Absence for less than one month: If you will be on leave for less than one calendar month, please disregard this information as your insurance premiums will continue to be deducted from your monthly paycheck.
Absence for a month or longer: If you will be on a Leave of Absence for an entire calendar month or longer, HR will mail you a notice explaining your insurance options for the duration of your leave.
Insurance Tips:
- You can view your coverage on My UT Benefits.
- If your insurance coverage is suspended while on leave, you will not have coverage until you return to work in a benefits eligible position and update your elections on My UT Benefits.
- You have 31 days from the date of your return to a benefits eligible position to update your elections.
- Failure to update your elections may result in cancelation of coverage.
- Premium sharing is not provided while on a Leave of Absence.
- FMLA provides premium sharing for the duration of FMLA. Premium sharing ends with the FMLA award.
Faculty Employees: Please contact the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at (512) 471-4363 for additional guidelines that pertain to your leave status.
Premium Billing
If you elect to maintain insurance while on a Leave of Absence, bills are generated through What I Owe. Payment for each month is due by the first of the month. The preferred method of payment is the What I Owe online payment system, however payment may be made by check or money order. Failure to pay by the first of the month may result in cancellation of insurance coverage.
Once a bill has generated on What I Owe, you may pay in the following ways:
Credit Card
- MasterCard, Discover and AMEX are accepted. Credit card payments are not accepted by phone.
Check or Money Order
- Make payments payable to: The University of Texas at Austin
- Include your UT EID
- Write "Employee Insurance" on the check or money order
- Mail to: The University of Texas at Austin, P.O. Box 13177, Austin, TX 78711
For billing or payment questions, please contact Payroll Services at 512-471-5271 or go to the Payroll Services website. Lobby hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Important Reminders
- Time Off Accruals: You may not use time accrued while on a Leave of Absence until you return to work in a benefits eligible position.
- Summer Months: If you are employed on the basis of an academic year (September-May) and your leave is during the spring semester, your leave status will continue through the summer months.
- Mandatory Retirement Programs: Employee and employer contributions to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS), or the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) will stop with your last paycheck. Contributions will resume upon return to work in a benefits eligible position. You will not receive service credit towards vesting for any month in which a contribution is not made.
- Termination of Employment: Insurance coverage maintained while on leave will end on the last day of the month in which you separate from employment. Eligible employees and their dependents may continue insurance coverage through COBRA.
UT Flex Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA)
Your contributions to the HCRA will stop as of the last day of the month in which your monthly contribution was made. Contributions will resume the date you return to work in a benefits eligible position.
- You will be required to continue to make contributions to your account while on leave if your claim reimbursements have exceeded the amount you contributed at the start of your leave.
- You must update your insurance elections with 31 days if you return to work from leave and wish to continue participating in the HCRA.
- Contributions will be recalculated upon your return to work in a benefits eligible position so that your total annual election is deposited to your account by the end of the plan year.
- You can only be reimbursed for expenses incurred during your leave by continuing to make contributions to the account while on leave.
- An expense is "incurred" when the treatment or service is received, not when the bill is received or paid.
UT Flex Dependent Care Reimbursement Account (DCRA)
You are not eligible to continue the DCRA while on leave. Your payroll contributions to the account will resume once you return to work in a benefit eligible position.
- Contributions will be recalculated upon your return to work so that your total annual election is deposited to your account by the end of the plan year.
Change of Status Event
If you experience a Change of Status while on leave that impacts your insurance coverage, you have 31 days from the date of the event to update your elections. Please visit the Change of Status Event webpage for more information.