Happy Holidays from Harvard Academic Workers Bargaining Committee!
We are writing with a surprise gift, a reduced deductible for most of our workers.
This year after Open Enrollment, a worker brought to our attention that 3 of the 4 health insurance plans would not meet the requirements for J-1 Visas starting January 1st, 2026 (even though they were advertised as compliant).
We are happy to say that with the announcement of a reduced deductible today, all J-1s now have a compliant health insurance plan.
The higher deductible meant that most J-1 visa holders in our unit would have been non-compliant with the visa requirement and were at risk of seeing their visa status revoked. HR was unaware of this error until we brought it to them. However, in the past month HR was responsive and collaborative in finding a solution.
We are grateful to the worker who let us know as it let us immediately search for paths to resolve this. Without this worker alerting us, and without HAW raising the issue to the Administration, this problem would have gone unnoticed and unsolved. And we are grateful HR has shown an ability to move quickly in resolving this particular issue once pressed.
Always feel free to reach out to us with any issue individual or, like this, affecting everyone. Our Union was built to help each other and we always will.
Harvard Academic Workers FAS/HMS/HDS Bargaining Committee