Your Benefits at UNC-Chapel Hill

The University provides eligible employees with access to a variety of benefit plans that promote health and wellness, in addition to helping you build financial resources for retirement. We offer the benefit plans you would expect from a leading employer—including employer paid medical and retirement for eligible employees and a variety of health, life and income protection plans.

Benefit-eligible employees can review the UNC System Benefits Summary and the UNC System Benefits Rate Sheet for information on health, prescription drug, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, cancer insurance, critical illness, group life, accident insurance, disability and retirement programs.

The benefit plans you choose will generally stay in effect until you experience a qualified life event; otherwise, you must wait until the plan’s annual enrollment period each October with the selected changes/enrollments to take effect on January 1 of the next year. Information about qualified life events and benefit plan changes can be found in the Life Events section of the Office of Human Resources website.

Employee Eligibility

Permanent full-time SHRA, EHRA Non-Faculty and Faculty working 30 or more hours per week are eligible for all benefits.
Permanent part-time SHRA, EHRA Non-Faculty and Faculty working 20 to 29 hours per week are eligible for all benefit programs, except mandatory retirement and Long Term Disability. The employee must pay the full cost of medical plan coverage, which includes the employer portion.

Dependent Eligibility

Dependent children up to age 26 are eligible. Disabled dependent children may be eligible beyond age 26.
Domestic partner coverage is available for: UNC Group Term Life and Dental Insurance.
Legally married spouses are eligible for benefit plans that provide spousal coverage options.

You must enroll in order to be covered by a benefit plan. With the exception of mandatory retirement, benefit plan coverage begins the first of the month following your date of eligibility/employment or qualified life event. Changes made during annual enrollment each October become effective on January 1 of the following year.

Mandatory retirement plan contributions begin on your date of eligibility. Failure to select a mandatory retirement plan within the allowed 30 calendar days from the hire date will result in automatic TSERS enrollment. Mandatory retirement plan deductions of the required 6% are taken retroactively back to the date of employment/eligibility on the next available payroll.

Tax status

Depending on the benefit plan, the amounts that you pay may not be subject to Social Security/Medicare, federal and North Carolina state income tax or a combination thereof. We call these pre-tax deductions. Some benefit plan premiums/deductions are paid on an after-tax basis.

Timing of Deductions

Medical plan premiums are paid one month in advance of coverage and all other benefit plan premiums/deductions are taken in the same month that coverage is effective. Mandatory retirement plan contributions begin on day one of eligibility.

NOTE: If you delay enrollment, your first benefit plan deductions could be larger than normal in order to catch up the amount that you owe. This will result in lower take-home pay which is why timely enrollment is important.

Bi-weekly and Monthly Deductions

If you are paid monthly, the full monthly premium/deduction amount is taken each pay period. If you are paid bi-weekly, one half of the monthly benefit plan premium amount is deducted each pay period. With the exception of mandatory retirement, benefit plan premiums/deductions are not taken when a third bi-weekly pay occurs in a month.

Generally, there are three times when you can enroll or make changes to your benefit elections:

as a newly hired/eligible faculty or staff member
after experiencing a qualified life event
during annual enrollment

For health and welfare plans, along with your mandatory retirement plan enrollment, you may enroll within 30 calendar days of eligibility or life event effective date. It is to your advantage to take prompt action to avoid large retroactive payroll deduction amounts.

Helpful Links

Enrollment Portals

Use ConnectCarolina to enroll in Benefits and Retirement.

Once you have your UNC Onyen, log in to ConnectCarolina and go to Self Service tab (choose from the drop-down menu in the top left corner).

Note: For the system to create your secure connection to the online enrollment portals, after you log in to ConnectCarolina for the first time, you will need to wait at least 30 minutes before you will see a My Benefits tile on the Self Service screen. You will use the My Benefits tile for enrolling in your benefits.

You will use two enrollment portals for benefits and retirement:

State Enrollment Portal for:

Health insurance
Tobacco attestation

To enroll by phone, call 855-859-0966.

UNC System Enrollment Portal for:

Dental
Vision
Flexible Spending Accounts
Accident
Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) — Core & Voluntary
Cancer & Specified Illness
Critical Illness
Group Term Life
Voluntary Long Term Disability
Mandatory Retirement
TRICARE supplement coverage

To enroll by phone, call 833-862-1490.

Mandatory Retirement

You must select only one of the following retirement plans:

Teachers and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) | You must enroll in TSERS within 30 days of your hire date. The TSERS ORBIT portal becomes available approximately 30 days after your first contribution is made. You will use the ORBIT portal to designate beneficiaries.
University of North Carolina Optional Retirement Program (ORP) | You must enroll in the ORP within 30 days of your hire date. During your enrollment in the UNC Optional Retirement Program you will need to select TIAA for your vendor.

For more information on each of these retirement plans, visit the Retirement Programs page of HR at UNC website.

How to enroll in a retirement plan

ConnectCarolina > Self Service > My Benefits tile > Benefits Enrollment (on left) > UNC System Enrollment Portal

Note: When you log into ConnectCarolina for the first time, you will need to wait at least 30 minutes before you will be able to enroll in your benefits; this allows the system to create your secure connection to the online enrollment portals.

UNC Benefit Plans

All forms for the following plans should be submitted to the UNC Benefits Team by email or fax:
Email | benefits@unc.edu
Fax | 919-962-6010

Domestic Partner Dental Insurance | After you enroll in the NCFlex Dental plan, you can submit the enrollment form for your domestic partner and affidavit of domestic partnership within 30 days of eligibility or qualifying life event.

How to Enroll in the UNC Supplemental Retirement Plans

You can enroll in the UNC 403b and UNC 457 plans at any time. You can amend your deductions at any time as well. To enroll or make changes:
Log in to ConnectCarolina > Self Service > My Benefits tile > Benefits Enrollment (on left) > Supplemental Retirement Plans.

Leave & Holidays

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recognizes that it is important for employees to have time away from work.

View information about various leave programs for University employees.
View the University’s holiday calendar.

Basics of Benefits Eligibility