Compensation

Benefits

When coverage begins
New employees have 31 days from their first day on the job to make benefit choices. Some benefits become effective your first day. Others may have an eligibility waiting period. Most benefits that provide insurance coverage, such as medical, dental, and vision, are effective on the first day of the month after you start working. Benefit offerings differ depending on whether you are a full-time, part-time, or casual employee. Human Resources can explain how benefits apply to your employment status.

St. Mary’s benefits include the following standard and optional programs:

Paid Time Off
Paid Time Off (PTO) accrues for each hour you work starting on your very first day. A full-time employee accrues up to 184 hours of PTO each year during the first four years of employment. The accrual rate increases in your fifth, tenth and fifteenth year so you accrue more PTO annually. PTO is used for vacations, holidays not worked, personal time, and short illnesses. Typically, the first 16 hours of an illness or hospitalization are covered by the employee’s PTO.

Extended Sick Leave
Full-time employees accrue up to 56 hours of Extended Sick Leave (ESL) per year. ESL hours are used for illnesses that extend beyond a couple of days, picking up after 16 hours of PTO is used.

Medical coverage
St. Mary’s Hospital offers two comprehensive Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) medical plans and a Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP), each with four levels of coverage to choose from. You can cover yourself, yourself and spouse, yourself and children, or yourself and family (spouse and children). All medical plans are administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. After one year of employment, full-time employees with an annual household income less than $33,100 are eligible for a medical discount plan that reduces their medical insurance premium.

Dental coverage
Benefit-eligible employees can choose basic or expanded dental coverage for themselves and dependents. Delta Dental administers the plan.

Vision coverage
A vision plan administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina is also available to benefit-eligible employees and dependents.

Life Insurance
St. Mary’s provides a basic level of life insurance for all benefit-eligible employees. Employees can purchase additional life insurance under our group plan. Employees can also purchase life insurance policies for their spouse and dependents.

Long-term Disability Insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
Full-time employees can purchase optional long-term disability coverage to provide 40, 50, or 60 percent of their basic monthly earnings starting 90 days after a disability occurs. St. Mary’s provides a basic level of accidental death and dismemberment coverage for all benefit-eligible employees. And employees can purchase additional accidental death and dismemberment insurance under our group plan.

Reimbursement Accounts
St. Mary’s Hospital provides optional reimbursement or spending accounts which allow you to keep and use more of the money you earn by reducing the amount subject to federal income tax.

Healthcare Spending Account - Employees deposit pre-tax dollars -- up to $5,000 per year -- into this account to pay for IRS-recognized medical expenses not covered by insurance.

Dependent Care Spending Account - Employees contribute pre-tax dollars to their account. Funds are used for dependent care expenses as defined by the IRS. The amount you can deposit to this account depends on your income tax filing status.

Retirement Plans
St. Mary’s Hospital contributes to a 401(a) retirement plan for every employee over 21 years of age after one year of service in which the employee worked at least 1,000 hours. The hospital contributes the equivalent of five percent of pay each pay period after you qualify for the plan. You are partially vested in this retirement account after three years of service and fully vested after five years.

Employees can also enroll in an optional 403(b) retirement savings plan. Contributions can start with your first paycheck and must be within IRS limits. After you qualify for the 401(a) plan, you are eligible for a company matching contribution to the optional 403(b) plan. St. Mary’s will match 50 percent of the first six percent of your pay you contribute to your 403(b) account. This matching contribution (up to three percent) is in addition to the five percent St. Mary’s contributes to your 401(a) plan.

Both retirement plans are administered by Fidelity.