When you enroll in benefits, you typically must stay enrolled for the entire plan year. This means that you cannot make changes to your benefits mid-year unless you have a qualifying life event, as defined by the IRS.
There are two categories of qualifying life events: Employment Changes and Family Changes. If you have a qualifying life event, you generally have 30 days from the date of the event to make changes to your benefits.
Please contact UWM’s Benefits Office (benefits@uwm.edu) if you have any questions about qualifying life events or making changes to your benefits.
For more information about qualifying life events please see the Universities of Wisconsin Life Events Overview below.
Examples of Employment Changes
- Change in Employment Category (Example: Change from Academic Staff to University Staff)
- Change in Appointment Percentage
- Furlough
- Layoff
- Leave of Absence
- Moving to WRS Covered Employment
- Rehired Annuitant
- Retirement
- Temporary Work Reduction
- Termination
- Transfer to a Different Universities of Wisconsin Institution
- Transfer to a State Agency
- University Staff Temporary (WRS covered) to University Staff Non-Temporary (WRS covered)
Examples of Family Changes
- Birth or Adoption of Child
- Change in Name or Address
- Loss of Dependent Status for Child
- Death of Employee
- Death of Spouse, Domestic Partner, or Child
- Divorce
- Establishment of Domestic Partnership
- Domestic Partnership to Marriage
- End of Domestic Partnership
- Gain of Other Health Insurance Coverage
- Loss of Other Health Insurance Coverage
- Legal Guardianship
- Marriage