Contract college faculty and staff members have until Dec. 24 at 4:30 p.m. to make changes to their health plan coverage or to enroll in a flexible spending account. All changes must be made online in Workday, and a paper copy of form PS404 indicating health plan changes must also be submitted to Benefit Services, 130 Day Hall, postmarked by Dec. 24.

All contract college employees should have received information on their health plan choices from the New York State Department of Civil Service.

During the Option Transfer period, you can:

• change from the Empire Plan to an HMO or change from one HMO to another;
• change from an HMO to the Empire Plan;
• change from family coverage to individual coverage or vice versa;
• cancel your health insurance coverage.

Visit the Human Resources website for detailed information on making changes to your health benefits.

The deadline to enroll in flexible spending accounts is also Dec. 24. To enroll in a flexible spending account for 2014, you need to enroll online in Workday.

If you have applied for and been awarded a child care grant and you want to use only the child care grant money awarded to you, you do not need to enroll in a flexible spending account. Benefit Services will send your grant award directly to PayFlex and that will create your 2014 account with PayFlex.

However, if you want to set aside money from your paycheck to pay child care expenses, you need to enroll in a flexible spending account through Workday.

More information on flexible spending accounts is available online.