The Group Legal Services Insurance Plan (Plan) is a voluntary insurance plan that is available to eligible state employees. It is an important part of the state's benefits package because it connects you with network attorneys and other legal resources to help you resolve life's legal issues.
Managing legal matters can be very confusing, time-consuming and costly, especially when you consider that attorney fees in the U.S. average $368* per hour. As an employee with the state's Plan, you can face your problems with more confidence using the resources and services available to you.
Eligibility
Active state employees appointed to a permanent or probationary position with a time base of half-time or more with one of the following designations are eligible to enroll:
- Rank and File (R01-R21)
- Managerial (M01-M21 and M99, E59, E79, E99)
- Supervisory (S01-S21, E48, E58, E68, E78, E98)
- Confidential (C, E97)
- Excluded/Exempt (E88, E89, E92)
Permanent-intermittent (PI) employees must be credited with a minimum of 480 paid hours in the January–June or July–December control period to be eligible to enroll or 960 paid hours in two consecutive control periods to continue eligibility.
Limited-term or temporary employees must have an appointment with a duration of more than six months and a time-base of half-time or more to be eligible to enroll.
Enrollment
You have 60 days from the effective date of your eligibility to enroll.
The effective date of coverage will begin on the first day of the month following the first premium deduction.
- If the Online Enrollment application is processed by the 10th day of the calendar month, the insurance will become effective on the first day of the next calendar month.
- If the Online Enrollment application is processed after the 10th day of the calendar month, the insurance will become effective on the first day of the second calendar month.
How to Enroll
Eligible state employees can enroll online by visiting ARAGlegal.com/socinfo and selecting the “View Plans" and “Enroll Now" tabs to enroll.
To enroll by phone, please contact ARAG Customer Care:
Monday-Friday, 5:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time
Toll-free (866) 762-0972
TTY (800) 383-4184 (or 711 to reach a relay operator)
To enroll by mail or fax, complete the Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) [SE1] and mail or fax it to ARAG Insurance. Please retain a copy for your records.
Mail or fax completed forms to ARAG Insurance at:
ARAG Insurance Company
500 Grand Avenue Suite 100
De Moines, IA 50309-9958
Fax: (515) 246-8816
For more information, please contact Grouplegal@calhr.ca.gov
Cal Expo, Fair, and LAO Employees
If you are an employee of California Exposition & State Fairs (Cal Expo), California Fairs Services Authority (Cal Fairs) or the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), you can enroll by completing the Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) and returning the form to your department's personnel office for processing.
Permanent-Intermittent, Limited-Term, and Temporary Employees
If you are a permanent-intermittent, limited-term, or temporary employee, you can enroll by completing the Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) and returning the form to your department's personnel office for processing.
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment for the Plan is traditionally held annually during the fall.
During Open Enrollment, eligible employees can enroll in the Plan and current participants can change their Plan coverage and add or delete eligible dependents. If you are currently enrolled in the Plan you do not need to re-enroll, as coverage continues automatically.
Employees can enroll online, by phone, or by faxing or mailing an enrollment form to ARAG Insurance . If mailed, the form must be postmarked on or before close of Open Enrollment.
Open Enrollment transactions will have a January 1 effective date with premiums processed from the December pay warrant.
Cancellation of Coverage
You may cancel your plan during Open Enrollment by logging onto ARAGlegal.com/SOCinfo.
To cancel your plan outside of Open Enrollment you can call ARAG or submit a Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) to ARAG via mail or fax.
To cancel by phone, please contact ARAG Customer Care:
Monday-Friday, 5:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time
Toll-free (866) 762-0972
TTY (800) 383-4184 (or 711 to reach a relay operator)
To cancel by mail or fax, complete the Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) and mail or fax it to ARAG Insurance. Please retain a copy for your records.
Mail or fax completed forms to ARAG Insurance at:
ARAG Insurance Company
500 Grand Avenue Suite 100
De Moines, IA 50309-9958
Fax: (515) 246-8816
For more information, please contact your department's personnel office.
Cal Expo, Fair and LAO Employees
If you are an employee of California Exposition & State Fairs (Cal Expo), California Fairs Services Authority (Cal Fairs) or the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), you must complete a new Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849), check the “cancel box", and return the form to your department's personnel office for processing.
Permanent-Intermittent, Limited-Term and Temporary Employees
If you are a permanent-intermittent, limited-term, or temporary authorization employee, you must complete a new Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) , check the “cancel box", and return the form to your department's personnel office for processing.
Retiree Group Legal Services Insurance Plan
If you wish to continue the Group Legal Services Insurance Plan into retirement, you must complete the Retiree Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200686) within 60 days of retirement to avoid a break in coverage.
For more information please visit the CalHR Retiree Group Legal Services Insurance Plan webpage.
Permitting Events
If you have a permitting event (e.g., divorce, marriage, child losing eligibility due to age or marriage, adding or deleting a spouse or child, primary member leaves state service, or a new Domestic Partner Certification), you must submit an enrollment form to ARAG Insurance within 60 days of the event to change your coverage level.
Mandatory Deletions
It is the employee's responsibility to inform ARAG Insurance of changes with your dependents or divorces.
The state has a Mandatory Deletion when an eligible dependent child marries or reaches age 26 (whichever is sooner) as they are no longer eligible for coverage under the insured employee's plan. The employee must complete a new enrollment form if they wish to change to individual coverage when the dependent child loses eligibility.
For legal separations, a deletion of the spouse cannot be done in anticipation of a pending or active divorce action or pending final divorce settlement. When the divorce is finalized, the employee must complete a new enrollment form to change their coverage to individual unless you have eligible dependent children on the Plan.
