The general consensus is that if you want to know if you owe a shortage of hours payment or when it’s due, you read the shortage of hours’ notice that the Fund Office mailed out.
However, did you know that there are people who neither read their mail nor open their mail in a timely manner?
Yes. It’s true. For one reason or another, they just don’t. Perhaps they just hate their mail carrier? Or, conceivably, they find stamps offensive. Maybe they had a bad pen pal experience or broke a chain mail or two. Who knows.
Whatever their reasoning, that’s ok with us. You know why were fine with that? It’s because the majority of that population will determine if they are going to experience a shortage of hours situation by simply:
- Checking their paystubs from the corresponding work quarter, or
- Referring to their logbook that they record their hours and employment history in. Or by,
- Examining their Local 697 FCU Vacation Fund statements for the corresponding work quarter. Or,
- Looking up the shortage of hours explanation of benefits posted within the Create system after they have been posted. The latter of which generally occurs four to six weeks prior to the payment due date. Or by just,
- Calling the Fund Office.
As it relates to A through C, it should go without saying that once the total number of hours worked in the corresponding work quarter is known, it’s easy to derive what dollar amount is owed to maintain eligibility for the quarter of coverage in question. So, no need to expound on that here. However, if you truly do not know how these individuals obtained that dollar amount, then secure your spot at the Benefit Funds educational meeting next month and I will share that with you.
It's A Kind-of-A Good News, Bad News, Worse News…. Sort of Thing.
Now, before we get into self-payment hourly requirements and due dates, let’s just get out of the way the question that is in everyone’s mind, which is “what happens to the ones that don’t timely read their mail or open their mail at all, AND who choose not to take any of the aforementioned actions?
Well, the good news is that there are not that many people who fall into that category. The bad news is that they’re mostly always the same people. The worse news is that they lose their coverage.
As you suspect, they “kvetch,” argue incessantly, play the victim and write appeal letters as to why they are not accountable nor responsible. It’s a drag and those actions rarely, if ever, change the outcome. But finding out who they are blaming each time around is somewhat fascinating I suppose.
“33”
What’s the significance of the number 33? Well, if you are referring to why the number “33” appears on each Rolling Rock bottle of beer, come to next month’s educational meeting and I will also gladly share that information with you. However, and as it relates to shortage of hours payments and this article, thirty-three is the number of years I looked back within the Health and Benefit Plans records before stopping my research as to the derivation of the hourly requirements needed to maintain eligibility. Which is just a long way of saying that for the past 33 years the hourly requirements have remained the same. It’s probably been a lot longer than that, but it’s late, and my wife has called three times to see if I am on my way home. So. Yeah. 33 years.
I think everyone would agree that thirty-three years is a long time. In fact, that time period practically covers the entire working career of almost every active member. As such, it’s a mystery as to the reason why some people have no idea as to what those requirements are or worse, claim that they do not know when their self-payments are due.
There are some that have, er, let’s just say, been “braver” about sharing the reasons behind why they don’t know the hourly requirements or why they missed paying their shortage of hours payment on time. But honestly, because these requirements are so well communicated and have not changed in years, their excuses seldom hold up in “the light of day” as they say.
“Ok. Everyone Out of The Pool”
Actually, we get asked a lot why the Fund Office just doesn’t call the participants to remind them of the shortage of hours due date?
We get it, you’re busy.
But let me ask you a question or two. If the Fund Office had called, would you have picked it up? What happens if your voice mail is full, what then?
I can assure you the Fund Office has been there and done that. Believe it or not, the Fund Office used to make such calls. Yes. You read that correctly. In addition to the shortage of hours’ letters and other notices on the matter, the landscape of services provided by the Fund Office was resplendent with courtesy shortage of hours reminder phone calls. Some of you may remember that and even may have benefited from said calls. If so, we’re happy for you.
But after years of being continuously told by participants that they don’t play their “vm” or they are not at fault for it being full each of the five separate times over as many weeks that the Office called on the matter, it had to stop.
Oh yeah, I forgot. The Fund had to contend with a participant who after acknowledging receiving the written notice during the courtesy reminder phone call, subsequently turned around and blamed the Union for them not submitting any shortage of hours payment because “the Funds didn’t provide them with daily reminders.”
Whaaaat?
Were these individuals bad, spoiled, lazy or just high on themselves? I’ll let you make that determination as honestly, we neither know nor care. What we do know for sure is that both the old adages “no good deed goes unpunished” and “one bad apple spoils the whole barrel” are true. As to the latter, and because we have a higher tolerance level, it would take a lot more than just one bad apple. Suffice it to say, it was a peck of apples that spoiled that barrel.
We’re Not So Innocent
We are not too proud to admit our guilt in the aforementioned matter. After all, the calls were a form of enabling. And let’s not forget that each participant is an adult and can take care of their own matters, and as such, does not need such paternalistic guidance.
Our bad. Sorry.
Anyway……
If you are unsure as to the hourly eligibility requirements of the Plan, or when self-payments are due, you can simply reference your SPD or call the Fund Office. Moreover, the self-payment due dates are always posted on the Funds website in the box underneath the picture on the home landing page during the month that they are due, and sometimes two months in advance, like it was last month. Also, it is listed within the Funds monthly newsletter.
If that is not sufficient notification for you, secure your spot at the Benefit Fund educational meeting next month to learn how you will be able to find this information out in the future.
But until then, and once again, all shortage of hours payments for the 2024 fourth quarter of coverage are due no later than 4:30 P.M. on Monday, September 30th, 2024.