Eligible Employees
Full-time employees of a Participating AEP Company who are scheduled to work an average of 40 hours a week or more are eligible for all the benefits on this site.
Part-time employees of a Participating AEP Company who are scheduled to work an average of 20 hours a week or more, but less than 40 hours a week, are eligible for all benefits except for Basic and Supplemental Life Insurance Plans, Dependent Life and AD&D Plans, Basic and Supplemental AD&D, Sick Pay, Long-Term Disability, LTD buy-up, Vacation Purchase Program, and Personal Days Off.
You are not eligible to participate in the benefits on this site if you are classified by AEP as a contractor, a temporary employee (except for Retirement and Retirement Saving Plans), a leased employee or an employee under a collective bargaining agreement not covered under the Benefit Program. Cook Coal Terminal employees who are represented by the UMWA and are hired after October 1, 2024, are not eligible for Vacation, Vacation Purchase and Personal Days Off.
Coverage Levels
When you enroll in either the Medical, Dental or Vision Plans, you may also choose whom you want to cover. Your coverage level and cost are based on the dependents you enroll.
Coverage levels include:
- Participant only
- Participant + spouse/domestic partner
- Participant + child(ren) and domestic partner child(ren)
- Participant + family
You may choose the same or different coverage levels for the Medical, Dental and Vision Plans, but those you cover must be enrolled in the same benefit options as you.
Note: You must enroll all newborn children within 90 days of birth, even if a Social Security number has not yet been obtained and even if you are already at the Participant + family or Participant + child(ren) coverage level.
Dependent Eligibility
Listed below are the definitions of an eligible dependent under the AEP Medical, Dental and Vision Plans. Each time you enroll or re-enroll certain dependents in AEP benefits, you are required to ensure that the dependents you want to cover meet these requirements.
Covering ineligible dependents under your AEP Medical, Dental or Vision Plans is considered a violation of AEP’s rules of conduct and could subject you to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment and/or benefits.
Dependent eligibility for Life and AD&D Insurance as well as for Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance is generally the same, but there is a difference. Eligible dependent children include those listed below, with one exception. For Life Insurance purposes, any other child you claim as a dependent on your federal income tax return up to age 26—regardless of whether the child’s natural parent resides with you or you are acting as the child’s guardian—is considered an eligible dependent child.
Note: Your eligible dependents do not include any individual who is also covered as an AEP employee or retiree or covered by another AEP employee or retiree as a dependent.
Eligible Dependents Include the Participant’s:
Spouse: As defined by applicable state law where you live, including common-law marriages.
Domestic Partner: To qualify for coverage as a domestic partner, you and your domestic partner must have certified and declared that you meet the criteria below. You and your domestic partner:
- Must share the same permanent residence.
- Must be each other’s sole domestic partner and intend to remain so indefinitely.
- Must have resided in the same household for at least 12 months.
- Must both be at least eighteen (18) years old and mentally competent to consent to a contract.
- Must not be currently married to or legally separated from anyone else nor had another domestic partner within twelve months prior to designating each other as domestic partners.
- Must not be in the relationship solely for the purpose of obtaining benefits coverage.
- Must be financially interdependent as documented by three (3) of the following: - Joint ownership or lease of real property; - Joint ownership of a motor vehicle; - Joint bank account or credit account; - Designation as the primary beneficiary for life insurance, retirement benefit or will; - Assigned durable property power of attorney or health care power of attorney; and/or - Driver’s license listing a common address.
- You are not blood relatives any closer than would prohibit legal marriage in the state in which the participant legally resides.
- Must have an approved Affidavit of Domestic Partnership on file with the AEP Benefits Center.
You may cover your domestic partner whether or not he or she qualifies as your tax dependent. If your domestic partner is not your tax dependent, you will incur imputed income on that benefit coverage.
