Dear Jewish Fairy Godmother:

I just took a halftime job as a Jewish Federation social worker (what I
did eons ago in my twenties and thirties) after fifteen years as a real
estate agent. I loved having my own hours and for the first ten years I
actually made decent money. The last five, not so much. Actually, the
last five, almost nothing. I put in lots of unpaid time and get paid
exactly that. So I decided a job with a paycheck and benefits was
worth giving up my ostensible freedom. I’m now in the process of
negotiating my employment agreement. While I’m pretty good at
lingo-ese when it comes to houses, I’m not so good on labor words. I
asked a lot of questions about vacation time, sick leave etc that they
answered but one biggie is still open: The chair of the Board who hired
me said that they wanted to give me health benefits but that they
didn’t have all the details worked out yet, but trust them. Perhaps
they’ll add me to a synagogue group plan, or maybe to the pool of a
larger Federation, or….? I really want medical benefits. How can I
make it happen?

Change of Life

 
Dear Change of Life:

I’d email this: Thanks for clarifying my questions about the
employment agreement. The only remaining issue yet undocumented
are the discussions I have had with various people throughout the
process about medical benefits. Would it be possible to add a sentence
that says roughly the following: “Federation will provide medical
benefits to Employee effective January 1, 2014, either by adding
Employee to an existing group policy or by reimbursing direct costs for
an equivalent independent insurance policy coverage that Employee
would purchase through a state-operated exchange.”
Unless the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare is overturned by the politics
of divisiveness, we’re all going to have access to health care. Even
without the new job you’d have the safety net you have not had for a
long time. But if the Federation has offered, get their Yes in writing.