Open Enrollment Starts October 18!

Dear Colleagues,

Mark your calendars: TC’s annual Benefits Open Enrollment period will begin October 18 and will run through November 1. Once Open Enrollment ends, you cannot receive or change benefits unless you have a qualifying life event; so it is crucial that you enroll in your benefits plan during the designated time period. Read on for more details. 

Open Enrollment: October 18-November 1

You will receive an email announcement when Open Enrollment officially begins. During this period, participants may change their benefit elections, update dependents, or contribute to a Healthcare and/or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (“FSA”) or Health Savings Account (“HSA”). Additional details, including plan rates, will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Please note: If you log into the TC Benefits Portal prior to October 18, you will only be able to see your current elections for 2022. The new election options and rates will be updated on October 18.   

Important Reminders

• Healthcare FSA and/or Dependent Care FSA participation does not carry over year-to-year. If you want to participate in a FSA in 2023, you are required to elect itduring the upcoming open enrollment period. If no election is made, your Healthcare FSA and/or Dependent Care FSA participation will end on December 31, 2022.
• If you have an unused Healthcare FSA and/or Dependent Care FSA balance as of December 31, 2022, you may roll over up to $500 into 2023 (but you must still elect to participate in a FSA if you want to make new contributions). Any remaining balances over $500 will be forfeited.
• HSA participation requires re-election. However, contributions can be modified throughout the year should a change be necessary based on expenses. 

Benefits Fair: October 27

We will be hosting an in-person Benefits Fair on October 27 and we encourage you to attend if you have any questions about benefit elections (more details about time and location to come). Keep an eye on the events calendar on the HR home page to see the schedule for upcoming virtual Benefits Walk-In Sessions, which you may attend to ask specific benefits questions. The next session will be on October 20. 

A Note for Recently Hired Employees

Employees who recently joined Teachers College, have enrolled in the benefits plans and have any outstanding tasks (such as dependent status verification) will not be able to start open enrollment until these tasks are finalized. Please contact the benefits team at benefits@tc.edu to discuss your situation.

The BenefitPlace App

Make your benefit elections from anywhere using The BenefitPlace! The app, which has the same functionality as the TC Benefits center located in the myTC Portal, allows you to:

• Enroll in benefits as a New Hire
• Submit Annual Open Enrollment elections
• Report and submit Life Events
• Review elections at any time
• Review cost, plan design, and coverage
• Upload an image of ID cards for easy access

As with the TC Benefits Portal, please note that if you log into the BenefitPlace app prior to October 18, you will only be able to view your current elections for 2022.

1. To get started, download the BenefitPlace app from Google Play or the Apple App Store:
   
   
   
2. Upon initial setup, enter "TC" as the Company ID:
   
   
   
3. Log in using your UNI and password:
   
   

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Harry R. Alvia, Director, Compensation and Benefits, at 212-678-8146. You may also contact HR at 212-678-3175 ext.1 or hr@tc.edu.

Regards,
The Office of Human Resources