Extension of Leave Benefits

Following the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the University has agreed to extend leave benefits originally offered by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) through September 30, 2021. Additionally, the qualifying reasons for paid leave now include:

  1. The employee is obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination;
  2. The employee is recovering from any illness related to receiving the vaccine;
  3. The employee is seeking or waiting for test results or a medical diagnosis for COVID-19.

If employees have exhausted available emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) in the last 12 months, full-time employees may receive up to an additional 80 hours of EPSL and part-time employees are eligible for a number of hours equal to the number of hours worked, on average, over a two-week period.

Please e-mail uvmler@uvm.edu with questions about leave processes or employee leave entitlements.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Flexible Spending Account (FSA) dependent care pre-tax contribution maximums have increased to $10,500 (from $5,000) for single taxpayers and married couples filing jointly, and $5,520 (from $2,500) for married couples filing separately. As a result, the University has updated plan limits and is holding  special open enrollment periods for flexible spending account changes.

Forms will be accepted for the first special open enrollment period between April 5, 2021 and April 23, 2021 for an effective date of May 1, 2021. The following is a link to the 2021 FSA Enrollment form.

While the pre-tax contribution limit for health care FSA remains unchanged at $2,750, the University is allowing changes to be made to health care FSAs as part of our special open enrollment.

Employees may submit a flexible spending enrollment form during the open enrollment period to:

  • Enroll in FSA health or dependent care for plan year 2021.
  • Increase or decrease FSA enrollments for health or dependent care for the remaining portion of the calendar year 2021. Decreases must not exceed what has been collected during this current calendar year.

Additional Flexible Spending Plan Reminders:

UVM is pleased to allow employees greater flexibility with health care and dependent care FSA expenses during the period of the COVID pandemic. For UVM’s FSA Plan health care accounts and dependent care accounts, the following special provisions are being allowed:

For BOTH plan years 2020 and 2021:

  • Roll-Over Limits Removed – At the end of calendar years 2020 and 2021, any unspent balance(s) will be permitted to roll into the following plan year (for both health and dependent care expenses).
  • Increase to Child Age limit – The qualifying child age limit for dependent care expenses is in-creased from age 13 to 14.

For plan year 2021 ONLY:

  • Mid-Year Change Allowed – Changes to future payroll deductions can occur mid-year without regard to normal change-of-status life events. Employees have two opportunities to make changes:
    • April 5 – April 23 for payroll deductions effective starting with May 1 payroll
    • June 15 - July 15 for payroll deductions effective starting with August 1 payroll.
  • Terminated Employment – Employees who terminate during 2021 will be allowed to spend down any unspent balances on claims incurred after their termination date through the end of the plan year. To clarify, this is the balance available in the FSA account prior to termination, it is not necessarily the full amount elected for the plan year.

If you have questions regarding these revisions to the Flexible Spending Account plan, please contact UVM’s FSA administrator, EBPA, at 1-888-678-3457 (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.) or UVM Human Resource Services at HRSInfo@uvm.edu or 802-656-3150.