Employee Eligibility
A qualified Toro employee is an individual who is:
- A current full-time employee under Director level; or a
- Temporary contract service employee with at least one year of service eligibility;
- Actively employed or on an approved leave of absence for no more than one year; and
- Able to demonstrate a financial need that has not been met by own or other pursued resources;
Grants are extended to an employee’s eligible dependents which includes an employee’s spouse, children under the age of 21, and other dependents the employee is legally responsible for as stated on the most recent federal tax return.
In the case of the employee’s death, eligible dependents may apply to the fund within 30 days of the date of death.
Qualified Incidents:
Qualified incidents are unexpected emergencies that arise outside of the employee’s control and cause an economic hardship for the employee’s family. A qualified incident is typically a one-time event that occurs unexpectedly and causes unexpected bills.
Circumstances that may qualify for assistance fall into one of these categories:
- Loss of household income as a result of COVID-19. This includes a spouse or member of the household’s cutback in hours, furlough or unemployment. (Will only qualify as an incident until Jan. 2022).
- Life-threatening or serious illness or injury (heart attack, emergency room visit, or other medical expenses not eligible for reimbursement; for the employee, employee’s spouse/domestic partner, or legal dependent only)
- Loss of life (employee, employee’s spouse/domestic partner, legal dependent as documented on most recent tax return, or parent. Siblings that are not a legal dependent are eligible.)
- Natural disaster (flood, lightning strike, house fire, tornado, etc; primary residence only)
- Catastrophic or extreme circumstances (documented unsafe living circumstances, car accident, other circumstances that do not fall into one of the above categories).
- Mental health and chemical dependency treatment. (Does not replace insurance. Insurance claims must be submitted first. The fund will cover expenses related to in-patient and out-patient treatment, that are not covered by insurance. This includes deductibles and co-insurance, cap in treatment days recommended, and/or family participation in the treatment plan if these expenses cause a financial hardship. The fund can cover other necessary expenses as documented through a doctor’s treatment plan).
Examples of incidents that DO NOT qualify include but are not limited to:
- Loss of household income due to cutback in hours or overtime, loss of bonus, unemployment, divorce or loss of child support.
- Incidents that occurred more than one year prior to the application date.
- Accumulated financial distress outside of COVID-19 wage reductions (income is not enough to cover regular monthly bills).
- Wage garnishments/Disconnection notice/Eviction notice. These are results of a financial hardship, not the cause. We need to know what happened that prevented you from paying these bills.
- Lack of insurance.
Examples of Eligible Incidents Include (but are not limited to):
- Sudden illness or medical disability
- Spouse’s furlough or unemployment as a result of COVID-19
- Death in family / funeral
- Home repairs related to natural disasters
- Temporary shelter, food, water necessities, due to natural disasters (including house fire).
- Other life threatening or endangering events at primary residence
Examples of Incidents that are NOT Eligible (not limited to this list):
- Loss of job, bonus, cut back in hours or wages, or loss of child support
- Elective medical procedures
- Eviction notices, disconnection notices, wage garnishments, court rulings, and legal fees
- Expenses due to pets
- Automobile repossession, or replacement
- Bank account fraud (this is something that your bank should deal with)
- Divorce
- Pregnancy (without complications requiring additional, unforeseen, medical care)