myHR: May 8, 2013

Penn Applauded for Domestic Partner Benefits

The Division of Human Resources was commended by the Lambda Alliance—Penn's undergraduate LGBT advocacy group—for our commitment to providing comprehensive benefits coverage to same-sex domestic partners.

The Lambda Alliance’s 2012 annual report applauded Penn for providing coverage for sexual reassignment surgery in one of our medical plans. We were also praised for offering a tax offset to faculty and staff covering same-sex domestic partners under our medical plans. Since federal and Pennsylvania state tax codes don’t recognize domestic partners as dependents for tax purposes, the University provides up to $125 per month (minus applicable taxes) to offset these taxes.

And that’s not all. Penn has offered benefits coverage to the same-sex domestic partners of our faculty and staff for nearly 20 years, including:

Comprehensive health coverage. Same-sex domestic partners have access to a wide array of healthcare benefits, including medical, dental, and vision plan coverage as well as life insurance and Flexible Spending Accounts.

Educational assistance. Your spouse or domestic partner can cash in on the value of Penn’s tuition benefit. Generally, the University covers 50% of the tuition and technology fees for eight semesters toward an undergraduate degree at Penn.

Work and life support. Through Penn’s Employee Assistance Program, same-sex domestic partners have access to free, confidential counseling and referral services for personal and professional life issues. You can also take advantage of our Worklife Resources to meet your everyday needs (like dependent care, financial help and legal assistance).

Dependent care. Eligible faculty and staff and their same-sex domestic partners can rely on Penn’s backup care and snow day child care programs for dependent care support.

Did You Get a Tax Refund This Year?

Getting a big tax refund isn’t always cause for celebration. While it may feel like you hit the jackpot, it actually means you gave Uncle Sam more money than you should have—without collecting interest.

Instead of giving the government an interest-free loan, you may want to adjust your withholding so you can put your hard-earned cash to better use. Below are three ways to make your money go further:

The Secret to Overcoming (and Enjoying) Change

Change can be stressful—and it can happen at any time. From your career to your family to your relationships at work, change is a constant part of life that’s not always easy to handle. But the more equipped you are to deal with it, the more successful you’ll be—and we’ll show you how.

Join us on May 29 to learn Who Moved My Cheese? A Guide to Handling Change. This video will teach you powerful techniques to help you cope with change. You’ll discover how to minimize stress, move forward and be productive in the face of change. By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a better understanding of how to embrace change and use it to your advantage.

You’re welcome to bring a lunch to this free workshop. Click here for complete details and to register.

Protect the Lives You Love

We all want the best for our family—and life insurance can help by providing financial protection for you and your loved ones in the event of a tragedy.

Penn provides basic life insurance to full-time faculty and staff automatically, and you have access to a wide range of life insurance benefits above and beyond that. But in order to make sure your loved ones are taken care of, you need to choose a life insurance beneficiary. Below are tips to guide you in the decision-making process:

Choose as many beneficiaries as you want. There’s no limit to the number of life insurance beneficiaries you can have. Just be sure to specify whether they’re primary or contingent beneficiaries. Contingent beneficiaries only receive a life insurance payment if there is no surviving primary beneficiary.

Your beneficiary can be an entity. Is there a charitable organization or a trust that you’d prefer to receive your life insurance payment? No problem—you don’t have to choose a person as your life insurance beneficiary. You can even name your estate as your beneficiary.

You can select a minor. Any child under the age of 18 can be your life insurance beneficiary, whether it’s your child, your grandchild, or a niece or nephew. Just keep in mind there may be a court process for you to decide who should act as guardian of the child’s money.

Making changes is fast and easy. You can update your life insurance beneficiary at any time. Just visit Penn's online benefits enrollment site and log on with your PennKey and password. Choose the “Update Life Insurance Beneficiary” option and the online system will walk you through the rest.

For more information about Penn’s life insurance benefits, click here.