health
benefits

General Information

• Hour Bank System
• Coverage
• Dependent Coverage
   

Hour Bank System

How do I establish coverage?

1. You must be a Member in good standing of the Heat & Frost Workers’ Local Union 118. (For H&W Plan purposes, Members working for non-union contractors who refuse to co-operate in Local 118 organizing efforts are not in good standing.)

2. You must be enrolled in the Plan by completing the Life Insurance beneficiary designation and the enrolment forms for MSPBC.

3. You must have earned, and your employer(s) must have reported and paid into the Plan, the number of hours required to qualify for coverage according to the Hour Bank table above. 
   Hours worked but not reported or paid by your employers do not qualify you for coverage.

How does coverage continue?
Once you are covered, the hours your employers report for you are added to your Hour Bank. Each month, a fixed number of hours are deducted to “pay” for your coverage (the “cover charge”) and you will continue to be covered as long as your Hour Bank contains sufficient hours. 

You may accumulate hours in your Hour Bank to carry you through periods of poor employment or vacation. Any hours in excess of the “Hour Bank maximum” go into the general fund of the Plan.

What if the Hour Bank falls short?
When your Hour Bank has too few hours to pay the cover charge, you are no longer covered by the Plan. However, you have the option of paying for the coverage yourself. 

When do not have enough hours to continue coverage, the Administrator sends you a shortage notice telling you how many hours you are short and the amount required to maintain coverage. If you make payment of the amount requested by the deadline specified on the Notice, your coverage will be continuous. 

Do not ignore the shortage notice! You could lose your coverage if you fail to respond. If you make a self-payment and late hours are reported or other adjustments are received later, all hours will be credited to your Hour Bank for future coverage.

Self-Pay limit
The “self-pay limit” is the number of consecutive months you may continue your coverage by self-payment, provided you remain a Member in good standing of the Heat & Frost Workers’ Local Union 118. If you return to work for an employer then the count of your self-payments will reset to zero, if the employer remits enough hours to the Plan to provide a month of coverage. 

While making full self-payments, you will have full benefits except for Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability. Associate Members are not entitled to self-pay. 

When a Member is collecting under the Short Term Disability Plan/E.I. Sick Pay or Workers’ Compensation, will they receive assistance with their Hour Bank? 
Yes. For each day that he/she is disabled and provided that the claim for the Short Term Disability Plan/E.I. Sick Pay or Workers’ Compensation has been accepted for payment, the Hour Bank will be credited with contributions of 4 hours per day subject to a maximum of the monthly Hour Bank charge each month for up to 12 months. If the claim is for STD this will be done automatically, but for Workers’ Compensation or E.I. Sick Pay, a special form should be requested from the Administrator’s office. To qualify for these Disability Credits the Member must be eligible for benefits when the disability commences.

When does coverage end?
Coverage is always provided on a whole month basis only, and will be terminated for you and your Dependents when:

• Your Hour Bank falls below the cover charge and you do not pay your shortage notice by the specified date, OR
• When you cease to be a Member in good standing of the Union.

If coverage ends, when will coverage start again?
If your coverage ends, you must re-qualify as described previously under “HOW DO I ESTABLISH COVERAGE?”, i.e. when enough hours have been worked and reported to the Plan. You may not requalify by self-payment.  

However, if your coverage is terminated because you accidentally fail to pay a shortage notice, and you contact the Administrator’s office immediately, you may be allowed to reinstate coverage by paying the actual number of hours you were short, plus a full payment to ensure continued coverage for the following month.

Hour Bank Freeze
The regulations of the Heat & Frost Welfare Plan allow you, as a Member of Local 118, if temporarily working out of any other Local in Canada, to “suspend” or “freeze” hours submitted by your employer and your existing Hour Bank. Please contact your Union office or Administrator for the rules regarding freezing your Hour Bank.

Reciprocal Agreement
If you are working in the jurisdiction of another Local Union on a temporary basis for up to 12 consecutive months, and the other Local has a Welfare Plan which has entered into a Reciprocal Agreement with this Plan, then the hours remitted on your behalf may be transferred back to this Plan to help you maintain coverage. 

Before any hours can be transferred, a Benefits Transfer Form must be completed and returned to the Heat & Frost Local Union 118 Business Office.

Coverage options at time of termination
When your benefits under the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers No. 118 Health and Welfare Trust Fund terminate, you may want to continue your coverage.

Conversion Privilege
Your Life Insurance continues for 31 days following either the termination of your employment, or your classification changing to one in which you are not insured. During this 31-day period you may convert the amount of your Group Life Insurance, provided you are under 65 years of age, to any individual whole life or convertible one-year term or term to age 65 plan without submitting evidence of health. 

The amount of the individual policy shall not exceed the amount of insurance for which you were insured when coverage was discontinued, subject to a maximum of $200,000 less any amount you become eligible for under a replacing contract of group life insurance. 

The premium rate will be determined from your age and class of risk at the time of conversion. 

Note: The conversion privilege does not apply for loss of insurance as a result of:

i) any age reduction specified in the Summary of Benefits; or
ii) if insurance terminates when you reach the age specified in the Summary of Benefits section or upon your retirement.

All Terminating Members – Basic Medical
You should take basic medical coverage through the Medical Services Plan of BC.

Long-service retirees from the Industrial/Institutional Plan – Local 118 Retirees Benefit Plan
If you are retiring from the Industrial/Institutional plan with at least 10 years of Local 118 Membership, and are taking a pension from the Heat and Frost Local Union118 Pension Plan, you may be eligible for the Local 118 Retirees Benefit Plan. 

For further information, please contact the Plan office.



   

• your Spouse; and
• your Dependent children to age 21 (age 19 for MSP-BC); and
• your Dependent children to any age (age 25 for MSP-BC) who are attending a recognized school or college full time (you must be prepared to prove dependency); and
• your Dependent children to any age who are physically or mentally disabled who are dependent on you for support and for whom you are entitled to an income tax exemption, provided each child was covered by the Plan immediately prior to his or her 21st birthday.