Leaving Employment or Losing Benefits-Eligibility
Leaving Employment & Benefits Transition
Leave Payouts
Visit Vacation Leave Payout for information about the hours that will be paid at termination of employment. Sick Leave is only paid at retirement or retirement eligibility. Discretionary Day is not paid if not used. Holiday Comp and Comp Time hours are paid at termination of employment. For more information, please contact HR/Pay Help Desk at 785-864-0600 or hrpay@ku.edu.
Group Health Insurance
If a member terminates employment on the 1st day of the month, State Employee Health Plan (SEHP) benefits also terminate on the 1st of the month. HSA & FSA contributions will be deducted from the first check of the month for a member terminating on the 1st day of the month.
If a member terminates on the 2nd day of the month or later, SEHP benefits will terminate at the end of the month. SEHP deductions will be taken from both the first and second checks of the month. Employees are responsible for the semi-monthly premium deductions to ensure coverage to the end of the month.
Flexible Spending Accounts
Employees who terminate coverage mid-year will have 90 days after contributions end or employment is terminated to pay out claims that were incurred while coverage was active.
Health Care Flexible Spending Account claims may be filed for services incurred from your effective date of participation until the end of the month in which you terminate employment. You will receive information from the State Employee Health Plan about the option of making after-tax contributions to the Health Care Flexible Spending Account. If you do not receive this information, please contact the State Employee Health Plan at 785-296-3226.
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account claims may be filed for services incurred from your effective date of participation until 90 days from your last date on SEHP coverage.
Health Savings and Health Reimbursement Accounts
Heath Savings Account contributions will also stop at the end of the month of separation from KU. MetLife will convert your HSA to a personal account and send you a new debit card through the mail. The Health Savings Account is “portable” which means that you take your account with you and can use it to pay for eligible medical expenses for you and your tax qualified dependents. Please check with your tax advisor to confirm whether your Health Savings Account funds can be used to pay for health insurance premiums.
Health Reimbursement Account will also stop at the end of the month of separation from KU. If you have remaining HRA funds at the end of the plan year (December 31), the funds do not roll to the next year. Participants will have 60 days from December 31 to file manual claims for expenses incurred in the plan year. If you should terminate employment, you will have 60 days after termination to file manual claims for any expenses incurred while employed for the plan year.
For assistance with either your Health Savings Account or Health Reimbursement Account, please contact Met Life at 877-759-3399.
The Hartford Voluntary Supplemental Benefits
If you are currently enrolled in The Hartford Voluntary Supplemental Benefits (Critical Illness Insurance, Accident Insurance, Hospital Indemnity Insurance), please contact The Hartford at 877-426-6483 to continue your coverage.
COBRA Continuation of Health Insurance
Information on COBRA coverage (including Contact directory and Rates) can be found on the SEHP website; click here for the calendar year 2022 COBRA Guide (pdf).
CobraGuard, the SEHP's third party administrator for COBRA, will send a letter to your home address as it appears in the MAP portal. That letter will include the COBRA application along with the premium payment information. The SEHP manual states: “Within 21 days of SEHP Membership Services receiving notification of the Qualifying Event, the qualified Beneficiary will receive specific information from the third party COBRA administrator, including a COBRA Enrollment Form setting forth the requirements for continuing insurance coverage, the plans available, and the applicable premium rates.”
You will have 60 days from the later of the following dates by which to elect COBRA continuation coverage: 1) date of the COBRA letter or 2) date of separation from employment. If you return the COBRA application by the deadline specified in the COBRA letter, your coverage will be effective the first day following your loss of SEHP coverage (even if that date is retroactive).
Please note it can take 5 business days to activate coverage after payment is submitted. The first month's COBRA premium must be paid by check and mailed. All subsequent payments will be set up as automatic bank withdrawals. If you have COBRA enrollment questions, please call CobraGuard at 866-952-6272.
Enrolling in Spouse's or Parent's SEHP Coverage
Spouse/Parent will have 30 calendar days from your last day (date of qualifying event) to make the change directly in MAP, using the "Mid-Year Benefit Changes" tab and upload any required documentation to support the change (i.e., a marriage license, birth certificate, etc.) If you do not take timely action, or if you do not provide the required supporting documentation, the SEHP will deny your change request. For mid-year changes MAP instructions, please visit Mid Year Changes Step-by-Step Guide (pdf). Please contact the Benefits Office (benefits@ku.edu or 785-864-7402) if you have any questions or need assistance.
Enrolling in Other Health Coverage
The CobraGuard informational packet will include a letter confirming last day of coverage for all members on your current coverage. You will receive this letter by federal mail within 21 days of the SEHP receiving information about the Qualifying Event that results in your loss of coverage.
For time-sensitive requests due to enrollment in spouse/parent/private coverage, please submit your request to benefits@ku.edu. Please note last day of employment will be need to be verified in HR Pay, and will be keyed when last paycheck is in process.
