Program Overview
Eligibility
Who's Eligible?
- Employees working at least 20+ hours per week.
- Bus drivers are also eligible if working 10+ hours per week.
New Hires:
- Benefits for New Hires will be effective the 1st of the month following 30 days of employment.
Payroll Deductions:
- FSA, Dental, and Vision premiums are pre-tax (before taxes are withheld). This lowers the amount of taxes you pay and reduces your net costs for benefits.
- Life, Disability, Critical Illness, Accident, Legal, and Identity Theft benefit premiums are deducted on a post-tax basis.
Dependent Child(ren):
- Eligible child(ren) include:
- Natural child, adopted child, step child, or child for which the employee has legal guardianship.
- Dependents are eligible until the end of the month in which they turn age 26 (unless disabled).
Spouses:
- Only legal spouses are eligible (as defined by Georgia law).
New Hires
State Health Benefit Plan Enrollment
- Review the SHBP Decision Guide (available on the Resources page).
- Complete the SHBP enrollment or declination form in your new hire packet and return it to your Whitfield County Schools Benefit Specialist, Ginger Stafford, via email at ginger.stafford@wcsga.net or fax at (706) 260-2216.
You must complete your State Health Benefit Plan enrollment by the 31st day of your employment in order to have medical coverage for the remainder of the year.
Voluntary Benefits (Non-Medical) Enrollment
You can enroll in your Voluntary Benefits (non-Medical) one of two ways:
- Call the Whitfield County Schools Benefits Service Center at (855) 481-1489. Service Center hours are Monday – Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can speak with a trained Benefits Specialist who will answer your benefits questions, handle on-line password resets, and complete your enrollment.
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Online with Zevo Benefits.
To access the Benefits Center as a first time user, click the 'Sign in with Whitfield County Schools SSO' button, which will then direct you to sign in at the WCS app portal. Once you sign in, the WCS portal will automatically redirect you back here as logged in. Once logged in, scroll down and click “Begin Event."
After you have completed your elections, you will receive a confirmation statement for your voluntary elections.
Benefits Resources:
Please use the Resources page and the individual product pages which contain detailed information about your benefits. In addition to the information on this website, you may contact the Benefits Service Center via phone at (855) 481-1489 at any time during the year for benefit questions.
You can refer to the medical page of this website for health insurance plan information, or you can also access State Health Benefits Plan or call SHBP at (800) 610-1863.
Qualifying Life Events
No enrollment changes are allowed to your benefits during the plan year, except in the case of a Qualifying Life Event.
Qualifying life events that can result in changes to your benefit coverage include the following:
- Marriage or Divorce
- Birth or adoption of a child
- Loss of a dependent
- Medicare entitlement
- Change in spouse's employment that affects benefits
- Loss of other group coverage
Qualifying Life Events (Medical):
If you have a qualifying life event, notify State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP) of the event as soon as possible by calling them at (800) 610-1863 or process your changes on the enrollment portal. You must also provide the necessary supporting documentation to them.
- SHBP ADP will contact you by mail (and email if your address if on file) once you complete your changes. They will include a personalized fax cover sheet with barcode that must be used when you submit your documentation for review and processing.
- The fax cover page with barcode must be included. The request will not be processed without the cover sheet / barcode.
- Appropriate documentation must be attached to the fax cover page.
- Employees have 90 days from the date the dependent has been added to submit the documentation in the requested format.
- If the documentation is not received, the dependent will be removed from coverage.
- ID cards will be issued for newly added dependents once they are added.
Please refer to the State Health Benefit Plan Decision Guide for additional details regarding qualifying life events.
Qualifying Life Events (Non-Medical):
If you have a qualifying life event, notify the Benefits Service Center of the event and your new elections. You must also provide the necessary supporting documentation to the Benefits Service Center via fax at (866) 597-2202 or via email at benefits@wcsbenefits.com within 31 days of the change. If you do not do so within 31 days, you must wait until the next open enrollment period to make any benefit plan changes.
Employees who have a Qualifying Life Event should also notify the Whitfield County Schools Benefit Specialist Ginger Stafford via phone at (706) 217-6764 or via email at ginger. stafford@wcsga.net.
