MINUTES
EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS COMMITTEE
March 15, 2012
Members Present
Brenda Freese, Chair
Don Clothier
Debbie Copp
Aimee Franklin
Suzanne Gilmore
Members Absent
Alisa Dougless
Don Harrison
Chad Johnson
Mark Morvant
Sue-Anna Miller
Jannie Porter
Will Wayne
Frances Wen
Al Schwarzkopf
Jerry Weber
Ex Officio Members
Barbara Abercrombie - Absent
Julius Hilburn - Absent
Nick Kelly
Angela Hawpe
The meeting was called to order at 1:31.
I.
Approval of Minutes
 The February minutes were approved with changes. It was noted that Health
Services and Healthy Sooners have developed and are presenting several
tobacco cessation classes for OU employees.
II.
Retiree Medical Update
 Nick requested the next Employee Benefits Committee meeting be held on
April 12, 2012.
 This earlier meeting date allows time for the membership to discuss and vote
on the retiree medical proposal which the President is now considering, and
will allow the proposal to be presented at the Board of Regent’s May meeting.
 The EBC committee membership voted and approved the next meeting to be
held on April 12, 2012.
 Nick discussed an alternative proposal suggested by the Norman Faculty
Senate.
 The first part of that proposal is instituting the deductible earlier and on a
phased schedule. The Faculty Senate proposed a $100 deductible be
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implemented in 2014; $200 deductible in 2015; and $300 deductible in 2016.
Those affected by this immediately would be existing retirees.
There was discussion among the EBC committee regarding the impact of
implementing the Faculty Senate proposal. Nick stated the total impact of
implementing the proposal add 1% to the liability.
The second part of the Faculty Senate’s proposal recommends the University
pay 100% of the premium cost for retirees who are 62 or older and have at
least 25 years of service. In the current proposal, the University would pay
either 75% or 95% of the premium cost.
There was some discussion regarding how employees would react to the
above recommendations and whether it would alter retirement patterns.
There was also discussion regarding the reasoning behind the proposals
presented by Faculty Senate. Nick stated Human Resources can have some
discussions with the Faculty Senate prior to the next meeting and report at
the April meeting.
Employee Benefits Committee members will be asked to consider and vote
on the most recent proposal presented by HR at the Town Hall meetings at
the April 12 meeting. There will be an opportunity to discuss the Faculty
Senate recommendation at that time.
Update on Proposed OTRS Changes
 Several rule changes that OTRS has proposed have been approved by their
board, and now are pending approval by the legislature. If approved, these
new rules will be applied to service after July 1, 2013.
 The proposed rule changes would require all exempt (professional)
employees to contribute to OTRS, including employees who are working less
than 20 hours per week. The University would also be required to contribute.
 Currently, employees who work 30 hours per week or more get a full year of
service credit. Under the proposed rule changes, these employees would
receive proportional service credits for service after 7/1/2013.
 The third proposed change also affects service credit. Currently if an
employee works half of a year in their final year of employment they receive a
full year of service credit. According to the new proposal, these employees
would receive one half year of service credit.
 Beginning July 1, 2013, part time employees who are working less than 20
hours per week in FLSA exempt positions would be required to make an
irrevocable election regarding membership in OTRS.
 If a less than .5 FTE employee hired on or after July 1, 2013 chooses to opt
out of OTRS, the University would be required to pay a 2.5% surcharge to
OTRS.
 All of the proposed changes will take effect July 1, 2013 if approved.
 Nick stated that employees will need to carefully plan for retirement given
these changes. Human Resources staff will assure information is provided to
all employees explaining the new regulations if adopted.
 There was discussion regarding how the proposed changes will affect faculty
at the Health Sciences Center who earn a portion of their salary from PPP.
Nick reported that legal representatives are currently discussing how this will
be handled.
IV.
Health Insurance 2013 Renewal
 Nick reported that Human Resources staff and Blue Cross/Blue Shield
representatives met to begin discussions on the health insurance renewal for
2013. This is our fourth full year with BCBS.
 Blue Cross representatives reported the state-wide trend in insurance is an
increase of approximately 7%.
 The renewal will be submitted to the Board of Regents in September, so Blue
Cross Blue Shield will need to get the proposal to us by early August.
 We will begin the negotiation process as soon as they are able to gather
some data.
V.
Fidelity/DC Plan Updates
 A series of workshops targeted to specific populations have been advertised
to employees.
 There are three presentations scheduled at this time for specifically targeted
groups of employees on the Norman campus. There will be presentations
scheduled for the Health Sciences Center in early April.
 Fidelity will introduce updates to the website next month and a 457(b) Roth
option will be implemented.
 Human Resources will be sending out surveys to new employees regarding
their experience with Fidelity, to determine their level of satisfaction with the
company and their services.
 Most of the feedback from employees regarding Fidelity has been positive.
 The total fund contributions to Fidelity’s platform have exceeded expectations,
so there may be an opportunity for fees associated with the plan to be
reduced in the future.
 There was some discussion by committee members regarding information
they had received from Fidelity pertaining to services that can be purchased.
Nick stated Human Resources will investigate and determine what was sent
to employees.
VI.
Updates
 There were no further updates.
VII.
Other Business
 There was no other business.
Meeting was adjourned at 2:33.