Benefits Eligibility
Who is eligible for benefits?
- Regular employees (full- and part-time)
- Auxiliary employees who've completed 1,827 hours of work in 33 pay periods with the same ministry
- Auxiliary employees (BCGEU only) who have worked three consecutive years with the same ministry without a loss of seniority and have 1,200 hours at straight-time in the past 26 pay periods
For more information, refer to the applicable benefits guide under When Does Coverage Begin? Read Bargaining Unit Employees Benefits Guide, page 5 (PDF, 572KB) and Flexible Benefits Guide for 2018, page 8 (PDF, 1.0MB). For 2017 see Flexible Benefits Guide, page 7 (PDF, 1.3MB).
Dependents
The following dependents are eligible:
- A same or opposite sex, legal or common-law spouse
- Children under the age of 19 or full-time students under the age of 25
- Children with mental or physical disabilities over the age of 19
See your benefits guide for more information.
To include a common-law spouse (opposite or same sex), you will sign a declaration or affidavit that you have been living in a common-law relationship or cohabiting for at least 12 months. The cohabitation period may be less than 12 months if you claimed the common-law spouse's child/children for tax purposes.
You have to wait 12 months between removing a former common-law spouse and adding a new one. This waiting period only applies in this case. It does not apply when you are going from a legal spouse to a common-law spouse, legal spouse to a legal spouse, or common-law spouse to a legal spouse.
Health & Welfare Allowance (Auxiliary Employees)
In lieu of health and welfare benefits, auxiliary employees receive a compensation allowance of $0.74 per working hour, up to a maximum of $51.80 per biweekly pay period. These new rates are effective as of April 1, 2018.
