Legal Plan
Financial and Emotional health is important to well-being. At certain times you may face legal matters that get in the way of being well. For help during those times, Kean University employees have the option of enrolling in MetLife’s Legal Plan that provides access to a nationwide network of over 18,000 attorneys to address common legal issues such as:
- Money matters
- Home and real estate
- Family and personal issues
- Civil lawsuits
- Estate Planning
- Immigration help
- Eldercare issues
- Vehicle and driving incidents
Employees who choose to enroll are provided with access to legal help online, in-person or over the phone. Employees must enroll within 30 days from their date of hire. Employees pay for the coverage via payroll deductions. The legal plan provides full coverage of attorney fees for the most common personal legal matters with no additional out-of-pocket cost when using an in-network attorney. Employees choose their attorneys to work with from the network.
Access the MetLife Legal Plan Summary for a list of covered services as well as plan exclusions.
About in-network attorneys
Attorneys in the network must have graduated from an accredited law school and hold a valid state license. The managing attorney of the firm must have at least eight years of experience (although 25 years of experience is the network average), and the firm must confirm they routinely handle all or many of the case types covered by the legal plan.
The firms selected are given extensive training on all service standards. They’re also continuously evaluated on their responsiveness to calls, commitment to clients and professionalism.
Attorney performance is monitored on an ongoing basis through random case file audits, regular communication, site visits, client feedback and plan member surveys. Member feedback is also monitored and regular recredentialing of participating law firms which includes verification of malpractice insurance and more is conducted.
Eligibility
Elections are made annually in the fall during a determined annual enrollment period, to be effective January 1 of the upcoming year.
Similar to health insurance, full-time employees, spouses, civil-union partners, and same-sex domestic partners and dependent children are eligible for Metlife’s Legal Plan.
Newly hired employees and their eligible dependents may be covered after 60 days of continuous employment. Full-time faculty members hired as of September 1 may be covered as of the beginning of the academic year. Faculty members that begin employment on other dates are eligible for legal coverage following a 60-day waiting period.
Cost of Coverage
Selecting coverage for the MetLife Legal Plan is optional. The legal plan is a voluntary benefit and employees who choose this coverage pay the full cost. Employees pay through payroll deductions.
Monthly cost for plan year 2023: $21.25
What will this cost me per pay*?
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Biweekly - 12 month |
Biweekly - 10 month |
|
|
|
$9.81 |
$11.59 |
Already enrolled?
Employees enrolled for coverage should register at members.legalplans.com or contact a customer service representative at (800) 821-6400. You can also download the Metlife Legal Plans app on your smartphone. These are simple ways to find information about covered services under the Legal plan, locate a participating attorney in the MetLife Legal plan network and receive a case number to contact an attorney. Enrolled employees should also review the Kean University Legal Services Fact Sheet.
Additional Resources