CONNECT with the CityBenefits Information for New Employees
The Employee Benefits Office welcomes you to the City of San Diego. This website is your one-stop location for resources and information about your City benefits.
You have 30 days from your hire date/status change date to complete your enrollment process in the City’s SAP self-service portal. Be sure to attend the New Employee Orientation, review all the benefit resources, and contact us if you need help.
If you have any questions, please contact the Employee Benefits office at 619-236-5924 (option 1) or benefits@sandiego.gov.
Important Information for Employees Hired During the City’s Annual Open Enrollment Window (10/23/2025 – 11/19/2025)
It’s important to understand how your benefit elections impact both the current and upcoming plan years. See the “How to Enroll” section below for steps on accessing the benefits enrollment portal. Once you are in the portal, please be sure to follow these steps:
Step 1
Complete the New Hire enrollment event
Complete the New Hire enrollment event to elect benefits for the current plan year (2025). If you are a rehire, this event will be called “Rehire”. If you had a job status change, this event will be called “Job/Class Change”. Note: If you enroll in the 2025 FSA, your contributions for 2025 will be split across the remaining pay periods in year 2025. Funds from a 2025 FSA must be spent by March 15, 2026, or they will be forfeited
Step 2
Complete the Open Enrollment event
Complete the Open Enrollment event for the next plan year (2026). Credits, premium rates, and provider options may change for 2026 so it’s important to review everything, even if you do not plan on making any election changes. Note: if you do not make any changes, most of your 2025 elections will carry over into 2026 except for the following:
- Flexible spending accounts: FSA elections do not automatically roll over from one plan year to the next. If you want to enroll in the 2026 FSA, you must do so during the open enrollment window.
- COSD VSP (Vision) for non-MEA employees: VSP will be replaced by EyeMed, effective 1/1/2026. If you enrolled in the COSD VSP plan for 2025, you will be automatically enrolled in the EyeMed Silver plan for 2026, unless you make a change during open enrollment.
- Local 145 Anthem HMO for fire-safety employees: The local 145 Anthem HMO will be replaced by the local 145 Cigna HMO. If you enrolled in the Local 145 Anthem HMO plan for 2025, you will be automatically enrolled in the Local 145 Cigna HMO plan for 2026, unless you make a change during open enrollment.
Completing both steps 1 and 2 above ensures uninterrupted coverage and gives you the flexibility to tailor your benefits for both the current and upcoming plan years. Be sure to submit elections for each event separately and before their respective deadlines.
New Employee Orientation
New employees, or those newly eligible for benefits, are required to attend an all-day mandatory New Employee Orientation meeting. This session covers your City of San Diego benefits and other essential information. An Employee Benefits Specialist will guide you through the enrollment process and answer any questions.
The orientation includes presentations from Represented Employee Organizations and the Human Resources Department. You will receive an invitation via your City email shortly after your hire or status change date. If you have not received it or have questions, contact benefits at benefits@sandiego.gov or 619-236-5924.
Deadline to Enroll
You have 30 days from your hire date to select your benefits that will remain in effect through the end of the plan year, December 31st. If you become eligible for benefits due to a job status change, your 30-day window begins on the first day of your new job. After your enrollment window closes, you cannot make any changes to your selections until the next Open Enrollment period, unless you experience a qualifying life event change during the plan year. Open Enrollment occurs in October/November for benefits selection effective January 1st of the following year.
If you miss your initial enrollment window, you will be automatically enrolled into the lowest cost medical option at the employee-only coverage level and the lowest cost basic life insurance plan.
Coverage Effective Date
When you first enroll in a City health plan, you have the option to select your coverage start date. This can either be the 1st of the month following your hire date/status change date OR you can delay coverage by an additional month and start on the 1st of the second month following your hire date/status change date. (ex: if your hire date/status change date was Jan. 15th, you can start your health plan coverage on Feb. 1st or Mar. 1st.)
Learn More About Your Benefit Options
Information is right at your fingertips. Here’s a summary of all the resources and tools that are available to you:
2025 Benefits Information | 2026 Benefits Information |
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Other Resources
How to Enroll
Benefits enrollment is completed in the benefits enrollment application in the City’s SAP portal. New hires, rehires, and those who have become eligible for benefits as a result of a job status change will have 30 days from their hire date/rehire date/status change date to enroll. Follow the steps below to complete the enrollment process:
- From Citynet, select the SAP Portal button located under Quick links
- Select the “Access Benefits Info” tile, then select the “Benefits Enrollment” tile.
- Select your enrollment event (New Hire, Rehire, Job/Class Change), then press the continue button.
- New Hire - you will see the “New Hire” event if you are a new hire.
- Rehire - you will see the “Rehire” event if you are a rehire.
- Job/Class Change - you will see the “Job/Class Change” event if you are a current City employee who experienced a status change resulting in eligibility for benefits
- The application will walk you through the steps for reviewing, changing, and confirming your benefits enrollment.
Eligible Dependents
If you are enrolling dependents in your health plan(s) or enrolling in supplemental life insurance for your spouse/domestic partner or child(ren), you must submit dependent verification (birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.). You will have 30 days following your enrollment window to submit dependent verification documents to benefits@sandiego.gov. Review the Eligible Dependents document for a full list of dependent verification documents.
Paying for Coverage
Premium payments are automatically deducted from your paycheck (semi-monthly).
Timing of premium payments: City employees pre-pay for their health insurance coverage. This means that deductions withheld in one month, pay for the following month’s coverage. Example: Premiums deducted from the two pay periods ending in January, pay for insurance coverage for February.
Your initial premium payment as a newly benefited employee: Because premiums are prepaid, you may have to pay catch-up premiums. Catch-up premiums refer to any premium payments that you missed payment of due to the timing you enrolled in coverage and what date you elected for coverage to start. If you have questions about whether your enrollment may require catch-up premiums, you can reach out to the Benefits Office at 619-236-5924 or benefits@sandiego.gov. Once your enrollment is completed, the Benefits Office will contact you if your elections trigger catch-up premiums.