Leave of Absence from Work?

I'm going to request a leave of absence from work for about 4 or 5 months. The purpose would be to travel in SE asia, and to spend some time with my aging grandmother in taiwan(this may be the last time I see her).

Is it reasonable to request that my employer maintain my benefits (medical insurance and keep the clock going on my 401K vesting schedule)? i would obviously not expect pay during this period. however, it would be great if they could continue kicking in my medical insurance (i'd pay the leftover employee contribution amont).

i think i'm pretty good where they wouldn't want me to resign, but i would have to if they don't grant the leave of absence (with benefits, or without benefits).

any thoughts?

Asking your employer to keep the benefits alive is asking for them to "fork it over" while you're gone. It just depends how valuable you are to them, what role you play, how long you've been there, how much they like you, etc.

It's, sorry, asking a lot. But you never know. Depends on your job and such. Maybe ask during the work week when a lot of people are around here.

Sorry, what I meant was....maybe ask *here* during the work week (on BnA) when people are around. (It's busier during the week.) People are awfully helpful on this site. And no matter what, I think the reason you have for asking for time off would gain a great deal of goodness on the part of your employer, hopefully.

Good luck.

I've just returned from my own travels and when I requested a LOA they offered me a cobra package, which of course you have to pay for yourself. I think this is fairly common practice (if not a law... maybe?), at least in NJ. It is a fairly exorbitant fee to pay—I think mine was over $400 a month, which I wouldn't pay—and before you consider paying it you should make sure it will cover you overseas, etc.

Unfortunately, unless your employer is downright saintly, I doubt they'll cover you during a LOA. My company is pretty hip and the best they did for me was allow me to use the minimum amount of PTO (vacation) hours necessary to cover benefits during a given pay period; this let me string my benefits along for about 3 months. So if you have vacation time accrued you might want to ask for similar setup if they'll do the creative accounting.

Otherwise I would suggest picking up some traveler's insurance that has emergency medical benefits on the policy. It shouldn't cost you too much.

Hope some of that helps and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. Good luck!

It's highly unlikely that they'd kick in for your medical insurance. Most companies just cover you through the end of the month in which you draw a salary (including vacation pay).

I think asking to keep the 401K vesting schedule is reasonable. Although if you haven't been there long enough to be vested they might be less inclined to work with you. But you never know until you ask.

Good luck & enjoy your time off!

Most Cobra policies are useless once you leave the country and regular travel health insurance/ trip insurance is far cheaper and is more relevant to what you are doing.

More important is to make sure you insurance that you do have covers your shots/travel meds before you go away. Those can be EXPENSIVE.

PC

Nothing but good news on this thread...

Since Harpua is talking about a 4-5 month leave of absense, assuming he/she is coming back, it may make sense to maintain the health insurance even if he/she has to pay for it entirely while gone. (ouch $) Cobra is not insurance. It's (I think) legislation that allows you to stay on your old companies health plan after you've quit or been fired. All paid by you.

Useless overseas? Maybe. Worth keeping? Maybe.

I quit a job 10 years ago and kept my health insurance via cobra because otherwise I would have had to shop for new stuff. (blech). There have been times since....when if I had NOT kept my coverage I would NOT have been able to get health insurance at ANY price (because I'm self-employed). It's a state to state thing, in that regard. But there was honestly no health insurance company in my state (WA) that would write a policy for a self-employed person at certain points in time. (Unless I joined some group or union that would allow me to sign onto their group policy.)

Health insurance is so f-ed up in the U.S.

Sorry for your situation harpua.

NTFT

Re: 401k vesting, that is a very regulated benefit. In other words, it probably won't matter whether you ask for it or not. It all depends on how the plan is written and there isn't any opportunity for giving you any special treatment. However, they could be a little creative in counting hours of service. To earn a year of vesting credit you typically need to work at least 1,000 hours in the plan year (or could be your employment year). Shouldn't be a problem if you work full time for at least half the year. Your HR person should be able to help you with all of this.

They should also be able to help with the insurance issue. Lots of different variables on this one. Highly doubtful that they would cover the whole cost over that period of time but if you don't ask....

One thing to mote about Taiwan - medical care here is very affordable and is of great quality. The US could learn a lot from Taiwan in this respect.

Hi Harpua,

Until last week I actually worked in Human Resources and was responsible for processing leaves of absence (LOAs). Here is my (long) response on your questions:

First & foremost, every company is different so if you have an HR or personnel department it is ESSENTIAL that you talk to them. You can even talk to them before your boss. If you ask them to keep your conversation confidential they should do so. Even if your boss has already agreed terms with you, confirm them with your HR department before you buy your plane tickets and leave. Bosses have been know to make promises that are impossible for them to keep because they simply did not know the rules.

That said, definitely ask for the LOA and ask them to cover your benefits and continue your vesting; the worst they can say is no. My guess is that if they like you, you probably will get the leave of absence. They probably won't be able to continue your benefits and vesting however. Most companies (particularly large companies) have strict rules about these things which they can't break even if they want to. They may allow you to use vacation/ PTO, however. There is a good chance that they will continue to cover your benefits and continue your vesting while you are still being paid.

It would also help to know how long your benefits will continue after you are no longer being paid and are on your LOA. For example, where I worked benefits were paid a month ahead of time. What that meant was that your benefits were paid throught the end of the month following the month you stopped working. (So, if your last day was anytime between 12/1 and 12/31 your benefits are good through 1/31.) If your company works in a similar way, you could get some benefits for a while after you stop working.

If you can't continue your benefits through your company, you should be able to COBRA. (COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation act -- there's some useless info for you.) The important part though is that it should allow you to continue with your benefits -- the catch is that you will have to pay both the employer and employee contribution, so it is usually expensive. (I know that this is the law in CA -- I'm not sure if its a state or federal law though, so definitely check w/ HR on the details and the cost.) You might well be better off with travel insurance. You will probably be able to restart your benefits once you return to work, but again, check with HR on how to do this.

On a final note, you mentioned that your grandmother is aging. Hopefully she is healthy, but if she is not and your personal leave of absence is turned down, the situation may qualify you to take Family and Medical Leave for up to 12 weeks. Let me know if you would like any more info.

I hope that this helped.

-Jillian

Hooray! An expert showed up! Very generous of you Jillian.

I'm almost certain COBRA is federal legislation.

FMLA only gives you 12 weeks (unpaid) to take care of a seriously ill parent, child or spouse so a grandparent is not covered. But it's possible that grandparents are covered under a state law related to leave and, although an unfortunate byproduct of my occupation is that I can quote Oregon state leave laws, I'm not familiar with the corresponding NJ laws (if any). COBRA is a federal law so it applies everywhere.

And definitely get any agreement with your boss in writing before you make concrete plans.

Approved.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Good for you! Did you get anything else "approved" other than "you can leave"? Just curious...

Very excited for you! Enjoy the trip