Benefit Enrolment
Academic Staff
Benefit Enrolment Process
The provision of the benefit plan is subject to the terms outlined in the TUCFA Collective Agreement. To be eligible for benefits under the University of Calgary group plans, you must have valid Canadian provincial health care. Follow these steps to enrol and explore more information about the Flexible Spending Account and Pension Plan below.
Acquire Employee ID (UCID) Number
After you accept an offer of employment and you are entered into the system, your employee ID (UCID) will be emailed to you. Some of the links on this page require a login to access and will only be available once you receive your UCID.
Complete Benefit Enrolment
Soon after your start date, you will receive an email notification which provides instructions for benefit enrolment. You must complete the self-service benefits enrolment within 14 calendar days of your hire date in a benefit eligible position. Benefit ID cards will be mailed to your home address within 4-6 weeks of your completed enrolment. Be sure your home address with the university is correct. Any eligible expenses incurred prior to receiving your ID card can be claimed for reimbursement once your account is set up. During the enrolment process, click on the links to explore all benefit information.
Once you receive the Benefits Enrolment email notification from DoNotReply@ucalgary.ca, navigate to: MyUCalgary portal > All about me > My benefits > Benefit details > Benefits Enrolment.
For assistance with your enrolment, refer to the Group Benefits Enrolment Reference Guide.
You must enrol your spouse and all of your eligible dependents, allocate your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) credits, and designate your beneficiaries as required. Remember, if you have a spousal benefit plan, it is more advantageous to enrol in both plans so that coverage is coordinated.
Failure to complete your enrolment within 14 calendar days of your hire date will result in Health and Dental coverage defaulting to single coverage and Flexible Spending Account credits defaulting to the Health Spending Account.
- Addition of family members will be on a go forward basis only.
- Once Flexible Spending Account credits have defaulted to the Health Spending Account this selection is irrevocable until allocation opens for the following benefit year. You will receive an email notification when the FSA allocation opens.
Complete All Beneficiary and Voluntary Coverage Forms
While you can view your designated beneficiaries in PeopleSoft, the paper Group Benefits - Beneficiary Designation Form on file with Human Resources will be the binding beneficiary designation in the event of any Life Insurance or Optional Life Insurance claim. Complete all beneficiary and voluntary coverage forms and submit signed originals to Human Resources.
Alberta Blue Cross Identification (ID) Cards for health and dental expenses are typically mailed 2-3 weeks after you finalize your benefit enrolment. If it has been at least 2 weeks since you have completed your event, you can contact Alberta Blue Cross at 1-800-661-6995 to request their support to electronically obtain access to your Alberta Blue Cross account and print temporary ID cards. You will be required to verify your identity with Alberta Blue Cross prior to them providing you your policy and ID numbers. For reference, all UCalgary plans have the Group/Policy Number: 18953. Once you have access to their member site you can print temporary cards and make online claims.
If Alberta Blue Cross cannot find record of your enrolment in their system or if you have any other benefit questions, please contact UService.
Flexible Spending Account Allocation
Each staff member is provided Flexible Spending Account credits to allocate to either a Health Spending Account or Wellness Spending Account. To learn the difference between the two types of spending accounts access the Flexible Spending Account page for Academic Staff.
Depending on your effective hire date, you are entitled to Flexible Spending credits up to a maximum of $800 per benefit year. Refer to this chart, if you started after July 1, to see your pro-rated credit amount. You must indicate how you want to allocate your flexible spending credit amount between the Health Spending and/or Wellness Spending accounts during the benefit enrolment process.
Failure to complete the Flexible Spending allocation process in the benefit enrolment tool will result in all Flexible spending credits defaulting to the Health Spending Account.
Universities Academic Pension Plan (UAPP)
If your position is eligible to participate in the Universities Academic Pension Plan (UAPP), you are automatically enrolled from your date of hire. The only form you need to complete at enrolment is the Designation of Spouse and Non-Spouse Beneficiary form for the UAPP. It is completed as part of the online self-service benefits enrolment, must be printed and sent to Human Resources.
In the first month after hire, a welcome email is sent by the UAPP administrator, UAPP Administration Centre, to new pension plan participants. Follow instructions in the welcome email to set up your access to the secure area of the UAPP website. This will give you access to future annual statements of your pension benefits and the UAPP Retirement Planner, an online tool where you can estimate your current or future pension benefits.
In order to set up your secure UAPP website access, you must have entered a valid postal code in your address information on myUCalgary portal – All about me – My info during your initial onboarding. If you did not do that, contact totalrewards@ucalgary.ca.