Changes to Employee Information

Please note that many systems, including payroll and health/retirement, only accept binary “male” and “female” options. The City continues to advocate for improvements to these systems. See the Gender-Inclusive Workplace Resource Guide for more information.

A divorce, annulment, separation, or similar event will NOT invalidate a Beneficiary Designation which named a former spouse or domestic partner. To remove a former spouse or domestic partner as a beneficiary, the employee must file a new designation form. If a minor child is listed as a beneficiary, the benefit will not be distributed until a court-appointed guardian has been named. That guardian will be given limited discretion to manage the benefit proceeds.

Family status changes may include marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the adoption of a child, the pre-adoption placement of a child, the start of a permanent legal guardianship for a child under the age of 19, the death of a family member, or a dependent ceasing to be eligible for coverage due to age. Please note that legal separation is not a qualifying event to remove a spouse from health, dental, or vision insurance.

Loss of other comparable coverage and qualifying for other comparable coverage are considered qualifying events for health, dental, and/or vision insurance.

Time Limits for Qualifying Events

There are time limits for form submittal due to family status changes. In order to make changes to insurance or other benefits, Human Resources must be in receipt of your benefit change form(s) by the deadline for the qualifying event. Most qualifying events have 30 calendar day deadlines to make changes to, enroll in, or cancel coverage, so HR recommends you submit any benefit change form(s) to HR as soon as possible following an eligible qualifying event to ensure you do not miss the deadline.

A limited number of qualifying events - including birth and adoption - have an extended 60 calendar day deadline to add a child to health insurance coverage. Please note that other changes to health insurance due to these qualifying events, such as changing health plans or cancelling coverage to go on a spouse's plan, still have a 30 calendar day deadline.

Documentation Requirement for Health Insurance

Effective January 1, 2025, the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) will require in-person verification of legal proof of parenthood and/or marriage (e.g. birth certificate, marriage certificate, and/or court order for adoption) for all new enrollments and all enrollments or changes due to midyear qualifying events. This is in addition to existing documentation requirements for other qualifying events and benefits, such as proof of loss of coverage documentation or proof of divorce.

This expanded documentation requirement does not impact qualifying event deadlines to return benefits forms to Human Resources. If sufficient documentation is not immediately available, we recommend you submit any benefit change forms to HR first – as soon as possible after an eligible qualifying event – to ensure you do not miss the deadline. Although documentation can be brought to HR later, please note that in-person document verification still needs to be completed by HR staff no later than the deadline for the qualifying event.

If you believe you will not be able to present sufficient documentation by the qualifying event deadline (for example, if you need to order a new birth certificate and it will arrive after the deadline), you must notify HR at benefits@cityofmadison.com before the deadline and share your expected timeline to have documentation in hand.

Once your documentation has been verified and ETF gives final approval to your change, health insurance coverage for you and/or your dependent(s) will backdate to the event date unless otherwise advised.