Archived How quickly do I lose benefits with reduced hours?

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So I just got a new job, ones that' actually in the field I want to be in (yay!)

One thing with it though is the owner isn't sure if he'll be able to get health insurance. He's working on it though. I'm starting at that job part time, and I'm going to stay at Target part time, probably putting in around 20 hours at each (if Target allows it) Right now I'm averaging about 32 hours a week. If I cut down to 20, will that even affect anything? Are the benefits only calculated during the enrollment time, or if you drop too low throughout the year can you be dropped off insurance.

Also, I've got 26 hours of personal time and 80 of vacation, would I be able to supplement the reduced hours with hours from one of those banks? I imagine I'll try taking from personal time first, since I've heard you don't get compensated for that.
 
You can use your paid time off to supplement your hours. You can do so up to your weekly average. If you have a large discrepancy between what you get in a particular week and what your average is (in this case, 12), you'll run out real fast. It's best used in an extreme pinch, or only in small quantities (an hour or two per week). If you're going to use large portions of it in small timeframes, you may as well just use it for vacation and relax!

As for the first part, I only have "I think" or "I heard," etc. experiences, nothing certain that I can recall.
 
Do you have any sick pay? You can supplement from that.

Someone correct me, but I think you will keep your benefits for the year, next year will be the problem if you don't stay at 31 average...
 
You can use your paid time off to supplement your hours. You can do so up to your weekly average. If you have a large discrepancy between what you get in a particular week and what your average is (in this case, 12), you'll run out real fast. It's best used in an extreme pinch, or only in small quantities (an hour or two per week). If you're going to use large portions of it in small timeframes, you may as well just use it for vacation and relax!

As for the first part, I only have "I think" or "I heard," etc. experiences, nothing certain that I can recall.
Here is a good link:
http://www.thebreakroom.org/showthr...-your-average-hours-if-you-are-scheduled-less
 
In January the ETL-HR receives a chart called an ABEC (average benefits eligibility calculation). Benefit eligibility is determined based on this annual calculation. It comes in so that the ETL-HR can notify team members who are in danger of moving to a lower benefit level so they know ahead of time. That determination is once a year - you don't lose benefits in the middle of the year. I hope this helps.
 
In January the ETL-HR receives a chart called an ABEC (average benefits eligibility calculation). Benefit eligibility is determined based on this annual calculation. It comes in so that the ETL-HR can notify team members who are in danger of moving to a lower benefit level so they know ahead of time. That determination is once a year - you don't lose benefits in the middle of the year. I hope this helps.

That's good. As long as you average over 32 hours at benefits renewal time of year you get full benefits options. After renewal time drop hours average and maintain full benefits coverage. Great! I was wondering this as well thanks.
 
Sometime last year an ETL was on the phone with TMSC or whoever, asking to clarify how many hours a TM needed in order to retain "part time" benefits, and the response from them was 19 hours. So, whatever that is, get some information on that.
 
Thats the minimum for the part time benefits package. OP has the full time package now. Hey, at least its better than no insurance!

My new stl is always bragging that he is going to get all part time employees down to 17 hour average....
 
If your average hours were above 19.5 at the end of Dec 2011, you are fine, you will be considering part time until April 1st, 2013! If you were above 31.5, you will be FT for that entire time.
 
So I didn't really get it from the previous posts. I too need to know if my insurance will be dropped as soon as I don't work 32 hours a week. I asked my hr tm today and she said they check monthly and if my average for that month is below 32, bye bye insurance. I need to ask the etl hr but i rarely ever work with him. :-/ Is anyone 100% sure what the policy is? I'm starting a NEW JOB soon...YAY me and its actually in the field I went to college for!!...but will need my target insurance for at least another month because my new job doesn't give insurance until you work there for 30 days. I planned to work at Target for maybe 2 days a month for a while to keep my insurance and discount if thats how it works, the yearly thing that is. If not I'll just two weeks it and go without insurance for a month. I really didn't want to though since my wife is just about 7 months pregnant. :)
 
I think what Annie says is that, even tho calculations may be done monthly, the benefits determination is based on the annual calculation. So, if you have it now it's for the yr. You just might wanna make sure you work enough hrs for a paycheck to have it deducted from.

Gonna miss you, Jetta...
 
