A Spouse or Dependent Passes Away

Funeral Leave

Staff members may use up to three days of earned sick leave per occurrence when death occurs in their *immediate family.

Pallbearer Leave

Staff members may use up to one day of earned sick leave per occurrence when serving as a pallbearer or funeral attendant for someone who is not a member of their *immediate family.

*Immediate family is defined, and limited to, the staff member’s spouse, children, grandchildren, foster children, stepchildren, legal wards, parents, grandparents, foster parents, stepparents, brothers, foster brothers, stepbrothers, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters, foster sisters, stepsisters, daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, first cousins, corresponding relatives of the faculty or staff member's spouse, and other persons who are members of the staff member's household.

Crisis Response for Supervisors, Managers, Directors, Department Heads, & Deans

If an employee death occurs, Employee and Family Resources has a crisis response program ready to provide assistance. If you feel crisis response is something you need for your department, or you have questions, please call Human Resource Services at 319-273-2423 to discuss options.

Stress, Mental Health, and Grief Services

There are many services available for those who are grieving. Please visit the Stress, Mental Health, and Grief Services webpage for all resources available.

EAP

University of Northern Iowa benefits eligible employees, and their dependents, have access to an employee assistance program (EAP) through Employee and Family Resources. EAP offers short-term counseling for those experiencing difficult life challenges.

Principal Financial

Principal provides free grief support services and access to counselors through Magellan Healthcare. Services include, but are not limited to, grief counseling, depression screenings, and local and community legal resources. To receive a consultation call 800-274-4529.

Health, dental, and vision insurance will end for the spouse/dependent on the last day of the month in which they passed. After being notified of the death, UNI will work to notify all applicable vendors to end the active coverage.

Voluntary term life (VTL) insurance ends as of the date of death. If the spouse/dependent was covered under a VTL policy human resource services will need to be notified so that they can file the claim with Principal Financial. The UNI employee is automatically the beneficiary of these policies.

The death of a dependent allows you to make any necessary changes to your benefits, which also includes changing health plans if needed. Please utilize UNI Works to make any changes.

Effective July 1, 2024, due to a recent audit, all employees having a qualified life event and making any changes to their family health and/or dental coverage must verify all dependent relationships by providing corresponding legal documentation.

Examples of documentation:

1. Spouse - marriage certificate, common law spouse affidavit
2. Domestic Partner - notarized domestic partner affidavit
3. Child - birth certificate which includes parents names, court order, or guardianship paperwork

Since this impacts all life events, including open enrollment, we are notifying employees now so documentation can be easily provided when required. At the time of your life event, you can securely upload to UNI Works (link to the UNI Works site) or bring into the Human Resource Office at Gilchrist 025. All documentation needs to be viewed by HRS staff, but no documentation will be retained after the initial review (i.e., if provided electronically, it will be purged). Do not send any personal documents through email as this is not secure.

In order to change your benefits, or have a life insurance claim processed, documentation of the passing must be provided to the UNI Human Resources Office. This can either be done in person, or uploaded through the UNI Works system when making a change to benefits. Acceptable documentation includes:

• Death Certificate, or
• Certified copy of the public record of death, or
• Certified copy of a coroner's certificate

• Emergency Contacts
• Tax forms
• Wills and Living Wills
• Power of attorney

If you need to update your life insurance beneficiaries due to a qualifying life event, please use the UNI Works System.

For IPERS beneficiaries, please log into the IPERS website to update.

To update your TIAA beneficiaries, please log onto the TIAA website to update.

Annual Open Enrollment

If you do not make any changes during open enrollment your coverage selection will remain the same.

Qualifying Life Event

You may also enroll, waive, or change your coverage selection based on a qualifying life event.

UNI Works

UNI Works is designed to help you enroll, make changes, and view your current benefit elections, dependents and beneficiaries all in one location. When logging into UNI Works, select Benefits and Pay from the Main Menu.

UNI Human Resource Services
319-273-2423
hrs-benefits@uni.edu