$260 Healthcare Cash Payment SEIU, Excluded & Exempt FAQs

• Who is eligible to receive $260.00 Healthcare Cash Payment (HCP)?
• Are employees on medical leave or leave of absence, NDI, IDL, or Military leave eligible to receive HCP?
• What is the SCO automated HCP process and who does it include?
• Who are excluded from the SCO automated HCP process?
• If a CEA position changes the BU in which it is tied to make it eligible or not eligible, how can the automated payment process be updated?
• How to process a HCP for eligible employee not captured in automated process?
• If an employee transfers between Agencies in the middle of a pay period who should be responsible for keying the HCP if it is not automatically issued?
• What if the HCP issued out of the incorrect position?
• How can an employee be identified if they received both HCP and Flex Elect or CoBen Cash in error?
• How to correct pay for employee who received both HCP and Flex Elect or CoBen Cash payments in error?
• How to return a HCP warrant issued to ineligible employee issued through the automated payment process?

Eligibility information for Bargaining Units 1, 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, and Excluded employees refer to Pay Differential 440. For Exempt employees refer to the Exempt Improving Affordability and Access to Health Care Pay Differential.

Please note: Employees enrolled in Flex Elect or Consolidated Benefits (CoBen) Cash are not eligible for this pay differential.

Employees on a leave of absence, NDI, IDL, and Military leave are eligible for the $260 as long as they are enrolled in a state-sponsored health benefit.

The automated payment process identifies eligible active employees in permanent, limited-term & temporary (more than 6 months) full-time and part-time (half-time or more) positions. Employees’ position information are identified and utilized on the 1st payroll cycle day of the month.

• Eligible employees must have had the 2020 PLP earnings ID locked into their employment history record. (Only applicable from the July 2020 pay period through the June 2021 pay period)
• Eligible employees must not be enrolled in Flex Elect or CoBen Cash.
• Eligible employees must be enrolled in a state-sponsored health benefit and deduction must be on their payroll record. 

The payments will issue with the first daily payroll cycle after the close of each business month.

• Employees not in an eligible CBID or Class code as identified by the CalHR Pay Differential 440.
• Eligible employees that do not have 2020 PLP earnings ID locked into their employment history record. (Only applicable from the July 2020 pay period through the June 2021 pay period)
• Employees that have Flex Elect or CoBen Cash established on their payroll record.
• Eligible employees on Disability, Military Leave & Separated
• Employees that are in the following Tenure and Time base:
  • Permanent Intermittent (PI) – 480 or more paid hours/Control Period (or 960 paid hours in two consecutive Control Periods to qualify to continue coverage)
  • Permanent Part-Time - less than half-time (if more than one position combined is half-time or more)
  • Limited-Term (less than 6 months)
  • Limited-Term (more than 6 months) and/or if Part-Time - less than half-time (if more than one position combined is half-time or more)
  • Temporary (less than 6 months)
  • Temporary (more than 6 months) Part-Time - less than half-time (if more than one position combined is half-time or more)

CEA positions in class code 7500 tied to BU 06, 07, & 08 are not eligible to receive the pay differential and are excluded by an SSN exclusion list.

If an employee becomes eligible or ineligible to receive the HCP automated payment, please send an email to notify SCO of status change. Please contact the SCO Customer Contact Center at 916-372-7200 and report the change before the next automated payment is scheduled to be processed.

Agencies should process this payment for eligible employees via the Payroll Input Process (PIP) System using Earnings ID “GHCP”. Use form STD. 671, Miscellaneous Payroll/Leave Actions to document the information and keep forms for department records. Refer to Payroll Procedures Manual (PPM) Section G 105 for STD. 671 completion instructions. Payments are to be processed using the same month as eligible pay period. Refer to Section K in the PPM.

Agencies are responsible for identifying and requesting payments monthly for eligible employees on Disability/Military Leave and Separated employees. This requires Agencies to submit a Std. 674 form via ConnectHR to Premium Pay Std. 674 GHCP.

The receiving agency should be responsible for keying the HCP if it did not issue in the SCO automated payment process.

Agencies should verify eligibility of new position if payment is still valid request a transfer of funds.  If payment is invalid then return warrant or establish an accounts receivable.  Please refer to the transfer of funds, warrant return, and account receivable processes in the Payroll Procedure Manual.

Agencies can access ViewDirect report PDW4418 “EMPLOYEES WITH FLEX ELECT/COBEN CASH AND $260 HEALTHCARE SUBSIDY” that identifies employees with both HCP and Flex Elect or CoBen Cash in each pay period. This ViewDirect report will be provided the first workday of the month for the duration of Pay Differential 440.

Agencies must submit STD. 674 to establish accounts receivable to recover the Flex Elect or CoBen Cash amount received in error, and submit Flex Elect Cash benefit cancellations forms STD. 701C or STD. 702 to remove Flex Elect or CoBen Cash.  Please refer to the accounts receivable process in Section I of the PPM.

If an employee receives a HCP warrant in error, please refer to the warrant return process in Section I 318.10 - 318.20 and Section J 013 in the PPM.  Contact the SCO Customer Contact Center to report the payment error.