So I didn't really get it from the previous posts. I too need to know if my insurance will be dropped as soon as I don't work 32 hours a week. I asked my hr tm today and she said they check monthly and if my average for that month is below 32, bye bye insurance. I need to ask the etl hr but i rarely ever work with him. :-/ Is anyone 100% sure what the policy is? I'm starting a NEW JOB soon...YAY me and its actually in the field I went to college for!!...but will need my target insurance for at least another month because my new job doesn't give insurance until you work there for 30 days. I planned to work at Target for maybe 2 days a month for a while to keep my insurance and discount if thats how it works, the yearly thing that is. If not I'll just two weeks it and go without insurance for a month. I really didn't want to though since my wife is just about 7 months pregnant. :)

If I were you, I'd call the TMSC/HROC at 1-800-394-1885 or benefits number at 1-800-828-5850 to ask about how you average hours are calculated. In my experience, no one loses their insurance mid-year. Average hours are calculated automatically for vacation purposes, not benefits. Don't rely solely on your HRTM for something so important. Also, our store would not allow you to stay with Target working only a couple of days per month. But again - each store might have different rules about that.

good luck to you!
 
I'll definitely still be here red! I may complain about target but I love it too! And Annie thank you so much, you always have some crazy good advice. About the couple days a month, I told my stl that I got the new job and she actually suggested it and then I was telling my Hardlines etl about it today and he said I actually only needed to work one day a month to stay on the payroll. I'm definitely calling tmsc to find out though!
 
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About the couple days a month, I told my stl that I got the new job and she actually suggested it and then I was telling my Hardlines etl about it today and he said I actually only needed to work one day a month to stay on the payroll.

Sounds fishy........definitely call the TMSC/HROC/whatever the hell it's called now.
 
Thank you guys, I appreciate your kindness! :) I had a one on one with my etl-hr today, he said he would be happy to help me in any way possible. He told me benefits are calculated on a monthly basis but if your average hours are way up, say 40, it'll take at least a month for your yearly average to drop below 32. He's the district hr resource too so I trust him. He offered to let me work on weekends or after my other job through the week and when the baby comes he said I could take a personal LOA. He explained that when you're on loa that it doesn't affect your average hours so I wouldn't even need to worry about being dropped from my target insurance. Hope this helps out the OP.
 
You'd just better PM those baby pix to some of us when the time comes! ;)
 
If you could see me right now, HUGE smile!! Hehe I definitely will and for what it's worth, it's a boy! We still have a few months to go though. I probably won't ever leave the breakroom. I'm the type of person that truly honestly deep down loves target. We all hate it at times but I think deep down we all have a sort of love for it. Anytime I go somewhere new and there's a target, we HAVE to stop in! I'm just so curious to see how things are run, see different faces, different prototypes, just anything that's different or the same. I also keep up on everything that's going to be new in my store or the store I used to work at and just the whole company in general. It's pretty fascinating. I think I might have a bit of a red and khaki crush lol this forum is sooooo informative too, I've found out so many things before most of the etls even know what's going on and have learned some extremely valuable info. Thank you guys so much for everything!
 
Congratulations Jetta.
That is so awesome.

sotto voice -- "chill redeye, don't want to scare the parents."
 
Sorry, always get excited with imminent baby arrivals :)
(sotto voce)
 
So I didn't really get it from the previous posts. I too need to know if my insurance will be dropped as soon as I don't work 32 hours a week. I asked my hr tm today and she said they check monthly and if my average for that month is below 32, bye bye insurance. I need to ask the etl hr but i rarely ever work with him. :-/ Is anyone 100% sure what the policy is? I'm starting a NEW JOB soon...YAY me and its actually in the field I went to college for!!...but will need my target insurance for at least another month because my new job doesn't give insurance until you work there for 30 days. I planned to work at Target for maybe 2 days a month for a while to keep my insurance and discount if thats how it works, the yearly thing that is. If not I'll just two weeks it and go without insurance for a month. I really didn't want to though since my wife is just about 7 months pregnant. :)


I had the same issue. My average hours just before open enrollment was 34.3 so I got bumped up to full time benefits. Then hours got cut, I'm lucky to get scheduled for 19 hours a week. I called tmsc and asked if I would lose my benefits since my average hours dropped and was told No, average hours are looked at once a year for insurance purposes. BUT! if you are demoted, then it would be reevaluated.
 
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