Benefits Information for Returning Employees
Benefits
Employees who are rehired within 30 days of their termination date will automatically have all their health and welfare benefits reinstated1. If an employee is rehired after 30 days, they will have the opportunity to re-enroll in benefits.
The employee must re-enroll for benefits within 30 days of the rehire date. Previous elections will not be reinstated automatically unless they have returned within 30 days of their termination date.
| Benefit | Rehire Wait-Period2 |
| Health/Medical | No wait; immediately eligible |
| Dental | No wait; immediately eligible |
| Vision | No wait; immediately eligible |
| Life/AD&D: exempt (salaried) | No wait; immediately eligible |
| Life/AD&D: non-exempt (hourly) | 90-day wait |
| Flexible Spending Account | 90-day wait |
| Short-term disability | 30-day wait |
| Long-term disability | 12-month wait3 |
| Retirement Plan | No wait; immediately eligible |
| Educational Assistance Program | No wait if rehired within 3 months of termination4 |
| Dependent Tuition Assistance | No wait if rehired within 3 months of termination4 |
1 If rehired in the same plan year, enrollment in the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) will be reinstated. If rehired in a new plan year, the employee will have the opportunity to enroll in the FSA.
2 This is a summary of benefit waiting periods. It is not meant to replace the Summary Plan Descriptions, which are the governing documents for Vanderbilt benefits. Summary Plan Descriptions are available on the Benefit Plan Details web page.
3 If the employee has been continuously covered in a Long-Term Disability plan, they may complete this form to have the waiting period waived.
4 For specific information regarding requirements and guidelines please refer to the Educational Assistance Programs and Dependent Tuition Assistance policies.
Exceptions:
Employees and spouses are eligible to participate in educational assistance programs if the employee has been full-time (30 or more hours per week) for three months before course registration. Employees are eligible to receive tuition benefits for dependent children after having been a full-time employee for the immediate past five continuous years at Vanderbilt (or any other accredited college or university, within three months of joining Vanderbilt). If an employee has a break in service of more than three months, this benefit will not be bridged. For specific information regarding requirements and guidelines, please refer to the Education Assistance Programs policy and the Dependent Tuition Assistance policy.
Legacy Sick Time:
There is no bridging of actual earned sick time balances and unused sick time is not paid out at the time of separation. For complete details, see the Legacy Sick Time policy.
PTO Accruals:
Bridged service counts for eligibility for PTO accrual rates. However, there is no bridging of actual earned PTO balances. For complete details, see the Paid Time Off policy.
Service Date:
- Employees will retain the service date in effect during the previous employment period if:
- the employee has completed at least two consecutive years of regular or term service at Vanderbilt immediately prior to separation (working a temporary position at Vanderbilt during the gap does not count), and
- the gap in regular or term employment does not exceed one year.
- Service date for anniversary award eligibility is determined by the service date in effect based upon the information in item one above.
See also Recruitment, Hiring and Onboarding for information regarding Background Checks, Rate of Pay, Orientation period, etc.