Understand

Employers may provide a medical expense plan to eligible employees that provides for reimbursement of medical expenses. Instead of cash out of sick leave at retirement as provided in RCW 41.04.340 and WAC 357-31-150(2), employers may deposit equivalent funds in a medical expense plan for eligible employees. The medical expense plan must meet the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.

DES Responsibility

DES Human Resources team will:

• Contact agencies by November 1 to determine which agencies will be participating in the Voting Pool for the upcoming plan year.
• Develop list of participating agencies.
• Identify eligible employees to participate in the annual VEBA-MEP vote.
• Conduct the vote no later than December 1 of any calendar year.
• Communicate the results to all employees by December 16 and no later than December 31 of any calendar year.
• If the vote is positive, send list of participating agencies to the Brian Riehs, Service Representative brian@veba.org for confirmation that each participating agency has an Employer Adoption Agreement on file. The list should include the name and contact information of the person responsible for facilitating completion of each respective agency’s Employer Adoption Agreements.
• Maintain voting records.

VEBA Service Group Responsibilities

VEBA Service Group will:

• Facilitate the distribution and collection of Employer Adoption Agreements on behalf of first time participating agencies that do not have such a document on file.

HR Liaison Responsibilities

The HR Liaison will:

• Inform the DES HR team if your agency is participating or not.
• Distribute the ballots to the eligible employees on the list DES HR provides.
• Inform eligible employees of final voting results once voting period is over.

Retirement Eligible Employee Responsibilities

The Retiring Employee will:

• Participate in the annual vote.
• Submit the enrollment form at the time of retirement if applicable.

If you have any questions, please contact the DES Small Agency Team.