Arrears
Arrears are missed deductions. The University of Alaska has all employees on a 26 pay period schedule - even if they do not work 26 pay periods in a year. Because of this, some employees may experience arrears. This page breaks down what arrears are and what to expect.
Arrears are missed deductions that must be repaid.
Arrears apply to any employee who has active deductions that require arrears and that employee experiences a pay period where they do not receive pay.
- An employee is off-contract and not receiving pay
- Benefits deductions will not be collected while no pay is received
- When the employee returns to work and begins receiving pay, the deductions will restart and arrears balance payments will be made
- An employee experiences 10 days of leave without pay
- When the employee returns to work and begins receiving pay, the deductions will restart and arrears balance payments will be made
Employees who experience leave without pay in excess of 10 days must reach out to ua-benefits@alaska.edu to discuss the potential for Family Medical Leave (FML), Short-term Disability (STD), and other benefits that might apply to a specific situation. Some cases - such as an approved Leave of Absence - will be a COBRA event. Specific situations can be reviewed with individual employees.
- Premium health plan
- Copay health plan
- HDHP
- Premium dental plan
- Basic dental plan
Vision plan
- Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HC FSA)
- Limited Purpose FSA (LP FSA)
- Supplemental life - employee
- Supplemental life - spouse
- Supplemental life - child
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment - employee
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment - family
- Corestream voluntary benefits (except for pet insurance)
- HSAs
- FSA dependent care accounts
- Pet insurance (Pet insurance payments are made directly with ASPCA and are not included in payroll deduction. Employees are responsible for these premiums.)
There are two repayment schedules for arrears: 100% and 40%.
- Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HC FSA)
- Limited Purpose FSA (LP FSA)
- Corestream Voluntary Benefits
Arrears will be paid biweekly when the employee returns to work at a rate of 100% of the current deduction(s) until the arrears balance is paid. This means that the employee will pay 200% of the biweekly deduction until the arrears balance is paid off.
- An employee is currently contributing to a HC FSA at $100 per pay period.
- This employee goes off contract for 4 pay periods. This means that the employee has missed $100 x 4 ($400) deductions for their HC FSA.
- When the employee returns to work, the employee will pay $100 for their deduction and $100 toward the arrears balance ($200 deduction in total).
- The arrears balance will be paid off in 4 pay periods. At that time, the deduction will return to $100 per pay period.
- Premium health plan
- HDHP
- Copay health plan
- Premium dental plan
- Basic dental plan
- Vision plan
- Supplemental life - employee
- Supplemental life - spouse
- Supplemental life - child
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment - employee
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment - family
Arrears will be paid biweekly when the employee returns to work at a rate of 40% of the current deduction(s) until the arrears balance is paid. This means that the employee will pay 140% of the biweekly deduction until the arrears balance is paid off.
An employee is currently enrolled in premium medical, premium dental, and vision for employee, spouse, and 2 dependent children. The employees current biweekly deduction for these coverages is:
- $361.47 Premium medical family
- $25.94 Premium dental family
- $1.90 Vision family
- $389.31 total per pay period
This employee goes off contract for 4 pay periods. This means that the employee has missed $389.31 x 4 ($1,557.24) deductions for their coverages.
When the employee returns to work, the employee will pay $389.31 for their deductions and 40% of each of their deductions toward the arrears balance:
- $144.59 Premium medical family
- $10.38 Premium dental family
- $.76 Vision family
- $155.73 total arrears per pay period
This means the employee would pay:
- $389.31 total per pay period for deductions
- $155.73 total arrears per pay period
- $545.04 total
The arrears balance will be paid off in 10 pay periods. At that time, the deduction will return to $389.31 per pay period.