Articles 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 – Retirement, Health, and Dental

Retirement
Unlike every other school district in California, classified staff in SFUSD are not part of the CalPERS system. We participate with other civil service workers in the San Francisco Employee Retirement System (SFERS). SFERS is governed by a retirement boardelected by public employees in San Francisco. The retirement board makes important decisions about how your pension dollars are invested, and how much of your paycheck is contributed to pensions.

SFERS also provides for retiree health care, which is funded by a 2-3% contribution from member paychecks in City and County departments. In SFUSD, retiree healthcare benefits are instead paid for by QTEA tax revenues and do not come directly from your check.

Civil service employees become eligible for the retirement system upon permanent appointment, or after working 1040 hours in a 12 month period. Your specific benefits vary based on your hire date, and you can get all the details of your specific benefits at www.mysfers.org. 

SFERS Plan III A8.603 (hired on or after 1/7/2012)

SFERS Plan II A8.600 (hired on or after 7/1/2010 and before 1/7/2012)

SFERS Plan I A8.587 (hired on or after 11/2/1976 and before 7/1/2010)

SFERS Plan A8.509 (hired before 11/2/1976)

2018 Retiree Health Benefits Guide

You are entitled to a yearly consultation on retirement benefits, and can also voluntarily contribute to a 403(b) planfor additional retirement savings. For more information regarding 403b and 457 Plans, please contact Guillermo Garcia in the Payroll Operations Department at 241-6114, EXT.3075.

Health Insurance
Health insurance for SFUSD employees is provided through the San Francisco Health Service System. The HSS boardnegotiates rates and coverage details on our behalf, and your union negotiates the employer/employee split with the district. 

2019 Health Benefits Guide
WageWorks FSA Form

Dental and Vision
In SFUSD, all members who qualify for health insurance also qualify for visionand dentalcoverage. You can additionally sign up for a Flexible Spending Accountto save money on taxes for your personal health care spending.

There is a lifetime maximum benefit of $750 for orthodontia, per covered person. Each year your dental insurance will cover $1500-$2000, depending on whether your dentist participates in the Delta Premier program. Coverage starts at 70% for the first year, and goes up 10% per year you consistently visit the dentist, to a maximum of 100% coverage.

How to Qualify for Health Coverage
The qualification is a little complex – so I’ll break it down into a few categories.

1. Regularly scheduled workers who are assigned 30 or more hours per week
If you are hired into a regularly scheduled position (your check does not say “as needed”) and work at least 30 hours per week, you will qualify for health insurance on your first day of work.

2. Regularly scheduled and as-needed workers who work at least 20 hours per week, on average
If you average at least 20 hours per week for all hours worked between July 1 and June 30 in a year, you will be eligible for health insurance starting the following January 1, and must sign up during open enrollment.

3. Permanent Exempt employees working less than 20 hours per week
The District will cover 75% of the employee-only cost for the Kaiser plan if you are PEX and work less than half time

4. PEX workers in Student Nutrition Services
The District will cover 100% of the employee-only cost for the Kaiser plan if you are an employee of Student Nutrition appointed Permanent Exempt and don’t otherwise qualify for health insurance. This provision addressed one of the long-standing inequities for SNS workers who were improperly assigned. No current members fall into this category.

Retiree Dental
If you would like to keep your SFUSD dental coverage when you retire, you are able to pay out-of-pocket to maintain it for 18 months. Generally, it’s a better idea to sign up for the retiree dental coverage instead.

Articles 5.0 and 5.1 – Compensation and Longevity

Article 5 is where wages and benefits live in our contract, except for leaves (in articles 12 and 13).

5.0 details the negotiated raises for the current term of the contract: 5% on July 1, 2017; 4% on July 1, 2018; 3% on July 1, 2019. Together with the parcel tax salary adjustment (more on that at our chapter meeting next week), our members will see a 15.875% increase over the three years of the contract – over 16% when you consider compound interest!

5.0.1 details the lump sum payment our members received on ratification of the contract in 2017. We negotiated a fixed-dollar lump sum payment because it provides extra benefit to our lowest-paid members, where percentage salary adjustments benefit our highest-paid members the most. It’s important that we make sure everyone gets a fair shake at affording life in the Bay Area.

5.02 details some salary adjustments for classes that have no incumbents, or did not for many years – these classes had fallen behind everyone else’s schedule, so when we hired a new shade and drapery worker the starting pay was only $17/hr.

COMMITTEE ALERT! There’s a committee in 5.0.2.4 that will start meeting soon to work on wages and hours for SNS workers. If you’re interesting in being involved, please contact Jesse Tangk so we can include you. We want lots of member representation on this committee.

5.1 Longevity Premium
To thank our most experienced members for sticking around, we have longevity premiums for members that have worked at least 10 or 15 years. At 10 years, it’s a 30 cent per hour premium, and at 15 years it’s 60 cents (up from a previous 40 cent premium). That works out to $24 or $48 per paycheck if you work full time.

New in this contract cycle, you don’t have to work a minimum schedule to qualify and previous city service counts for the 15 year level (it used to only count for the 10 year level).

Check your pay stub! If you have worked at least 10 years and are not currently receiving longevity pay, please let us know right away. The computer doesn’t always automatically set it up, so we need you to keep an eye out and report if you have a problem.

Next week we’ll look at 5.2 retirement, 5.3 health, and 5.4 dental (we get a lot of questions about these, so send me your questions and I’ll cover them in the explainer!)

• Manage finances better: Get competitive rates on everything from credit cards to personal loans
• Protect your family: Benefit from group rates on a growing portfolio of insurance products
• Cut your cost of living: Get special discounts at thousands of stores and favorite merchants.
• Travel for less: Enjoy specially negotiated rates and travel programs

• A 2% raise for all members starting July 1 2013
• A 0.5% raise for all members starting January 1 2014
• The District will increase its share of health insurance premiums
• Four floating holidays even in years when Lunar New Year falls on a weekend.
• 40¢ per hour longevity premium for workers with more than 15 years in the District
• $10/day Lead Worker Pay
• An expanded uniform program
• Grandchildren added to “immediate family” for bereavement leave
• Expanded language on several important issues:

1. Workplace safety
2. Emergency preparedness training
3. Discrimination and harassment
4. Professional development

• A new payment process for employees not enrolled in direct deposit
• The District will make its best effort to provide 45 days notice of layoffs, and commits to delivering layoff notices in a courteous and professional manner
• Employees laid off immediately before a holiday will be paid for the holiday