Transferring to Another State Agency
If you transfer from one state agency to another with no break in service, you will have continuous group health insurance coverage. If the break in service is 30 calendar days or less, your effective date of coverage is the 1st day of the month following your rehire date (if you had SEHP coverage in effect prior to your break in service). If your rehire date is the 1st day of the month, your coverage effective date will be that day.
Please note if you end employment on a Friday and start with other agency on a Monday, this is considered a break in service. Please notify both your new agency's Benefits office and KU Benefits of your transfer status and effective last date / start date to coordinate efforts.
If you have questions please contact KU Benefits, benefits@ku.edu or call 785-864-7402.
Retirement Plans
Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) Mandatory and Voluntary 403(b) Retirement Program
If you wish to access your retirement funds, you will need to utilize the Plan with Ease website, the plan administration service that acts on behalf of KBOR to review and approve distribution transaction requests. To learn more about planwithease.com, please visit the Accessing KBOR Retirement Funds website.
If you plan to access your retirement account or process a direct transfer, please ensure that all contributions from paychecks, including leave payouts, have been deposited into your account. If you remain an employee at any of the KBOR State universities or the Board Office (even if in a temporary and/or non-benefits eligible position), you will not be authorized access to funds. When you are no longer employed by KBOR, you may use planwithease.com to access funds.
If you are accessing funds because your employment has ended, you will not be able to print a certification letter in planwithease.com until after the date of your last paycheck.
KPERS 457
If you have been making contributions to the KPERS 457 (Deferred Compensation) plan. Please contact the KPERS 457 Service Center at 800-232-0024 or KPERS457@KPERS.org to determine what options are now available to you. If you plan to close out your account or process a direct transfer, please ensure that all contributions from paychecks, including leave payouts, have been deposited into your account.
Kansas Public Employees Retirement Systems (KPERS)
You can withdraw retirement contributions after 31 days of your termination date through completion of an Application for Withdrawal of Contributions (pdf). Please return the completed application to KPERS and allow four weeks for payment. For additional questions, please contact KPERS at 888-275-5737 or kpers@kpers.org.
Please visit the KPERS website and review the information for your particular KPERS Tier Group (there's information to help you determine your Tier Group if you are not certain).
If you are Vested, you are guaranteed a monthly retirement benefit for the rest of your life if you leave your contributions in your account. Often, if you have a significant amount of service, your benefit is more valuable than your actual contributions. If you keep your contributions with KPERS, you can apply for retirement benefits when you become eligible. If you do not withdraw, and you return to KPERS covered employment, you will immediately become an active member again and keep your service credit.
If you are Not Vested, you are not guaranteed a retirement benefit. You need to withdraw your account within 5 years. After 5 years, your contributions stop earning interest and you forfeit your service credit. If you do not withdraw or retire and you return to employment within 5 years, you will immediately become an active member again and keep your service credit.
If you have questions please contact KU Benefits, benefits@ku.edu or call 785-864-7402.
Group Life Insurance
Your basic group life insurance coverage will end the last day of the pay period in which you terminate employment. There is a 60-day grace period in which you may apply to convert your coverage to a new individual life insurance policy. If you have Optional Group Life Insurance, that coverage will end on the last day of the month in which you terminate employment.
You may also choose to continue all or a portion of your life insurance coverage as a term life policy through a portability provision. You have a 60-day grace period in which to apply to “port” your coverage.
Conversion and Portability applications and information can be found at the following links:
Portable group term life insurance (pdf)
Individual whole life insurance (pdf)
Please return the application to Standard Life at the address or fax number provided on the form. If you have questions, please contact Standard at 1-844-289-2306 or email kpersadmin@standard.com.
If you want information about continuing life insurance coverage for your dependent, please complete and submit the portable form:
Portable group term life insurance (pdf)
If you have questions please contact KU Benefits, benefits@ku.edu or call 785-864-7402.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
The Employee Assistance Program may be available to you, dependents and other family members living in the same household for up to six months after your separation of employment. With a single call to 1-888-275-1205 (option 1), you and your family members can receive confidential assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week at no cost to you. For more information, visit the SEHP Employee Assistance Program page.
Email & Accounts
KU’s Information Technology webpage provides specific information about when access will be disabled for email and accounts.
Please note that IT’s information states: Unclassified Professional Staff and University Support Staff lose access immediately after leaving the university. Faculty lose access to their KU email 210 days after leaving the university. For this reason, we recommend using a more permanent personal email account for non-KU related purposes.
You will retain access in HR/Pay for paychecks and personal data for up to 400 days past your termination date. This will allow access to paychecks to validate W-2 or to update mailing address.
Off-Boarding Checklist
Human Resources (HR) provides resources for employees separating from KU, including an Exit Interview Survey.
*An accessible version of the PDFs on this site will be made available upon request. Please contact our office at hrdept@ku.edu to request the document be made available in an accessible format.