Active Eligibility

Your Health & Welfare Plan is funded by contributions made by employers to the Alaska Electrical Health & Welfare Fund (the Fund) as specified in their collective bargaining agreements with I.B.E.W. Local 1547 and special agreements between employers and the Fund.

It is your responsibility to check with your employer, the Administrative Office at (800) 478-1246 or by email at aetfhw@aetf.com, or Local 1547 frequently to make certain that health and welfare contributions for which you are entitled are being made for you by your employer.

Hourly (Hour Bank) Eligibility

Employees covered by an agreement calling for hourly contributions to the Fund will have all their hours worked reported and credited to an hour bank. These hourly employees are initially eligible on the first day of the second calendar month following accumulation of 390 or more work hours reported and paid to the Fund within a consecutive 3-month period. These hours are accumulated into an hour bank. See the Health & Welfare Summary Plan Description (H&W-SPD) for details.

If you have satisfied the initial eligibility requirements above, you will continue to be eligible for each month that you have at least 130 hours remaining in your hour bank. The maximum number of hours that can be credited to your bank is 1,040 hours after deduction for the current month’s coverage (or the equivalent of 8 months of coverage).

If your coverage terminates because your hour bank has less than 130 hours, the balance of your hours, if any, will be carried for 4 months. If during that 4 months you work and add hours to your hour bank, your eligibility will be reinstated on the first day of the second month after the hour bank has a total of 130 hours. If you do not work sufficient hours during the 4-month period following termination to obtain reinstatement, the balance of your hours, if any, will be canceled and you will be required to re-satisfy the initial eligibility rules to become covered again.

See the Health & Welfare Summary Plan Description (H&W-SPD) for more information on how to maintain your banked hour balance as you work to build up your Hour Bank, and what happens to your hours if you transfer to an employer that has bargained for monthly coverage.

Monthly Eligibility

Employees covered by an agreement calling for a flat rate monthly contribution will be eligible for Health & Welfare Plan coverage on the first day of the calendar month following the calendar month during which the employee worked the number of hours required for coverage (e.g., work during September provides coverage for October).

The number of work hours required for coverage is set forth in the applicable collective bargaining agreement or special agreement. Flat rate monthly employees do not have an hour bank.

Your eligibility for coverage as a monthly employee will continue as long as the required contribution is received from your employer. If you questions about your monthly eligibility, please call the Administrative Office at (800) 478-1246 or email us.

Dependent Eligibility

Your dependents are generally eligible when you are eligible. New dependents are covered on your date of marriage or their birth, or in the case of adoption, the date the child is placed in your home. The Administrative Office should be notified within 60 days of your acquiring a new dependent to ensure that claims are processed correctly. In no case will coverage of new dependents apply retroactively more than 365 days from the date the Administrative Office was notified.

See the Health & Welfare Summary Plan Description (H&W-SPD) for complete definition of qualifying dependents.