Benefits & Insurance

Winona State University offers eligible employees a great comprehensive benefits package. This includes healthcare benefits for you and your family, retirement programs designed to promote long-term savings and provide income upon retirement, as well as disability insurance and life insurance for income protection.

The State Employee Group Insurance Program (SEGIP) administers the insurance plans for medical, dental, vision, life, and disability, and provides options for pre-tax accounts

WSU also offers additional benefits including paid and unpaid leaves, an employee assistance program, wellness program, tuition waiver for you and your dependents, eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and telework.

Healthcare Insurance

Disability Insurance 

The State of Minnesota offers disability insurance programs and income protection plans for employees. 

Filing a Claim

The Hartford is the carrier for disability insurance:

Life Insurance 

The State of Minnesota employee benefits package includes basic life insurance for eligible employees. Eligible employees also have the option to elect additional life insurance policies to build a stronger, more comprehensive financial protection program for yourself and your family.

View details about Life Insurance Plan Options.

Lifestyle Benefits Included

Lifestyle Benefits are a suite of additional resources and professional support, and these are automatically available through our group life insurance program. 

Your spouse and insurance-eligible children can also use these resources, even if they’re not covered under the life insurance program.

There is no additional fee or enrollment for these resources. Just access the services you need, whenever you need them.

Retirement Plans

Employment at WSU includes a combination of mandatory and voluntary retirement plan options (PDF). 

We encourage employees to review the full array of opportunities and to become actively involved in planning for your future throughout your career. Learn more about planning for retirement and ending WSU employment.

Pre-Tax Benefits

The pre-tax benefits offered by SEGIP can provide employees with substantial tax savings by paying health and dental plan premiums, eligible dependent day care, medical, dental, and transportation expenses with pre-tax dollars. 

  • Medical/Dental Expense Account (MDEA)
  • Dependent Day Care Expense Account (DCEA)
  • Transit Expense Account (TEA)

Contributions towards these accounts are taken from your paycheck before taxes are deducted, and since you pay less in taxes, your net income may be greater.

BRI is the administrator for the state’s pre-tax benefits.

Other Pre-Tax Accounts

Additional Benefits

In addition to insurance, WSU offers our employees a variety of benefits from tuition waivers to employee discounts. 

Paid Leaves

Eligibility for paid leaves such as vacation leave, sick leave, holidays, personal leave, parental leave is directed by your bargaining agreement or plan.

Employee Assistance Program

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is administered by SEGIP and provides expert, confidential and personal consultation for all state employees and their families. 

You and your family may get 6 free counseling sessions through EAP a year. In addition, EAP provides consultations to help with legal, financial, and workplace questions and concerns. 

Tuition Waiver

Learn what you want when you want. WSU offers most employees, their spouses, and dependents a tuition waiver benefit based on their union contracts and salary plans.

The waiver covers the cost of tuition and, in some cases, course fees.

All participants must submit an online Tuition Waiver Application form no later than 10 days following the start of the course for which the student is seeking to waive tuition and/or fees.

Tuition Waiver Application

Find more details:

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Winona State is a qualifying employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Telework

The Telework Guideline (PDF) provide rationale for positions that can be offered a telework schedule. 

To start a telework schedule, complete the Telework Request Schedule and Acknowledgement Form. You will need to complete this form each year to renew your telework arrangement.   

If you currently telework from a location outside of Minnesota, you need to complete the Telework Out of State Reporting Form.

Employee Discounts

As a benefit of your employment with the State of Minnesota and WSU, employees can receive discounts from a variety of companies. 

We are not always aware of available offers, so be sure to ask the company or business you are purchasing from. 

Employees can also receive discounts through MN State Employees, Inc. (SEI). SEI is a non-profit organization that offers its State of Minnesota employee members entertainment and other valuable discounts. 

An SEI membership includes membership in MERSC (Minnesota Employee Recreation and Services Council) and EMRA Life

Salary Savings Leave

The WSU FY24 SSL Guidelines (PDF) outline options and the process for taking salary savings leaves. If you are interested in salary savings leave, complete the Salary Savings Leave Request Form

Review the Minnesota State Voluntary Leave FAQs (PDF) for more details. 

Contact Human Resources
Human Resources
Somsen Hall 114

507.457.5005

Email Human Resources