Death or disability of a former employee
(+Updated
Mar 29, 2025)
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info@hpalumni.org
Please note that the HP Alumni Association is an independent
volunteer group of former employees. Not officially endorsed or
supported.
You must contact the various HP-related
companies that the person worked for.
1. Determine which HP-related companies
they were a retiree or former employee of.
Given HP's history of acquisitions and spinoffs, the company that a person was
a former employee of may not be obvious. They may be a retiree or former
employee of more that one HP-related company. Check here:
Which Company
HP Breakup. On Nov 1, 2015, the legal name of the Hewlett-Packard Company was changed to HP Inc.
and a new, completely separate company – Hewlett Packard
Enterprise (no hyphen; singular; green-rectangle logo) – was spun off. Portions of HPE were later spun off into DXC and Micro
Focus:
HP Breakup
(HP
Labs is part of HP Inc;
Hewlett Packard
Labs is now part of Hewlett
Packard Enterprise.)
HP Inc. is the legal successor to Hewlett-Packard and to
companies acquired by Hewlett-Packard before Nov 1, 2015 –
such as Compaq, DEC, EDS, Tandem, etc. For employees of HP -- and predecessor companies -- who left before the split, responsibility for any health or retirement benefits varies from country to country. For the US, HPInc has responsibility. For Canada and
UK, HPE has responsibility. In many countries, plans were split between HPInc and HPE. See:
Country-by-country details
HP
Breakup Timeline shows each event as HP acquired Compaq, EDS, etc.
-- and spawned Agilent, Keysight,
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HPInc, DXC Technology, Micro Focus,
Perspecta... Each is a completely separate company.
hpalumni.org/hptimeline
Complete coverage of
Acquisitions and divestitures
(Articles.)
Directory (168
acquisitions
-- plus 30 divestitures and spinoffs.)
Info for those who worked at:
Agilent
Autonomy
Compaq
DEC
DXC
EDS
HP
HPE
Keysight
Micro Focus
Perspecta
Poly
Tandem
Other acquisitions and spinoffs
2. Notify the appropriate Benefits Center(s):
U.S. HPInc and HPE Benefits Centers:
U.S. Benefits Center phone numbers
Outside the U.S. -- HPInc worldwide contact directory: https://content.ext.hp.com/sites/CountrySupport/CountrySelector.page
HPE worldwide contact directory: https://hr.ext.hpe.com/External-HR-Support-Home
In the past, we had reports that the HPInc or HPE Benefits Centers did
not notify all benefits and finance providers, but instead recommended
that you make additional notifications. A
more recent report indicates that they do perform notifications. In any case, you should directly contact the
appropriate retirement administrator(s), as indicated below, to ensure
that any pension or 401(k) issues are resolved.
3. Health coverage for
dependents:
Length of continuing coverage for dependents
varies -- depending on the a) whether they were covered at the
retiree's death and b) terms of the specific plan:
a) Dependents may not be covered, depending on coverage choices the
retiree had made:
- HP Inc: "...if at any time you elect not to participate in HP retiree
medical coverage, there may be restrictions on your future ability to
enroll... If you die after declining HP coverage, your surviving
dependents will not be eligible to participate in HP benefits following
your death. Only dependents who are covered on the date of your death
can continue HP coverage. (Medicare Guide: page 13. Non-Medicare/Mixed
Guide: page 24.)
- HPE: "Scenario: You die after declining HPE coverage. Your surviving
dependents will not be eligible to participate in benefits following
your death. Only dependents who are covered on the date of your death
can continue coverage. For information about survivor benefits, call the
HPE Benefits Center." (Page 19)
- We have searchable copies of the Enrollment Guides on the HPAA website:
https://www.hpalumni.org/EnrollmentGuides
b) Company retirement health plans vary depending on when and
how the employee left.
- While a letter will be sent by the company, calling the
Benefits Center is advised. One member reports that the first-level Benefits Center agent
may not know how to look up this critical detail. If the
first-level phone agent can't help you, ask to escalate your
problem. Use the magic word "escalate."
-
The key document for a US employee retirement or health plan
is the legal Summary Plan Description (SPD). It includes plan details and an address at the employer for appeals. The current SPD takes
precedence over any other written, online, or verbal information you
may have been given -- but is still subject to change. The
employer's plan administrator is required by law to provide the SPD
upon request. How to obtain and decode:
https://www.hpalumni.org/SPD-decode
4. Stock:
This depends on
when and how they acquired stock in HP, HPE, or in a
predecessor or successor company.
Here is the information we provide for retirees -- with links to other pages on
this website:
Due to the breakup of HP, you may now have shares of HPInc, HPE, and DXC – in different accounts – and may not have received cash payouts for MFGP or PRSP.
Stock Event Timeline
Find it all – and estimate your current cost basis:
Stock Step-by-Step
Inherited stock, unlike gifted securities, is not valued at
its original cost basis. When an individual inherits a
stock, its cost basis is stepped up to the value of the
security at the date of the inheritance.
5. Pension and/or 401(k) plan:
In general, pension and 401(k) issues are resolved
when a person leaves the company. However,
you should directly contact the appropriate retirement
administrator(s) to ensure that any pension or 401(k) issues
are resolved. See our Pension and Retirement Plan menu:
https://www.hpalumni.org/RetirementPlans
6. HP-related life insurance. See
Insurance Discounts
for information on portable company-subsidized insurance plans and
non-subsidized insurance discount programs. HP formerly had a $5,000
employee/retiree death benefit. The amount had not changed
in decades -- and was seldom collected because heirs did not
know about it. HP ended this practice in 2010, as did Agilent.
7. Run an online search for
unclaimed property. Check any state they lived or worked in.
Also check the state of incorporation and state of corporate
headquarters for every employer (DE and CA for HP, DE and TX for EDS
or Compaq, etc.)
https://www.hpalumni.org/Unclaimed State of incorporation for each
stock is given in
Market
Price Histories, Official FAQs, Transfer Agents, States of
Incorporation.
If you need to contact the corporate headquarters
of either company:
- HPInc.
https://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/office-locations.html
Admin functions -- including HR, Benefits, and Payroll --
10300 Energy Drive, Spring, TX 77389. 1-650-857-1501. Legal headquarters -- Page Mill
Road in Palo Alto, not Hanover Street as in old documents.
- HPE -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
HPE corporate office address Current HPE Corporate
Headquarters: 1701 E Mossy Oaks Rd, Spring, TX 77389.
1-678-259-9860.
(At a Post Office window, you can specify Certified Mail combined with Return Receipt.)
Announcements to HP-related community.
Obituary, memorial service, or hospice announcements
If you are receiving benefits from the company
based on the retirement status of your spouse or
parent, you may want to join the independent, volunteer HP Alumni Association's
Benefits Forum with your own email address.
Covers topics such as COBRA and retiree health
benefits, annual enrollment, and transition to
Medicare. Summarized here:
Benefits Menu
Join HPAA Benefits Forum
If you are an heir dealing with
HP/HPE-related stock, you may want to join the independent, volunteer HP Alumni Association's
Finance Forum with your own email address.
Deals with employee stock, 401(k), pensions, and
other financial issues from an ex-HP/HPE
perspective. Summarized here:
Finance Menu
Join HPAA Finance Forum
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