Eligibility

Before you enroll in benefits, explore what UC offers you and your family. UC offers the same benefits for employees who are represented by a union and those who are not, but specific features and costs are negotiated between UC and your union. Check your bargaining unit’s contract for details.

Retirement benefits — sign in to your NetBenefits account
Health and welfare benefits — sign in to your UCPath account

Not a faculty or staff employee? Check out information about benefits eligibility for retirees, residents and fellows or postdoctoral scholars. Academic student employees are eligible for the Dependent Care Flexible Spending account for academic student employees, along with their health care coverage through the UC Student Health Insurance Plan (UC SHIP).

On this page:

Primary retirement benefits
Health and welfare benefits packages
Overview of Full, Mid-level and Core benefits
Family members

Career, academic, limited, partial-year career, contract and floater appointments

You are eligible for Full Benefits if you:

Are appointed to work in a retirement-eligible position at least 50% of the time for a year or more² or
Complete 1,000 hours in a retirement-eligible position within a rolling 12-month period (750 hours for represented lecturers)

You are eligible for Mid-Level Benefits if:

You are appointed to work 100% of the time for at least three months but for less than one year or
You are appointed to work at least 50% of the time for a year or more in a position that does not qualify you for the primary retirement benefits noted above.
You are a rehired staff retiree or return to active duty academic, depending on the timing and circumstances of your rehire. See the Returning Retiree Benefits Checker to determine your eligibility.

You are eligible for Core Benefits if you are appointed to work at least 43.75% of the time.

Per Diem, casual/restricted (students), by agreement and seasonal appointments

Benefit	Full	Mid	Core
Medical	UC contribution to your choice of plans	UC contribution to your choice of plans	UC contribution to HealthSavings+ plan
Dental	Choice of UC-paid plans	No	No
Vision	UC-paid plan	No	No
Life	UC-paid basic coverage; employee-paid extras	UC-paid basic coverage; employee-paid extras	UC-paid basic coverage; extra coverage not available

Fully paid by UC with Full, Mid-level or Core benefits:

Optional (employee-paid) with Full, Mid-level or Core benefits:

Your family’s eligibility

If you’re eligible for UC health & welfare benefits, you may be able to add your eligible family members for coverage in the plans below:

Medical
Dental
Vision

Accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity
AD&D
Legal

UC requires anyone who enrolls family members in any UC plan to provide documents to verify their family members’ eligibility for coverage. Learn more about the family member eligibility verification process, administered for UC by UnifyHR.

See below for details about eligible family members, including specific requirements and exceptions:

Legal spouse

Domestic partner

A domestic partnership is eligible if it is:

Registered with the state of California or
A valid union, other than a marriage, entered into in another jurisdiction and recognized in California as substantially equivalent to a California registered domestic partnership or
Unregistered, but meets all of the following criteria:
- Parties must be each other’s sole domestic partner in a long‑term, committed relationship and must intend to remain so indefinitely
- Neither party may be legally married or be a partner in another domestic partnership
- Parties must not be related to each other by blood to a degree that would prohibit legal marriage in the State of California
- Both parties must be at least 18 years old and capable of consenting to the relationship
- Both parties must be financially interdependent
- Parties must share a common residence

Biological or adopted child, stepchild, domestic partner’s child

Grandchild, step-grandchild, domestic partner’s grandchild

To be eligible, the grandchild must meet all of the following criteria:
- Up to age 26
- Unmarried
- Living with you
- Supported by you or your spouse/domestic partner (50% or more)
- Claimed as a tax dependent by you or your spouse/domestic partner
For a domestic partner’s grandchild to be eligible, the domestic partnership must meet the requirements above

Legal ward

Footnotes

If you’re a member of the Non-Senate Instructional Unit, you qualify for participation in the Retirement Choice Program after working 750 hours in an eligible position within a 12-month period. ↩︎