Employee Benefits

Overview

Looking to learn more about our employee benefits? Are you a retiree wondering about coverage? We oversee City employee's medical, dental, vision, and retirement assets.

We offer these benefits to all hired City employees:

  • Competitive salaries
  • Comprehensive health care package including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage
  • Paid vacation days
  • Paid sick leave
  • Paid jury duty
  • Bereavement leave
  • Defined contribution retirement plan (401a and HCSP)
  • Cash death benefit
  • Paycheck direct deposit

Hired City employees have the option to use these voluntary benefits:

  • Professional development funding
  • Tax deferred compensation (457 Plan)
  • Ability to enroll in a ROTH IRA
  • Cafeteria style benefits. This includes life, disability, accident and cancer insurance. We partner with companies like Aflac, American Fidelity and MetLife
  • Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Home ownership grant opportunities in Target Areas
  • Education Reimbursement Program

Need to make a change to your benefits? Follow the instructions below.

Home/Mailing Address Change:

To change your home or mailing address, please contact your payroll clerk.

Pension Beneficiary (in-person only):

To update a pension beneficiary, please stop by the Pension Office located in the Masonic Temple at 233 Fulton St E #216, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.  You must make this change in-person as the Pension Office must witness your signature.

City’s Death Benefit (in-person only):

To update the City’s death benefit beneficiary, please visit the Human Resources Office located at on the 8th Floor of City Hall.  You must make this change in-person as the HR Office must witness your signature.

MERS:

To update a MERS Health Care Savings Program beneficiary, please create an online account at www.mersofmich.com.

MissionSquare Retirement:

To update a MissionSquare Retirement 401(a), 457, or Roth IRA beneficiary, please create an online account at www.icma.org.

MetLife:

To update a MetLife life insurance beneficiary, please contact Mike Oosterbaan by emailing moosterbaan@grcity.us to request a MetLife Beneficiary form.

Aflac:

To update Aflac policy beneficiaries (if applicable), please email Joy Rybicki at joy_rybicki@us.aflac.com.

American Fidelity:

To update American Fidelity policy beneficiaries (if applicable), please email Randy Gildea at randy.gildea@americanfidelity.com.

Design Underwriting (Police and Fire only):

To update a Design Underwriting policy beneficiary, please contact Renee Fries at (616) 957-3380 or email renee.fries@oasecurities.com.

City-Sponsored Health Insurance:

If you have experienced a major life event and need to make a change to your City-sponsored health insurance, please contact Lisa Rule by emailing lrule@grcity.us.

To complete a claim form, click the below links:

Blue Cross Blue Shield Medical Claim Form(PDF, 174KB)

VSP Vision Claim Form(PDF, 117KB)


To access the Blue Cross Blue Shield machine readable file, please copy and paste the following URL into your web browser:

https://bcbsm.sapphiremrfhub.com/tocs/current/city_of_grand_rapids

Want to save for retirement but not sure how? Below are some resources from ICMA Retirement Corporation and Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS).

Planning for Retirement: Growing Your Nest Egg One Paycheck at a Time(PDF, 443KB)

Helpful videos