End of Marriage or Domestic Partnership: Upon the termination of your marriage or domestic partnership, it is your responsibility to inform the AEP Benefits Center regarding the change in eligibility for your former spouse/domestic partner. Failure to do so within 60 days after the date the marriage/domestic partnership ends will not prevent their loss of coverage retroactively but will result in their loss of eligibility to elect COBRA continuation coverage and no premiums will be refunded.
Children: To qualify for coverage, your dependent child(ren) must be under age 26 and fall into one of the following categories:
- Your natural child or the natural child of your spouse or eligible domestic partner;
- A child legally adopted by you, your spouse or eligible domestic partner or placed with you, your spouse or eligible domestic partner for adoption. “Placement for adoption” means the assumption and retention by the employee of the legal obligation for the total or partial support of a child to be adopted. Placement ends whenever the legal support obligation ends;
- Your foster child;
- A child who resides in your household for whom you, your spouse or your eligible domestic partner are the court-appointed guardian;
- A child for whom you are required to provide coverage as a result of a Qualified Medical Child Support Order (QMCSO); or
- Any other child you claim as a dependent on your federal income tax return, provided that neither natural parent of the child lives with the child and you are acting as the child’s guardian.
Disabled dependents: To qualify for coverage beyond age 26, your disabled child(ren) must meet at least one of the criteria listed under the “Children” section above, plus:
- Disability must have occurred prior to age 26.
- The child must remain continuously covered under any of the options available under the Plan.
You must submit proof that the child reaching age 26 is disabled and incapable of self-support within 31 days after he or she reaches age 26. If you are enrolling the child for the first time after the child has already reached age 26, you must submit proof that the child has been disabled and incapable of self-support since age 26 within 31 days after enrolling the child. The Plan Administrator (or its designee) has the right to require, at reasonable intervals, proof that the child continues to be disabled and incapable of self-support. If you fail to submit any required proof or if you refuse to permit a medical examination of the child, he or she will not be considered disabled and therefore will not be eligible for coverage.
Tax Considerations When Covering Your Dependents
Certain AEP benefits qualify for tax advantages (such as before-tax employee contributions and nontaxable employer contributions) only to the extent that they cover the participant’s dependents as defined for tax purposes. AEP allows you to provide Medical, Dental, Vision, AD&D and Critical Illness Insurance coverage for certain dependents who may not qualify as your tax dependents. As a result, the contributions you make for their coverage may not qualify for tax-favored treatment, and you will be subject to imputed income on the value of the Company-paid portion of their coverage and be taxed accordingly.
If you have a claim under AD&D Insurance for a dependent who is not a qualified tax dependent, you will be responsible for the income tax reporting of the amount you receive.
If your dependent child qualifies under any of the following relationships and has not attained age 27 before the end of the year, he or she is considered your qualified tax dependent for Group Health Plan purposes:
- Your son or daughter.
- Your stepson or stepdaughter.
- Your foster child (placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by court order).
- Your adopted child or your spouse’s adopted child.
- A child placed with you or your spouse for adoption.
If your dependent child does not qualify under any of the relationships listed above, you should review the additional information provided on the AEP Benefits Center website before you enroll to help you determine whether your child qualifies as a tax dependent for Group Health Plan purposes.
If Both You and Your Eligible Dependents Have AEP Benefits
If both you and your spouse or domestic partner or eligible dependents are eligible for the Medical, Dental, Vision and Life and AD&D Insurance Plans as an AEP employee or retiree:
- You may each enroll as an employee or retiree, as appropriate, or one of you may enroll as an employee or retiree and the other as a spouse, domestic partner, or child.
- Neither of you may be covered as both an employee or retiree and as a dependent.
- Neither you nor your spouse or domestic partner can cover the same eligible dependent children.
This guide is not intended to be a Plan document, Summary Plan Description, or required notice with respect to any of the Plans mentioned. AEP reserves the right to modify, amend, suspend, or terminate the Plans at any time. Refer to the applicable Plan document if you have any questions relating to a specific Plan or benefit.