Insurance Catastrophes at Dot-Coms? 10
DotComVictim asks: "So my girlfriend was working at Ariba until their massive (1/3) staffing cut. Turns out with all the turnover and chaos there, they never got around to filing her paperwork with the insurance companies. This is a blatant oversight, since she was working there for more than _six_ months. Now she is getting bills claiming she never had insurance. Can't this be construed as breach of contract, and open an employer up to a lawsuit? Anyone else have similar horror stories related to this, and what did you do to fix it?"
ICL of the U.K did something like this to me (Score:1)
When ICL of the U.K. shut down their U.S. operations last October our insurance was supposed to continue until the end of the year as part of our separation agreement. However, somebody "messed up" and it was cancelled early. I still have a bill to pay that should have been covered but what am I going to do? There isn't even a single ICL employee in the U.S. and who in the U.K. is going to care or be able to do something? And file a lawsuit? Against whom (the U.S. operation ICL Inc. was a separate legal entity) and where?
The moral of this story (and many others) is that when dealing with businesses don't count on any promises until you have the money in your pocket and maybe not even then.
Yes it is. (Score:2)
0. She made decisions based on promises they made. They are liable for her costs.
1. She signed contracts with them explicitly (the insurance, which has something in it detailing how long you can wait to file) and they made implicit promised (that they would do what they said they would do).
2. They took out money to do this -- simple breach of contract.
3. They took out money to do this -- felony fraud.
Also, insurance costs for employees is tax deductible for the company and they kept the cash, two big accounting boo-boos. They would have to restate their audited numbers and would have to admit either gross incompetence or that they lied to the auditors. Neither is cool. And then the IRS comes, to bayonette the wounded -- they will want more money, and the company will be audited.
So, yes, she has a pretty clear case. She could even get damages.
When they said "Insurance Catastrophes"... (Score:2)
The Open Group did this (Score:2)
I never heard if anyone sued, though I wouldn't be surprised. I know one friend whose bill was only about $100 just paid it to avoid the hassle, but I think someone else had several thousand in pending claims.
Re:When they said "Insurance Catastrophes"... (Score:1)
Check with the state (Score:2)
(This assumes she was legally an employee, but if they promised insurance that seems to be a given.)
Not just yes... (Score:1)
I think she should try the state labor agency first, and if that doesn't work out quickly she should retain an attorney to recover damages from the former employer.
But... (Score:5)
This is especially true in your case because the laws will likely vary from country to country, and perhaps even from state to state. I highly doubt that any insight that I, a Canadian, might have for you would help if the person in question was working in Seattle, for example.
I wish her the best of luck, however. Certainly she deserves some explanation (and the bills to be paid), but you didn't mention if anyone tried to ask Ariba what the fsck was going on. The vast majority of Slashdot readers (all the IANAL ones, including myself) are probably not qualified to help you out. Take the wrong person's advise, and she may get screwed.
In any case, I had a similar happening with my company. When I changed divisions, my insurance was supposed to stay intact. Somehow my name got lost in a paperwork shuffle, and for a few months I was listed as not having insurance (me having found out after a trip to the dentist). A few phone calls to the insurance company and one trip to HR cleared up the mess.
Loss of benefits (Score:1)
The company had hired her under the following terms:
salaried pay
400$/month car payment assistance
70% cellular phone bill
everything from health to auto to homeowners insurance
So of course she had gone out and bought a brand new Lexus RX300, and was screwed when they were no longer helping her pay for it. As for her health insurance - here's where it gets nasty. Seems Mr. Peter Noche, CEO of Etensity, had decided to save some money by cycling the employee coverage and benefits. What cycling refers to is his ingenious plan to only have insurance on 1/4 to 1/3 of his employees in any given month, the others being dropped at the end of the previous month, to be picked up again when their lot was drawn. This practice was discovered by the newly out of work girlfriend, as well as her friends who were also no longer employed, in the process of digging to find out what the status of their insurance was, because almost *all* of them had recieved bills for treatments, checkups, etc, that had originally been accepted by the insurance companies - then rejected, when their coverage was cancelled before the actual billing process.
The outcome of all of this is that there is now a possibility of a major lawsuit against Etensity and it's partner, OneSoft - if the companies survive long enough to take the beating. So my answer to the one who asked the original question is: Yes, you can probably sue. Breach of contract is no minor thing, and insurance is a vital part of your compensation package. You've done your job, you've provided the services the company needed - apparently, they didn't feel obligated to keep up their end of the deal. I would sue, and I would sue FAST. (On a side note, another insurance issue I dealt with... My mother's employers offered insurance after 3 months on the job. She worked there for 5 months, and then burned her hand. The insurance paperwork had not been filed, she threw a fit, her employers paid her expenses out of their own pockets and she later sued and recieved 15,000$ for her troubles!)
The company should hold up their end (Score:1)
As for a lawsuit, this could fly if there was a signed employment contract involved. Most employers have one; I signed one myself. Naturally, spoken promises are difficult to enforce.