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Death or disability of a former employee (+Updated July 30, 2025) Click to join the HPAA Question? Email us: info@hpalumni.org Please note that the HP/HPE 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 Note to heirs, trustees, and executors: Employees paid by an HP-related company, such as EDS, may have been located at a customer account site -- sometimes for years. Hewlett-Packard breakup. On Nov 1, 2015, the legal name of the Hewlett-Packard Company was changed to HP Inc. ("hp" logo, HPQ stock symbol) and a new, completely separate company – Hewlett Packard Enterprise (no hyphen, singular, "HPE" logo and stock symbol) – 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 part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.) HP Inc is the overall legal successor to Hewlett-Packard and to companies acquired by Hewlett-Packard before Nov 1, 2015 – such as Compaq, DEC, EDS, Tandem, etc. -- regardless of whether a business unit ended up in HP Inc or HPE. For employees of HP -- and predecessor companies -- who left before the HPInc/HPE separation, responsibility for any health or retirement benefits varies from country to country. For the US, HP Inc has responsibility. For Canada and UK, HPE has responsibility. In many countries, plans were split between HP Inc and HPE. See: Where are my benefits? Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is the overall legal successor to companies acquired by HPE – such as Cray, Juniper, Nimble, etc. 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 now a completely separate company. hpalumni.org/hptimeline Complete coverage of Acquisitions and divestitures (Articles.) Directory (169 acquisitions -- plus 30 divestitures and spinoffs.) Info for those who worked at: Agilent Autonomy Compaq DEC DXC EDS HP HPE Juniper Keysight Micro Focus Perspecta Poly Tandem Other acquisitions and spinoffs
2. Notify the appropriate Benefits Center(s): In the past, we had reports that the HP Inc 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: If you were ever an HP shareholder, you may now have shares of HPQ, HPE, Keysight, and/or Agilent – in different accounts. If ever an HPE shareholder, you may now have shares of DXC – and may not have received cash payouts for MFGP and PRSP. Find it all – and estimate your current cost basis: HP/HPE-Related Stocks 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: - HP Inc. https://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/office-locations.html 10300 Energy Drive, Spring, TX 77389. (At a US Post Office window, you can specify Certified Mail combined with Return Receipt.) - HPE -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE corporate office address Current HPE Corporate Headquarters: 1701 E Mossy Oaks Rd, Spring, TX 77389. (At a US Post Office window, you can specify Certified Mail combined with Return Receipt.) (At a US 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/HPE 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 If you are an heir dealing with HP/HPE-related stock, you may want to join the independent, volunteer HP/HPE 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 To unsubscribe from HP/HPE Alumni Association discussion forum emails -- which have subject lines like [HPAA Benefits] or [HPAA Finance] or [HPAA TechTalk] -- please go to: https://www.hpalumni.org/subs |
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