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The company also will provide an additional four weeks of paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave (bringing total paid leave to 12 weeks), and extend eligibility for an enhanced child care reimbursement program (Child Care Plus(R)) to an additional 44,000 eligible associates. Nearly 150,000 associates in all will have the opportunity to participate in Child Care Plus in 2009 and reimbursement rates will increase 35%.

Finally, tuition reimbursement benefits for job- and degree-related coursework will grow by as much as $3,250 a year to a maximum of $5,250.

"We've developed this innovative partnership with Aetna to drive better support - and better health and life outcomes - for our associates," added Alphin.

Bank of America conducted an extensive review of its benefit programs, talked to associates about their needs, studied market trends and analyzed benefit usage habits before making the design changes. Associates will enroll in the new plans during annual enrollment in October of this year before the changes take effect January 1, 2009.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 59 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 6,100 retail banking offices, nearly 19,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with nearly 24 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. For
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