Our Benefits
JCSU offers a number of benefits to employees. Please be aware that the information presented below is produced for summary purposes only and is not a contract. Benefits may change at any time with or without notice.
Employee Benefits
Health Insurance Plans
The University offers a self-insured PPO and a HDHP Plan that are administrated by Healthgram and utilizes the GWH-Cigna PPO network. A Wellness Premium discount is available to those that participate. A full vision benefit is included. A rate schedule and information about the plan is available from the Office of Human Resources. Your health insurance coverage becomes effective on the 61st day of employment.
Dental Insurance
JCSU offers dental coverage through Delta Dental. This coverage takes effect the first day of the month after 60 days of continuous employment.
Life Insurance
The University provides you with a group term life insurance policy through Standard Insurance Company with a value of one times your annual salary. The details of this policy are available in the Office of Human Resources.
Long-Term Disability Insurance
The University provides each full-time employee with group long-term disability insurance through Standard Insurance Company. The details of this policy are available in the Office of Human Resources.
Supplemental Policies
Supplemental life insurance and short-term disability policies are available to employees and may be paid through payroll deduction.
Retirement
To assist faculty and staff to plan for their retirement, Johnson C. Smith University provides a supplemental 403 (B) retirement plan utilizing TIAA. Enrollment in this plan is not automatic. Employees may elect to participate within a supplemental retirement account immediately. The University also offers a matching plan. Eligible employees are required to contribute in order to receive the University’s match. You must enroll in the plan and contribute employee contributions before the University makes contributions on your behalf. Enrollment is not automatic. The University will match contributions on a dollar for dollar basis up to a maximum of 5% for eligible employees that complete and submit the appropriate enrollment forms to the Office of Human Resources.
Sick Leave
Faculty and nonacademic personnel are granted one paid day of sick leave each month of employment during the calendar year.
Accrued but unused sick leave may be accumulated and carried over from year to year, up to a maximum of 60 days. Sick leave may be taken for an employee’s personal illness, medical appointments or the illness of a parent, child or spouse. Should an illness occur, the university will pay the employee's full salary until all accumulated sick leave has been exhausted.
If an extended illness requires an employee to be absent from the university beyond the accumulated days, no further compensation will be extended by the university. The university does not pay for accrued but unused sick leave upon termination.
Vacation Leave
Nonacademic personnel earn vacation leave in accordance with the leave schedule, available from the Office of Human Resources. Vacation leave must be approved by an employee's supervisor prior to the employee taking leave. Vacation leave may also be used for other personal reasons requiring absence from work.
Nonacademic personnel may earn a maximum of 20 vacation days. Once the employee has reached the maximum leave balance, no more leave can be earned until existing days are taken.
Bereavement Leave
Upon the approval of the immediate supervisor, nonacademic personnel will be granted up to three days of bereavement leave for the death of an immediate family member, defined as a mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, child or grandchild of the employee.
Employees may also use accrued vacation time for extended leave after the three-day period. Vacation leave may also be granted for death outside the immediate family.
Other Leaves of Absence
You may be eligible for other leaves of absence, including:
- Sabbaticals
- Leave for military duty
- Leave for jury duty
- Educational leave
- Family/medical leave
Holidays
The university observes the following holidays:
- New Year’s Day
- Good Friday
- Easter Monday
- Junteenth
- July 4th Holiday
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Day after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- Day after Christmas
- MLK Birthday
- Memorial Day
Tuition Remission
Full-time employees who have completed six months of continuous service are eligible to enroll in a maximum of three semester hours each semester for one-half the tuition cost. If an employee qualifies for tuition remission, the dependent children of that employee may also receive a waiver of half the tuition for up to 18 hours.
Dependents may also be eligible for a full-tuition waiver at one of more than 100 participating consortium schools. A list of participating colleges and universities is available in the Office of Human Resources.
Flexible Benefits Program
All full-time employees are given the opportunity to participate in a flexible benefits program that allows them to pay for medical, dental and life insurance benefits with pretax dollars.
Employees may also establish a flexible spending account to pay for dependent care, as well as health-related services not covered by the university. By using pretax dollars for expenses traditionally paid for on an after-tax basis, employees realize savings in federal withholding and Social Security taxes and increase their take-home pay.
Employee Assistance Program
The Employee Assistant Program (EAP) is designed to help employees and their immediate family members who are troubled by substance abuse, marital, financial and emotional problems.
Services provided through the EAP are strictly confidential and free of charge. University EAP services are provided through Carolinas Healthcare System and Principal Financial Group using Magellan Health Services.
Worker’s Compensation
Employees who become disabled or who have suffered loss of earnings through accidental injury arising out of, or in the course of, employment may be entitled to compensatory payments. These payments may cover medical, surgical and hospitalization expenses.
COBRA
Continuation of health plans at group rates, in certain instances, may be granted for up to 18 months for employees and 36 months for eligible dependents.
Pay Periods
Nonexempt hourly employees are paid biweekly. All other employees are paid on the last working day of the month. Direct deposit in mandatory for all employees receiving payroll wages.
Transparency in Coverage
This link leads to machine-readable files that are made available in response to the federal Transparency in Coverage Rule and includes negotiated service rates and out-of-network allowed amounts between health plans and healthcare providers. Please select the Cigna option. The machine-readable files are formatted to allow researchers, regulators, and application developers to more easily access and analyze data. Please do not attempt to download the files. They are very large.