Life Insurance

You can choose to buy additional life insurance through the optional life insurance plan. Additional coverage of one, two, three or four times your annual salary with a maximum benefit of $750,000 is available. New and current employees must submit evidence of insurability for 4x salary and any coverage over $500,000. Coverage reduces at age 70 to 65% of the amount of life insurance you had prior to age 70 and then at age 75 reduces to 50%.

You may purchase Dependent Life Insurance to cover your eligible family members. The benefit is payable to you in the event of their death. You may choose $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 coverage for your spouse. Children are covered at one-half of the elected spouse’s coverage.

You can change your beneficiaries for Basic Life Insurance, Dependent Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance in Workday.

Or you can complete the Group Benefits Change Form.   Complete the first section including employee name and birthdate and the Beneficiary Changes section at the bottom of the form.  Sign, date and send the completed form to Human Resources.

Employees have 31 days from their benefits-eligible appointment dates to enroll in Dependent Life Insurance and Optional Life Insurance.  Enrollments after 31 days from the benefits-eligible appointment date will be subject to Evidence of Insurability requirements.   To enroll in Dependent Life Insurance and Optional Life Insurance after 31 days:

• Go to the Workday App and go to Benefits and then click on the tab My Beneficiaries to complete your enrollment.  This beneficiary election will replace any paper forms you have completed.
• In lieu of enrolling in coverage using Workday, you can complete a  Group Benefits Change Form and return it to Human Resources.
• Go to the  Evidence of Insurability section on The Standard’s website to complete your application.   The Standard will notify the University if your request is approved and payroll deductions will begin with the month following approval.  
• See the Insurance Premiums document under Quick Links for your monthly premiums. 

The beneficiary or the beneficiary's representative should make an appointment with HR Expert Tracee Riggs.  Bring a certified death certificate to the appointment where the following topics will be addressed:

• Future health insurance coverage for surviving spouses or family
• Retirement account processes for the beneficiary
• Filing a life insurance claim procedures

HR will file the death claim.

Employees leaving university employment have two options for keeping their university life insurance: portability or conversion. See Portability and Conversion at a Glance to evaluate your options.

Portability 

You may be able to buy portable group life insurance when your employment with the university ends. Dependents may port dependent life insurance the employee was enrolled in at the time of the employee's death, divorce or termination (if the employee ports). Portability is not guaranteed; employees must certify that they and their dependents (when including dependent coverage) are not sick or injured to be eligible for portability.

To be eligible to port your life insurance, you must:

• Have been continuously insured for at least 12 consecutive months
• Be able to perform the material duties of at least one gainful occupation
• Be under age 80 on the date your employment ends

To port life insurance, an employee leaving the university should:

• Contact HR at 479-575-5351 or hrbenf@uark.edu to request the form to port your life insurance.
• Complete the employee section (pages 3-5) of the University of Arkansas Group Life Insurance Portability Application form sent by HR.
• See  page 2 to calculate your monthly premium cost.
• Mail the Group Life Portability Insurance Application form and your premium payment directly to The Standard, using the mailing address on the form.

The Standard must receive the Life Insurance Election of Portability Coverage form and your first premium payment within 31 days of your termination date. If your portability request is denied by The Standard, you can file a conversion request. 

Conversion

Conversion allows employees and covered dependents to convert their coverage if they are ineligible for portability due to health reasons. If you are leaving employment due to sickness or injury, contact HR to determine if you are eligible for disability or waiver of premium benefits before completing the application for conversion.  Employees will not be turned down for conversion if they are sick or injured; however, conversion rates are significantly higher than group rates. The conversion policy will accumulate cash value and will allow you to borrow against the case value if sufficient. To convert employee life insurance to a private policy, an employee leaving the university should:

• Contact HR at 479-575-5351 or hrbenf@uark.edu to request the form to convert  your life insurance.
• Complete the employee section (pages 3-5) of the University of Arkansas Group Life Insurance Conversion Packet form sent by HR.
• See  page 2 and 3 of the conversion application  to calculate your monthly premium cost.
• Mail the conversion form and your premium payment directly to The Standard, using the mailing address on the form. 

The Standard must receive the conversion application form within 31 days of your termination date.