Benefits

Eligibility: All staff who work at least 30 hours per week are eligible to enroll. Part-time teachers who work less than 30 hours are also eligible

• New hires must enroll within 31 days of their hire date

• Transfers from other PEBA-participating entities will be able to transfer their benefits. They are not able to make changes at that time unless there is a special eligibility situation.

Effective Dates for New Hires:

• Start date is the first of the month: Effective immediately

• Start date is the first working day of the month but not the 1st of the month: or the first working day of the month: Effective immediately or the 1st of the following month

• Start date is any other time of the month: Effective on the 1st of the following month

Open Enrollment: Annual open enrollment occurs in the month of October; this is your opportunity to make any changes needed. NOTE: Dental changes can only be made in odd-numbered years.

Special Eligibility Situations: Changes outside of open enrollment can only be made if you have a special eligibility situations. Examples of this include, but are not limited to, a loss of coverage for you or your dependent(s), birth, divorce, and so forth. You can view situations and what can be changed here. 

You can view a variety of helpful flyers about PEBA health coverage here. To review your current enrollment information, visit MyBenefits.

All staff at SC Learns are required to participate in PEBA retirement. There is a mandatory 9% employee contribution to retirement regardless of retirement election [South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS) or State Optional Retirement Program (State ORP)]. New hires must enroll within 31 days of their hire date; if you do not make an election, PEBA will place you in SCRS.

South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS)

The South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS) is a defined benefit retirement plan for employees of state agencies, public and charter school districts, public higher education institutions, and other local subdivisions of government that have joined SCRS, as well as individuals first elected to the South Carolina General Assembly at or after the general election in November 2012. SCRS provides a fixed monthly benefit based on a formula that includes your average final compensation, years of service credit and a benefit multiplier, not on your account balance at retirement. The plan assumes life expectancy and investment risk.

If you have funds on account under SCRS, you cannot enroll in a State ORP plan when you start working with SC Learns. You can view more details about SCRS here.

While you are deducted on each paycheck for retirement contributions, SCRS contributions are made on a quarterly basis based on PEBA's process; those contributions are typically at the end of January, April, July, and October.

State Optional Retirement Program (State ORP)

The State Optional Retirement Program (State ORP) is a defined contribution retirement plan for employees of state agencies, public and charter school districts and public higher education institutions. State ORP is also available to individuals first elected to the South Carolina General Assembly at or after the general election in November 2012. Employees of optional employers are not eligible to participate in State ORP. In this retirement plan you are solely responsible for your retirement account, and you choose how to invest and manage your money.

Read more about State ORP here. Contributions are submitted to your vendor after each payroll and include a 5% employer contribution.

Deferred Compensation (401k and 457)

The South Carolina Deferred Compensation Program (Deferred Comp) offers a unique opportunity for you to save for your future. It is a straightforward way to work toward the retirement income you desire. Empower Retirement is the current administrator of Deferred Comp, and it is available to most members who are eligible to participate in the South Carolina Retirement Systems, including the State Optional Retirement Program. By choosing to contribute a portion of your salary to Deferred Comp, you can benefit from:

• Convenience. Your contributions are automatically deducted from your paycheck.

• Choice. You can contribute to a 401(k) and 457(b) plan and elect to contribute before-tax or choose the Roth option to make after-tax contributions.

• Variety. You have a wide range of investment options from which to choose.

• Education. You have access to local retirement plan advisors who can help you develop a personalized approach to reaching your retirement savings goals.

• Vesting. You own 100% of your investment and any potential earnings, which are held in trust.

• Compounding. The sooner you start saving, the longer your money has to grow.

Read more, including how to enroll, here. Contributions are sent to Empower after each payroll.

Colonial Life offers several supplemental insurance options including the following:

• Cancer

• Critical Illness

• Short-Term Disability

• Accident

• Medical Payments

New hires can enroll by emailing hr@sclearns.org to express interest. Otherwise, staff will receive information on how to enroll or make changes in October.

Parental leave under this policy is a paid leave associated with the birth of an employee’s own child during the employee’s employment with the organization or the placement of a child with the employee in connection with adoption or foster care during the employee’s employment with the organization.

Parental leave is not charged against the employee’s leave credits and the amount of paid days received is six weeks (exact hours per pay period for non-exempt employees will be based on average hours worked per pay period over the previous 12 months). These six weeks must be taken continuously at any point in the first 12 months of the birth of the child. Parental leave for foster placement can be split with approval from the employee’s supervisor and the CEO. 

Organization holidays and breaks when the employee would not have been scheduled to work are not counted against paid parental leave. If the leave entitlement would extend into a designated summer break, the employee will, if they desire, be able to resume the leave when they return from summer break. If the employee starts paid parental leave prior to a break and does not resume it upon returning from the break, the balance of the time is forfeited.

The paid leave is compensated as follows (employees transferring from Stride will have their “years of service” accepted by the organization):

All staff members – 100% of salary up to six weeks.

Health insurance benefits will continue to be provided during the paid parental leave under this policy at the same rate as in effect before the leave was taken regardless of length of service. The employee must provide 30 days notice (or as much notice as practicable if the leave is not foreseeable) to the department head of the request for leave. The balance of FMLA leave beyond the 6 weeks of paid parental leave is unpaid unless the employee chooses to use sick and/or vacation time. Parental leave is considered time used against the maximum twelve weeks of family medical leave and runs concurrently with FMLA or any other leaves for which the employee is eligible.

Employees may receive up to eight (8) hours of paid time off to use for approved volunteer activities. Time must be taken as up to two four (4)-hour blocks or one eight (8)-hour block. You will enter it in Paycom as Volunteer Time Off.

Volunteer time must take place for a 501(c)(3) organization and/or an educational institution. The employee should provide proof of the volunteer activity for the time to be approved; this may include a photo of a sign-in sheet, a photo of the employee at the activity, an email from the volunteer coordinator after the activity, etc. This proof should be sent to hr@sclearns.org. Employees must request volunteer time off at least two (2) weeks in advance. Any balance not used by June 30th is forfeited and unused time is not paid out upon termination.

New hires who start during the months of January or February will receive 4 hours of paid volunteer time off. New hires who start March 1st or later do not receive volunteer time off for that fiscal year.