Section 21-I:102 - Contracting and Administrative AuthorityI. The commissioner may solicit information about, seek proposals for, negotiate, enter into, and administer group insurance contracts with duly authorized accident and life insurance carriers as necessary and appropriate to provide to qualifying state employees, at state expense and at no cost to such employees, an FMLI plan of wage replacement as described in this subdivision. The provision of this coverage shall be considered a matter of legislatively established public policy that is designed to benefit all employers and employees in the state and that is "confined exclusively to the public employer by statute" as provided in RSA 273-A:1, XI and shall not be subject to collective bargaining. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to invalidate any portion of a collective bargaining agreement entered into by the state.II. The state shall provide to all permanent state employees wage replacement coverage for qualified leave, which shall be available for the same types of leave as protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act except leave for a health condition of the employee. This shall include leave for: (a) The birth of a child and the care of the newborn child within one year of birth;(b) The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and the care of the newly placed child within one year of placement;(c) Caring for the employee's spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition; or(d) Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse, child, or parent is a covered military member on covered active duty, or caring for a covered service-member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service-member's spouse, child, parent, or next of kin.III. Subject to any changes authorized under RSA 21-:106I, the wage replacement benefits under this FMLI plan shall be structured as follows: (a) Eligible employees shall receive 60 percent of their average weekly wage.(b) The maximum duration of wage replacement shall be 6 weeks per year, with no minimum duration required.(c) Wages used to determine the 60 percent FMLI coverage shall be capped at the amount of the Social Security taxable wage maximum as amended from time to time.IV. Except as provided in RSA 21-:103,I regarding individual pool coverage, the commissioner shall establish, through his or her discretionary authority in administering the request for information and the request for proposals process, the following additional elements of the benefit structure consistent with the purposes and policy of this subdivision: (a) The base period by which the average weekly wage shall be determined.(b) The tenure requirement, expressed in terms of months of work, before an employee is eligible to be covered provided, however, that no tenure requirement shall apply to an employee who has already met the requirement and then changes jobs.(c) A waiting period or elimination period provided, however, that a waiting or elimination period shall not be a required element of the benefit structure, and the commissioner shall have authority to implement a plan with no such requirement.Added by 2021 , 91: 464, eff. 7/1/2021. 2021, 91 : 464 , eff. July 1, 2021.