Brown Flex Plan
Human Resources Policy: 30.003Brown Flex is a plan consisting of two components. The first allows employees to pay for their health and/or dental premium contributions on a pre-tax basis. The second consists of two flexible spending accounts: the Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP) and the Medical Reimbursement Plan (MRP). Enrollment in the first component is automatic. Enrollment in the second component (the DCAP and/or the MRP) may be elected when eligible.
Brown Flex Plan--General Information
The Brown Flex Plan is governed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Section 125 of the tax code. The IRS imposes strict regulations defining when employees may be able to change their elections. Additional IRS rules specify that if employees do not incur and claim enough expenses to use all of the money in their flexible spending accounts by the end of the calendar year, the excess will be forfeited.
The DCAP and the MRP plans are totally separate and expenses and/or deposited money may not be combined.
Eligibility for Brown Flex Plan
Employees who are regularly scheduled to work at least 50% time are eligible to participate in the Brown Flex Plan. New employees have 30 days from their date of hire to elect and/or to participate in the health, dental insurance, or the spending account component of this Plan. Each year, thereafter, employees will be given an opportunity to change the manner in which their premium payments are taken and/or to elect how much money they wish to set aside in their flexible spending accounts.
Dependent Care Assistance Plan
Under the DCAP employees may set aside from $240 to $5,000 per calendar year to pay for the care of dependent children while employees or their spouses are working (or while the spouse is attending school on a full-time basis). Children must be under age 13 or, if older, meet certain criteria to be covered by the employee's DCAP.
DCAP money may not be used to pay for expenses such as overnight camp, housekeeping services and after-school instructional or enrichment classes.
Medical Reimbursement Plan
Under the MRP employees may set aside from $240 to $5,000 per calendar year to pay for medical, dental, vision and other expenses which are not covered or reimbursed by an insurance carrier. Some typical expenses include: deductibles, co-payments, eye care costs and similar expenses.
Note: The $5,000 maximum is pro-rated for employees who work less than full-year schedules.