Care That Meets Your Back-to-School Needs
What will you do when school and work schedules go head-to-head, or your parents’ caregiver cancels on a busy workday? Your Bright Horizons Back-Up Care™ benefit has the answer: reliable care just a few clicks away. Take advantage of affordable child care at a center, and book in-home care for your child or adult loved ones.
Back to school, back to the 
office, back to business — whatever you’re going back to this fall, we’ve got your back.
To request Bright Horizons backup care, find instructions here Registration/Reservation
Reminder: Please review the taxable benefit section below.
The service can be used up to 15 days per calendar year. Berkeley Lab employees are encouraged to register in advance. Registration is free and does not commit an employee to use the service.
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For more information about program eligibility, costs, and registration, please see below and navigate to the Bright Horizons Back-Up Care website.
- Eligibility
- Cost for Service
- New!! Summer Camp option as a part of Backup Care
- Registration/Reservation
- Contact
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Eligibility
Employees
The eligible population for this program consists of employees that are career, term, or Postdoctoral Fellows.
The following groups are excluded:
- Employees on Limited Assignment
- Faculty
- Graduate Student Research Associates
- Student Assistants
- Affiliates
- Contractors
- Rehired Retirees
- Visiting Researchers
Employees are only eligible while on active pay status in the Lab’s payroll system.
Dependents
For purposes of this benefit, ‘dependent’ is anyone currently dependent on the caretaking of the employee. This is most frequently a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, or other family member, but is not limited to these or any other specific categories. In addition, this benefit can be used by the employee directly. Children are 0-17, and adults are 18 and above.
Cost
The Lab is subsidizing some of this service’s costs to help reduce what employees pay. Employees copayments:
- $15/child with a maximum of $25/family per visit for center-based care during the center’s normal operating hours
- $6/hour per caregiver for in-home care; no additional charge for evening/weekend care (4-hour minimum, up to 3 dependents)
- An additional charge of $50/hour for medical care
Employees pay Bright Horizons directly using a credit or debit card, payable at the time of reservation.
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (Dep-Care FSA) can not be used for this service.
Taxable Benefit
The Backup Care program provides employees with certain types of dependent care, charging a co-pay that is less than the market rate for these services. The difference between the market rate and the employee co-pay is considered a taxable benefit and is treated by the IRS as additional income to the employee.
The market value is based on national averages and will be reviewed and adjusted annually. The following are the current market values for the following services:
- Center care: $80/day
- In-home care: $27/hour
The amount of tax paid depends upon the tax bracket of the individual.
The additional income is reported monthly as Other Income on the employee’s paycheck and will be subject to the following taxes:
- Medicare
- OASDI – Social Security
- Federal income tax
- State income tax
Summer Camp option as a part of Backup Care
Bright Horizons offers Steve & Kate’s Camp option during the summer break. You can reserve your backup care days for the summer camps in advance. These camps offer experiences for children from pre-K through rising 7th graders. The minimum age is 4 yrs old. Due to Covid 19 protocols, camps must be booked for five consecutive days. They will be offering camps in the following areas this summer:
- Oakland
- San Francisco
- Fremont
- Corte Madera
- Cupertino
- San Carlos
- San Jose
- Atherton
A schedule will be provided when available.
Registration/Reservation
Registration
Before using the service, employees must register using one of these two methods:
- Visit the Bright Horizons Back-Up Care program website and use this login information:
- Username: LBNL
- Password: 4Backup
- A unique username and password will be assigned to each employee during registration.
- Call Bright Horizons toll-free at 877-BH-CARES (877 242-2737)
Registration takes about 5 to 10 minutes. It is recommended that employees register before services are needed, but registration can also be done on the same day, subject to space availability. Additional dependents can be added at any time.
Registration is free and does not commit an employee to use the service. Registered people can take advantage of information and resources for parents and families on the Bright Horizons Back-Up Care program website.
Reservation
Once registered, employees can make reservations online or over the phone (877-242-2737) for backup care.
Reservations can be made up to one month in advance of and up to the day backup care is needed. No more than five consecutive days can be scheduled. Consultants are available 24/7 by phone or online (using the number and link above) to assist employees with their backup care needs.
Contact
The Backup Care Program is administered by Bright Horizons, with the Lab’s HR Benefits Group providing vendor management. Contact Bright Horizons at (877) 242-2737 for any questions regarding the program. Contact HR Benefits (benefits@lbl.gov) for any issues not resolved directly by Bright Horizons.
