The Life Events site provides you with information to consider when major life changes like marriage, birth of a child, divorce, etc. occur. Each section lists your options and describes how to make changes to your benefits. Once your Benefits Enrollment Form has been submitted to the Campus Benefits Office, no changes will be allowed until the next annual NUFlex enrollment period, or a Permitted Election Change Event occurs.
Update your information through Employee Self Service at firefly.nebraska.edu.
Military Leave Rights and Benefits (USERRA & Family Military Leave Act) is available to military personnel and provides paid military leave per calendar year, without regard to the specific nature of the military leave (e.g. active military duty, annual training, emergency assignment, assignments of an unspecified length). See also Veteran & Military Families resources.
Civil leave is granted to employees when they are called for participation in the legal process, including jury duty and witness responsibility; when an employee serves on an election board; and up to two hours of civil leave may be granted to vote in public elections, if circumstances prevent an employee from voting at any other time.
Update changes using the following forms on the NU Benefits website: Benefits Change, Dependent Information Request, and the Assurity Life Beneficiary Designation (Standard & Trust).
Online Benefits Change Form (login required)
Dependent Information Request Form
After your date of marriage, you have 31 days to make adjustments and/or changes to your benefits. A Benefits Change Form, Dependent Information Request Form, and dependent verification documentation must be submitted to your Campus Benefits Office to enroll or make changes to your benefits. If your completed benefits forms and dependent verification documents are not received in your Campus Benefits Office within those 31 days, you will be unable to make changes until the next annual NUFlex enrollment period, unless another qualifying status change occurs.
Should you and your spouse get a divorce or legal separation, these things should be considered. You have 31 days after your divorce or legal separation to adjust and/or changes to your benefits.
University benefits eligibility is extended to an Adult Designee of the same or opposite gender who meets all the criteria.
Employee Plus One Benefits Program
Follow the steps to take and the forms needed for the birth of a child. You have 60 days after the birth of your baby to make adjustments and/or changes to your benefits.
Follow the steps to take and the forms needed for the adoption or legal guardianship of a child. You have 31 days after the placement of a child in your home due to adoption or legal guardianship to make adjustments and/or changes to your benefits.
The Parental Leave & Supplemental Parental Leave Policy provides additional paid leave for those needing to care for a newborn or birth parent and for those who are incapacitated and need to be off work due to pregnancy, childbirth, adoption, termination of a pregnancy, prenatal care, post-partum recovery, or a serious health condition attributable to or caused by any of those conditions.
Medical Maternity Leave-The time during which an employee is unable to work because of a medical disability caused or contributed to by pregnancy, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy, childbirth and recovery there from, will be covered by the provisions of the University’s sick leave policy or by the provisions of the University’s disability leave program, depending on the category and associated leave eligibility of the affected staff member. Staff is therefore eligible for paid leave for such absences under the provisions of the applicable leave policy.
Adoption Leave- Newly adoptive parents may take up to eight weeks paid leave upon the adoption of a child to provide care and assistance to the child chargeable to either sick leave or disability leave depending on the employee's appointment category.
Family/Medical Leave of Absence Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and related University policy, eligible staffs have a right to take up to twelve weeks leave for certain qualifying events, including the birth of an employee's child or the placement of a child through adoption, and care of the child upon birth or placement through adoption. Any parental leaves taken pursuant to the foregoing parental leave policies are, by definition, related to qualifying events under the FMLA, and will therefore be considered part of the twelve week FMLA leave period. For more information regarding FMLA, please contact Kate Debord at debordkl5@unk.edu or at (308)-865-8404.
Required forms are listed below and can be found on the NU Benefits website.
Online Benefits Change Form (login required)
Dependent Information Request Form
Funeral Leave may be used in the event of death within the immediate family or the death of a friend or other person not defined as immediate family.
If you need to talk or are looking for additional resources, contact the Employee Assistance Program.
You may also need to complete one of the forms regarding your benefits on the NU Benefits website.
Employees subject to the provisions of the Worker’s Compensation Act shall be entitled to coverage in accordance with the Act if they suffer from illness or injury arising out of and in the course of their employment. This protection provides payments of all reasonable medical expenses incurred and loss of time from the job to the extent provided by law.
Employees are required to complete the First Report of Occupational Injury or Illness form within 24 hours of the occurrence. This is a legal document that will be filed with the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court. All employees should contact Meredith DeHaven at dehavenm2@unk.edu or (308)-865-8516.
Family/Medical Leave of Absence may be used to address a serious health condition of the employee or the employee's child, parent, or spouse, which prevents the employee from performing the essential functions of the job. For more information regarding FMLA, please contact Kate Debord at debordkl5@unk.edu or at (308)-865-8404.
If you need to talk or are looking for additional resources, contact the Employee Assistance Program.
Crisis Leave is available for employees who have exhausted all their available sick leave, vacation leave, and compensatory leave that is applicable to their crisis. Reasons to apply for crisis leave include the serious illness of the employee or their spouse, or the serious illness of the employee's child, stepchild, or parent, or a person bearing the same relationship to the employee's spouse.
Whenever your spouse loses their job/insurance or changes of employment (change of employers or change impacting eligibility), there are some factors to consider which will make the transition much smoother. As with any status change, you have 31 days after the date of the loss or change to make adjustments to your benefits. A Benefits Change Form and Dependent Information Request Form (if applicable) must be completed to enroll or make changes to your benefits.
Required forms are on the NU Benefits website.
