Changes to Employee Information

Employee name changes must be on file with the Social Security Administration (SSA) before any changes can be made to City Payroll or applicable benefit(s). New tax forms are required in all cases; whether name change(s) are required for benefits will depend on the employee's enrolled benefit(s).

Employees must submit address updates via the Employee Self Service (ESS) portal within ten (10) working days of the move to the new address. Addresses must be updated with the City via ESS before they can be updated for any applicable benefit(s).

• If a benefit is not listed, an address change for that benefit does not require further action from the employee after updating their address via ESS.

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.

Please note:

• To update, add, change, or remove beneficiary/ies for a given benefit, the employee must actively submit a new designation form for that benefit.
• 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.
• Ink signatures are required on all beneficiary designation(s).

The most frequent qualifying events are family status changes. These 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.

Loss of other comparable coverage and qualifying for other comparable coverage are also qualifying events for health, dental, and/or vision insurance, depending on which coverage(s) were lost (or gained).

• Not all change(s) can be made with all qualifying event(s). If you have questions, please contact the Benefits team at (608) 266-4615 or benefits@cityofmadison.com. 
• Legal separation is not a qualifying event to remove a spouse from health, dental, or vision insurance.

Documentation Requirement for Health Insurance

Effective January 1, 2025, the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) requires 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.

For qualifying events that occur on or after July 1, 2026, document verification should be completed via the My Insurance Benefits portal online. Please  see the My Insurance Benefits FAQ and Changing Health Coverage page for details and assistance.

• 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(s) first – as soon as possible after an eligible qualifying event – to ensure you do not miss the deadline.
• 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 final approval has been given for your health insurance change within the portal, health insurance coverage for you and/or your dependent(s) will backdate to the event date unless otherwise advised.

There are time limits to make change(s) to coverage for applicable benefit(s) due to family status changes.

• In order to make changes to health insurance, you must submit your change via the My Insurance Benefits portal online by the deadline for the qualifying event. Please note that a MyWisconsin ID is required to access My Insurance Benefits. Qualifying event deadlines are strict, and MyWisconsin ID setup can take 1-2 days to process - so if you do not already have a MyWisconsin ID, you should set this up ASAP. Please see the My Insurance Benefits FAQ and Changing Health Coverage page for details and assistance.
• In order to make changes to other applicable benefits, Human Resources must be in receipt of your benefit change form(s) by the deadline for the qualifying event. For forms, please see the Qualifying Event Change dropdown above.

Most qualifying events have 30 calendar day deadlines to make changes to, enroll in, or cancel coverage, so HR recommends you submit your change(s) 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 this is specific to health insurance, and 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.

During the annual Open Enrollment period(s), eligible employees may make changes to, enroll in, or cancel health, dental, and/or vision insurance without a qualifying event. Employees may also enroll in Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare Flex Spending and/or Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) accounts) for the next Plan Year without a qualifying event.

Open Enrollment change(s) for applicable benefit(s) are made online, during the corresponding Open Enrollment period.

Barring an eligible midyear qualifying event, the following family status changes may only be made during Open Enrollment in the fall (may not be an exhaustive list):

• Enroll in coverage for employee, spouse, and/or dependent(s)
• Add or drop* coverage for employee, spouse, and/or adult dependent(s), including changing coverage levels
  For health insurance only: if an employee is married and covering any dependent(s), then they must also cover their spouse per ETF regulations.
• Spouse-to-spouse transfer of insurance coverage
• Cancel coverage

*Removing a former spouse and/or stepchild(ren) due to divorce must be done as soon as possible after the divorce, and cannot be done as Open Enrollment changes. Divorces must be reported to Human Resources within 30 calendar days after the divorce date, or ASAP if it has already been more than 30 calendar days after the divorce date.