Attachment C
City of Palo Alto Childcare Assistance Guidelines
The City of Palo Alto understands the importance of childcare for an employee’s family. To help support our employees and build on our family-friendly work environment, the City of Palo Alto is now piloting childcare assistance1. The City will be providing up to $10,000 per calendar year to eligible regular employees to help offset the cost of childcare expenses.
Am I eligible?
• Employees must be a regular City of Palo Alto employee. • Employees must have an eligible dependent enrolled in a childcare facility located within Palo Alto city limits.
How much am I eligible for?
• Employees may receive up to $10,000 per calendar year towards the cost of childcare. The first $5,000 will be a pre-tax reimbursement, which will count towards the IRS childcare FSA limit.
The remaining $5,000 will be a post-tax reimbursement.
• The amount employees may be eligible for is based on the number of onsite days worked per week2. The chart below illustrates the assistance amount per onsite days per week.
Number of onsite days per week Childcare assistance per calendar year
1 day $2,500
2 days $5,000
3 days $7,500
4 days $10,000
How do I sign up?
• Employees are required to enroll annually during Open Enrollment by completing the enrollment form provided by Human Resources. For example, for year 2024 enrollment forms must be completed during the 2023 Open Enrollment period. • Employees hired or promoted to an eligible position can enroll in this benefit during the new hire benefit enrollment period.
How do I get reimbursed?
Pre-tax benefit
• Employees will pay the childcare expense3 out of pocket and retain proof of expense and payment.
• Then, they will log-in to their Navia account and submit for reimbursement through Navia.
Post-tax benefit
• Employees will pay the childcare expense3 out of pocket and retain proof of expense and payment.
• Reimbursement for the post-tax portion of this benefit will occur twice a year: June 1 - 15 and December 1 - 15
Attachment C
• Employees who are eligible for reimbursement must submit a copy of the proof of expense and proof of payment along with the reimbursement request form provided by HR. • HR will review the submission for qualification and if eligible, employees will get reimbursed via their paycheck.
Additional Notes:
• Subsidy amounts will be prorated for new hires, promoted employees, midyear enrollments due to a qualifying life events and benefited part time employees. • Funds in the City of Palo Alto’s Childcare Assistance will be allocated to employees on first come basis up to the maximum budgeted amount for that year. Please see annual budget document for details.
• Eligible expenses are: Daycare, before and after school care, and preschool. All facilities must be located within Palo Alto city limits.
• Regular employee is defined in the merit rules, section 306: Appointment on a full- or part-time basis in an authorized position. "Part-time" means 40 to 79 hours per pay period. "Full-time" means 80 or more hours per pay period.
• If two City of Palo Alto employees share the same eligible dependent only one employee may claim the subsidy.
• The City reserves the right to modify or terminate this childcare assistance pilot at any time.
If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact HR Benefits, [email protected] or (650) 329-2376.
1Childcare assistance is a pilot for calendar year 2024 2Safety shift employees working a 24-hour shift may be eligible for up to $5000 per shift day 3Eligible childcare expenses must be incurred within the calendar year in which benefit was approved. If an employee separates from employment with the City prior to end of the year, only eligible childcare expense incurred until the employees last day will count towards reimbursement.