Enrolled employees who fail to initiate a mandatory deletion within 60 days of the permitting event date will not be reimbursed for the overpayment of premium nor will the carrier provide coverage for family members who no longer meet the eligibility requirement for dependents.
Plan Information
The Group Legal Services Insurance Plan is a voluntary, employee-paid plan that provides comprehensive legal coverage. It is designed to meet the most common personal legal needs of an individual and their family.
Once you have enrolled in the Plan:
- You'll receive a welcome kit containing information on how to access resources and network attorneys.
- If you need to work with an attorney in the office, you have access to hundreds of California attorneys who belong to the ARAG attorney network.
- Network attorney fees for most covered matters are paid in full unless the Plan indicates the covered matter is subject to an hourly limit.
- The Plan does not provide coverage for certain costs such as filing fees, reporters' fees, expert witness fees and other related expenses.
- You also have the flexibility of using an attorney who is not part of the network. In this case, if the matter is covered by the Plan, you would file a claim for the attorney fees you paid and be reimbursed up to the amount specified in the Plan.
Covered Services
The Plan pays 100% of network attorney fees for most covered matters, including coverage for in-office advice, representation and consultation.
The Plan's covered services include, but are not limited to:
- Will and trust preparation
- Domestic matters (divorce, child support, custody, visitation, alimony, adoption)
- Minor traffic offenses
- Bankruptcy proceedings
- Consumer protection
- Defense of criminal misdemeanors
- Debt collection
- Buying or selling a home
The Plan also includes Identity Theft Protection, which encompasses the following services:
- Single-Bureau Credit Monitoring
- Child Identity Monitoring
- Internet Surveillance
- Identity Theft Insurance (up to $1 million**)
- Full-Service Identity Restoration
- Lost Wallet Services
- Change of Address Monitoring
Toll-free Telephone Legal Advice
The Plan also provides a convenient toll-free number (866) 762-0972 that provides access to a telephone network attorney for legal advice on most personal legal issues (no limitation imposed on number of calls or length of calls). These attorneys can also assist with preparing and reviewing a simple will and other personal legal documents.
Note: Telephone consultation cannot be used for legal matters that are specifically excluded from the Plan (e.g., the employee could not use the Plan for phone consultation regarding a grievance he/she had filed against the state). Telephone consultation service is available Monday - Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time.
Preventive Legal Services
For matters that are not specifically excluded, the Plan provides four hours annually that can be used for advice or preventive in-office services.
Other Legal Services
- DIY Docs®: This is an online document creation tool with a variety of legally valid documents, including state-specific templates like wills, powers of attorney, and more.
- Reduced Fee Legal Services: If your matter is not fully covered and is not listed under "exclusions" in your Plan document, you are eligible to receive the Reduced Fee benefit and work with a local network attorney who will provide legal services at a rate reduced by at least 25 percent of the network attorney's normal hourly rate.
- Reduced Contingency Fees: Network attorneys will represent you under a contingency fee arrangement. The fee paid to the attorney is based on the success of your case and is a percentage of the amount of money awarded. The employee is responsible for paying any costs.
- Learning Center: All eligible employees have access to an online collection of educational articles, informational guidebooks and short videos that provide helpful tips regarding timely legal and financial topics.
- Mobile App: Provides a variety of tools including searching for network attorneys, starting a will or traffic ticket case, and contacting ARAG Insurance to install the app. Visit the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Android) and search for ARAG.
- Conversion Option: Employees leaving state service can continue legal coverage by converting to ARAG's conversion plan, by direct payment to ARAG Insurance.
- Employees who are retiring can enroll in the state's Retiree Plan which offers the same benefits for the same prices. For more information on either option, call ARAG at (866) 762-0972.
Exclusions
There are certain legal services that are specifically excluded from coverage in the Plan. Some of these services are as follows:
- Matters against us, the policyholder or an insured against the interests of the named insured under the same certificate.
- Legal services arising out of a business interest, investment interests, employment matters, employee benefits, your role as an officer or director of an organization, and patents or copyrights.
- Legal services in class actions, punitive damages, personal injury, malpractice, court appeals or post judgments (settlement agreement signed by all parties, final binding arbitration, judgment issued by a court).
- Legal services deemed by us to be frivolous or lacking merit, or in actions where you are the plaintiff and the amount we pay for your legal services exceeds the amount in dispute, or in our reasonable belief you are not actively and reasonably pursuing resolution in your case.
Premiums
The monthly premium is $10.19 for individual coverage and $17.74 for family coverage which covers you, your spouse or registered domestic partner, and any eligible dependent children.
Enrollment Forms
Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200849) [RP2]
Retiree Group Legal Services Insurance Plan Enrollment Authorization (Form 200686) [RP3]
Contact Information
ARAG Insurance Company
500 Grand Avenue Suite 100
Des Moines, IA 50309-9958
ARAG Customer Service:
Monday-Friday, 5:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time
Toll-free (866) 762-0972
TTY (800) 383-4184 (or 711 to reach a relay operator)
Website: ARAGlegal.co m/SOCinfo
For more information, please contact Grouplegal@calhr.ca.gov
*"The Survey of Law Firm Economics: 2018 Edition." The National Law Journal and ALM Legal Intelligence, October 2018.
**The Identity Theft insurance is underwritten by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, an Assurant company. Please refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions. Please see the plan summary document for details.
Limitations and exclusions apply. Depending upon a state's regulations, ARAG's legal insurance plan may be considered an insurance product or a service product. Insurance products are underwritten by ARAG Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa, GuideOne® Mutual Insurance Company of West Des Moines, Iowa or GuideOne Specialty Mutual Insurance Company of West Des Moines, Iowa. Service products are provided by ARAG Services, LLC. This material is for illustrative purposes only and is not a contract. For terms, benefits or exclusions, call (866) 762-0972.
