Why is the Pre-Tax Cost or After-Tax Cost in the Current Benefits section different than what is shown as deducted on my pay statement? (*only applies to biweekly employees*)
The ESS tool uses the assumption that all deductions are taken from each of the 26 bi-weekly payrolls during a year. Therefore, each annual premium is divided by 26 and reflected as such on Employee Self Service for bi-weekly employees.
Because most months have only two biweekly paydays, St. Olaf has made the decision to deduct premiums for health insurance and medical and dependent reimbursement accounts over 24 payrolls. The College contribution for VEBA is also processed over 24 payrolls.
Premiums for supplemental life, dependent life and 24 Hour AD&D are deducted only once per month.
These differences in division base periods account for the conflicting numbers between your pay statement and ESS. Rest assured, the numbers on your pay statements are correct . We decided to keep this information included in the ESS tool, because the majority of the information on the page is correct and valuable.
What happens to my address information when I fill in this form? Do I still need to complete additional paperwork for the address change?
After completing this form, an email is automatically generated to the Human Resources and Payroll offices. From there, HR will notify the other appropriate offices on campus and make the change in the Blue Cross and Delta Dental systems, if applicable. No other paperwork is required. The Payroll office makes the change in the Fidelity database for VEBA.
Can the Employee Self-Service portal be accessed from a home computer?
Yes, the ESS portal can be accessed from home. Users must be logged in to their St. Olaf email account to obtain access.