditable coverage from another plan. You should be provided a certificate of creditable coverage, free of charge, from your group health plan or health insurance issuer when you lose coverage under the plan, when you become entitled to elect COBRA continuation coverage, when your COBRA continuation coverage ceases, if you request it before losing coverage, or if you request it up to EAP 10 9/2021 24 months after losing coverage. Without evidence of creditable coverage, you may be subject to a preexisting condition exclusion for 12 months (18 months for late enrollees) after your enrollment date in your coverage.

In addition to creating rights for plan participants ERISA imposes duties upon the people who are responsible for the operation of the employee benefit plan. The people who operate your plan, called “fiduciaries” of the plan, have a duty to do so prudently and in the interest of you and other plan participants and beneficiaries. No one, including your employer or any other person, may fire you or otherwise discriminate against you in any way to prevent you from obtaining a welfare benefit or exercising your rights under ERISA.

If your claim for a welfare benefit is denied or ignored, in whole or in part, you have right to know why this was done, to obtain copies of documents relating to the decision without charge, and to appeal any denial, all within certain time schedules.

Under ERISA, there are steps you can take to enforce the above rights. For instance, if you request a copy of plan documents or the latest annual report from the plan and do not receive them in 30 days, you may file suit in a Federal court. In such a case, the court may require the plan administrator to provide the materials and pay you up to $110 a day until you receive the materials, unless the materials were not sent because of reasons beyond the control of the administrator. If you have a claim for benefits which is denied or ignored, in whole or in part, you may file suit in a state or federal court. In addition, if you disagree with the plan’s decision or lack thereof concerning the qualified status of a domestic relations order or a medical child support order, you may file suit in federal court.

If it should happen that the plan fiduciaries misuse the plan’s money or if you are discriminated against for asserting your rights, you may seek assistance from the U. S. Department of Labor, or you may file suit in a federal court. The court will decide who should pay court costs and legal fees. If you are successful the court may order the person you have sued to pay these costs and fees. If you lose, the court may order you to pay these costs and fees, for example, if it finds your claim is frivolous.