HPAE Rutgers Health Insurance Premium Issue in 1/5/24 Paycheck

We hope you had a lovely holiday season and a happy new year. Since Wednesday 1/3/24, we have heard from several members across HPAE Locals 5094 and 5089 that their health insurance premiums increased drastically in the 1/5/24 paycheck. After hearing from other union leaders in the Coalition of Rutgers Unions (CRU), we realized that other employees at Rutgers have been affected. CRU alerted Rutgers and they confirmed that there was an error in the 1/5/24 pay. They stated they are working with payroll and their benefits office to review who is affected and at this point they have communicated with the affected employees by email.

Anyone who has the NJ Direct, NJ Direct 2019, or Omnia health insurance plan has been affected. Note that this is not the same as NJ Direct 15, or any other plan followed by a number other than 2019 – you may check your specific plan in the my.Rutgers portal by clicking on “Benefits Summary” in the “My Benefits” widget under “Medical: Plan Description”.

Those affected should have received an email on 1/5/24 from Lorraine Meltzer in HR. The email does state that the deduction should be correct in the next paycheck on 1/19 and that you should be credited in the 1/19 check for the additional amount they took from the 1/5/24 paycheck.

If you received an email and are thus affected, we are recommending that you submit a ticket to OneSource to formally log the issue with Rutgers.

If you do not receive the credit in your 1/19 pay, please alert our staff reps Joel Brooks (jbrooks@hpae.org) and Vicki Fleck (vfleck@hpae.org).

In solidarity,

Justin O’Hea, Local 5094 Co-President
Ryan Novosielski, Local 5094 Co-President
Sabrina Brown Oliver, Local 5089 Vice President