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Death or disability of a former employee
(Updated
Dec 4, 2022.)
Comments:
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; green-rectangle logo) -- was
spun out. Portions of HPE were later spun out into DXC and Micro
Focus, which have spun out other companies:
HP Breakup
(HP
Labs is part of HP Inc;
Hewlett Packard
Labs is part of Hewlett
Packard Enterprise.)
HP Inc. is the legal successor to the companies acquired
by Hewlett-Packard before the company was split into HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise on Nov 1, 2015. Responsibility for commitments to former employees of Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc.
remain with HP Inc. -- regardless of whether their last
business unit ended up in HP or HPE. Includes employment verification and any retiree health, pension, etc. plans.
HP
Breakup Timeline shows each event as HP 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 (163
acquisitions
-- plus 30 divestitures and spinoffs.)
Info for those who worked at:
Agilent
Autonomy
Compaq
DEC
DXC
EDS
HP
HPE
Keysight
Micro Focus
Perspecta
Tandem
Other acquisitions and spinoffs
2. Notify the appropriate HPInc and/or HPE Benefits Center(s):
Benefits Center phone numbers
In the past, we had reports that the HPInc or HPE Benefits Centers did
not notify all benefits and finance providers, but instead recommended
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: "...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). The current SPD takes
precedence over any other written, online, or verbal information you
may have been given. The employer's plan administrator is required
by law to provide the SPD upon request. Log into the plan
administrator's website or call.
How to decode an SPD
4. Stock:
Depending on when and how they acquired HP or HPE stock, they may now have stock in up to five
(formerly seven) completely separate HP-related companies -- usually in multiple accounts -- and may have missed cash payouts. How many shares of which HP-related companies should
they have? How much
cash should they have received?
hpalumni.org/stock
5. Pension 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:
- The key document for a US employee retirement or health plan
is the legal Summary Plan Description (SPD). The current SPD
takes precedence over any other written, online, or verbal
information you may have been given. The employer's plan
administrator is required by law to provide the SPD upon
request. Log into the plan administrator's website or call.
How to decode an SPD
-
The HP Retirement Service Center is the primary administrator for HP Inc U.S. pension and 401(k) accounts,
including any accounts for companies that Hewlett-Packard acquired before Nov 1, 2015 (Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc.) and that HP Inc acquired later (Poly, etc.)
Operated by Fidelity Investments.
1-800-457-4015 (Outside US 1-508-787-9902 collect.)
https://nb.fidelity.com (Don't go to a local Fidelity office.)
-
The HPE Retirement Service Center is the primary administrator for Hewlett Packard Enterprise U.S. pension and 401(k) accounts,
including any accounts for companies that HPE acquired since Nov 1, 2015 (Cray, Nimble, etc.)
Operated by Fidelity Investments.
1-800-409-4015 (Outside US 1-508-787-9902 collect.)
https://nb.fidelity.com (Don't go to a local Fidelity office.)
6. HP-related life insurance. See
https://www.hpalumni.org/Insurance
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
HPAA's
State and Price table.
If you need to contact the corporate headquarters
of either company:
- HPInc (Palo Alto, CA)
https://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/office-locations.html
(Many admin functions -- including HR, Benefits, and Payroll
-- are located in Spring, TX.)
- HPE -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
HPE corporate office address (Current HPE
Corporate Headquarters: 1701 E Mossy Oaks Rd,
Spring, TX 77389.
1-678-259-9860.)
Announcements to HP community.
Obituary and memorial service 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-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 personal finance issues from an ex-HP/HPE
perspective. Summarized here:
Finance Menu
Join HPAA Finance Forum
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