Mental Health Thread #7 -- Summer's Coming!

[txls]

It is very frustrating. I use old-fashioned paper for important stuff. When I hand them out I always get "what's this". My answer is, my job is to write it. Your job is to read it.

Rick you could try requiring them to respond to you that they read it!

 

[txls]

Some people get carried away with trying to comply with privacy act. We prepare all the necessary documents to title a vehicle and send to the DMV with our company check to pay for everything on behalf of our customer. Texas requires us to keep a copy of the registration receipt on file to show we paid the taxes. Oh no, Alabama decides that they can't give us a receipt. They can only give it to the customer.

 

[ferretrick]

Tell Alabama you need a copy of that policy in writing to show the State of Texas in an audit situation.

 

[txls]

Even better, the title is returned to me this morning because they entered the mileage wrong. Maybe that's why they didn't want to send us a copy.

 

[lda01]

"Without saying a word, I reached into my desk drawer, pulled out the acknowledgement of exactly that point with his signature on it and handed it to him. He read it, handed it back, left my office quietly and I never heard another word on the subject from him (or any other employee, for that matter)."

Priceless

I can't count the times an employee has waived coverage at open enrollment and come into my office six months later swearing A) we screwed up his/her enrollment form B) the instructions weren't clear he/she had intended to enroll C) they thought they were covered under another plan. One employee made a plausible case for not being enrolled, I told her that the broker said that she would have to enroll retroactively to the beginning of the plan year, she said "oh no, I just need it for this month."

 

[cbg]

During open enrollment we give them every possible opportunity. We send emails. We send reminder emails. We send, "Hey, you had an FSA last year and you haven't signed up for one this year - is that on purpose?" emails. We send, "You've never had a dependent care FSA before and you elected one this year - did you mean to?" emails. We send OE is closing emails.

Then we send written confirmations of what was elected with a HOT PINK notice attached to it that says, "These are your open enrollment elections. If they are not what you intended to elect, contact the Benefits office by (usually about 12-18 or so) and we will make the corrections".

We also have on our intranet an "Open Enrollment Extension Form". Anyone can make any changes to their OE elections any time up to 11:59 pm on December 31, using that form. The entire university is closed between noon on 12-24 and January 1, but when we come in on January 2 if it is in someone's email, on the fax machine with a time stamp still in the old year, or has a postmark showing that it was mailed on or before December 31, we'll still take it.

But after that, all bets are off. If the time stamp or postmark is in the New Year, they'd better have been in a coma since November. Preferably in a hospital in Zimbabwe that has no internet connection.

And we'll STILL have people coming in, in June and July, wanting to know if it's too late to elect dental or sign up for an FSA.

 

[ElleMD]

Hospitals in Zimbabwe have internet for the most part. Ask me how I know?

 

[cbg]

How about Tuvalu? (30 character limit)

 

[Betty3]

Well cbg that gives you something to do. (like you don't have enough to do)

 

[ElleMD]

How about Tuvalu? (30 character limit)

OK, now you have a decent excuse Unless you have a satelite phone.

 

[cbg]

Sometime ask Marilyn about her employees who missed Open Enrollment because they were locked in a bank vault in Switzerland.

 

[BettyC]

Everybody make it through the week in one piece? Only this group will appreciate this joke I heard yesterday:

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
HIPAA.
HIPAA who?

I can't tell you.

 

[cbg]

A very timely joke too, since our annual HIPAA training starts today.

 

[ElleMD]

How did I never hear that story from Marilyn?

 

[cbg]

I'll tell her you want to hear it.

 

[Betty3]

I wonder if it was during a robbery?

 

[cbg]

Nope; I had her post the story on FB, Betty, if you want her description.

But basically her employees were doing some research, in Switzerland, that was so top secret they were literally locked in the bank vault during the day and on lockdown with no access to TV or internet at night, and this lasted for 5 months. It was one of the few times she accepted an employee's explanation of why they couldn't make their Open Enrollment elections on time and allowed them to make elections late.

 

[Betty3]

I saw her story on FB after I posted my post above. Thanks. I don't think I would have wanted to be one of those employees. That doesn't appeal to me.

 

[cbg]

Me either. (30 character limit)

 

[ElleMD]

At a former employer I had an employee living in a hit with a goat and no electricity (Just a satellite phone). I thought that was bad.