Carnegie Mellon University

Life and AD&D Insurance

Life insurance provides financial protection to your survivors in the event of your death. Life Insurance includes an Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) component. If your death is the result of an accident, your beneficiary will receive double your insurance amount. AD&D coverage also pays a certain amount if you lose a limb or certain vital functions as a result of an accident.

Our Life and AD&D Insurance is provided through MetLife.

Eligibility

Carnegie Mellon provides basic life insurance coverage equal to your annual base salary, rounded up to the nearest thousand up to a maximum of $500,000, at no cost to you. For full-time, benefits-eligible employees, the basic life insurance includes an AD&D component. For part-time, benefits-eligible employees, AD&D can be purchased separately.

Basic Life Insurance

Full-Time, Benefits-Eligible Employees: The university provides basic life insurance (1x your life base salary) at no cost to you. You can select basic life insurance only, enroll in optional life insurance, or opt out of life insurance when you are hired, during Open Enrollment or upon a life change.

Part-Time, Benefits-Eligible Employees: The university provides basic life insurance equal to 1x your life base salary or $10,000 (whichever is higher) at no cost to you. You may opt-out of basic life insurance.

No evidence of insurability is required for basic life insurance coverage.

Basic life insurance coverage for those age 70+ is actuarially reduced.

Imputed income taxes are required for the value of life insurance coverage in excess of $50,000.

Life Insurance Base Salary

Life insurance base salary is based on your annual salary, as of your date of hire and annually thereafter as of October for the following year. It is rounded up to the nearest $1,000.

For those on a nine-month appointment, your life base salary is equal to 11/9 x your academic year salary.

It does not include salary for appointments of less than four months, faculty summer salary or special compensation.

Month After Death Benefit

If an eligible full-time faculty or staff member dies while actively employed by the university (employees on disability leave are not eligible), his or her life insurance beneficiaries will receive a cash payment equal to one month's pay: one-ninth of an academic year salary or one-twelfth of a twelve-month employee's salary. For eligible CPA members, this equals 168 hours of straight-time pay. To be eligible for this feature, you must have one year of continuous service at Carnegie Mellon. Coverage begins automatically when you are eligible; no enrollment is necessary.