Thought I'd tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience here. Can anyone offer any thoughts on the following? It sounds screwy and blanantly illegal to me. I'm trying to help out a friend with this. (By the way don't bother saying 'get a lawyer'. I have a feeling this is too easy to waste money on, and i'm a do-it-yourself-er with a proven track record.)
A new employee of a company is told that now is the time of the enrollment period for the company offered health plan. The new employee (stupidly) signs up (on the phone automated system) but are not given the premium price until after 'agreement' and then a premium quote is given,. (Why anyone would agree to anything without a price quote is beyond me). The employee then decides she does not want the coverage because it is too expensive. and she doesn't want to opt to join their health plan.
The benefits dept then insists that it's too late to refuse coverage, and they contend that the reason they will not stop deducting $50 per week from her check is not because she initially agreed, but because the employee is 'not covered by any other group plan". So they are contending that not only can their company plan be forced on an employee against their will, but that even if the employee had other private coverage ., it wouldn't be adequate grounds for refusal of the corporate plan, unless it was specifically 'GROUP' coverage from a former employer or spouse.
There is nothing at all in the employement contract about this. The employee never agreed to such terms. The ''benefits' woman answers this by insisting that the benefits dept 'has nothing to do with human resources'. she insists there is no way out of it. It is as if they are contending that employment is contingent upon purchasing their own overpriced health plan. The employee also did not give consent for automatic deduction of this amount from her check.
Now i'm no lawyer but i have sued several companies, govt agencies, etc. in the past and won every time without counsel. and it sounds to me like in this case, they can sue the shit out of them. as well as labor board issues. what do you think? ever heard of anything like this?