New Memo Brings Up Health Care Policy for ISU Faculty

By: Jesse Stoler

Posted: 10/28/09

A new memo is currently being circulated among faculty and staff members at Idaho State University detailing a change in their health care coverage policy. The memo went out about a week and a half ago, but some faculty members are still only getting it.
The memo was written by David Miller, Director of Human Resources at Idaho State University. In it, he describes how part-time employees at the university will be made to pay more for their insurance coverage. This information, according to the memo, was made available to university employees back in May. But details were fairly skimpy up until Oct. 5, when the Idaho Department of Administration made new guidelines as to what differentiates a full-time employee from a part-time employee, and what types of benefits each employee would receive.
This decision was determined by the Idaho State legislature and not upper-level staff at the university. Many university employees have questions about the memo but are having trouble getting answers. "The answers are not coming from the Idaho Department of Administration, the organization that is actually responsible for these new rules," said Dr. Alan Frantz, Chair of the Idaho State University Faculty Senate. "A lot of employees are asking Human Resources as a result. Last time I checked with David Miller at HR, he said he wasn't getting answers either." Mr. Miller was asked to comment on this story, but did not respond.
One faculty member in the English Department, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed frustration. "I've been talking to friends for days about this, but no one knows what's going on. We don't know who's going to be affected," the faculty member said. "It's really frustrating. There are some parts of the memo that don't really make sense, and it would be great to have an actual answer."
The new policy will start to take place on Nov. 13. On that day, certain part-time employees will be asked to pay more for their health insurance. But with three weeks until that time, many university employees are still confused as to who will be affected. The memo lays out three classifications for employees in regards to how many hours they work in a week. But even the memo states that Human Resources is unclear as to how employees who work 20 hours a week over the nine month school year will be impacted. "I currently have about 250 faculty members and about 80 classified staff members asking me how they're going to be affected," Dr. Frantz said. "I wish I had answers for them." The memo states that employees can ask that their respective paychecks on Nov. 13 not be affected by the new policy as long as they put in a request to Human Resources prior to Nov. 4.
"This change is coming so quickly, but I still don't know what my friends and I have to do," the faculty member said. "I just really can't believe this is all happening. I know that there have been budget cuts all year, but to have to potentially pay more for my health care is pretty upsetting."