Patrick C. Haynes Jr.'s Answers

Employee medical benefits

I am going to assume that your benefits have been provided through your job. And, when you say they were increased by 40% in the middle of the contract, that you mean that your employer increased the cost-share to you in the middle of your plan year. Remember that the premium for your coverage may have been $500/month and your employer asked you to pay $100/month towards it (via pre-tax payroll deductions). Now, your employer is asking you to pay $140/month towards the same plan. All your...

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Can I file for unemployment benefits while waiting for the long term disability benefits to get approved!

Here's a summary of the situation. 1. Short & Long Term Disability - "I am unable to work due to back surgery/injury". STD claim approved. LTD claim pending. 2. Unemployment - I am ready, willing and ABLE to work, yet cannot find a job. You are not able to claim, on one hand that you are disabled, then, on the other hand state that you are able to work. The LTD carrier and the State may, at some point, exchange information, and, you could get yourself into trouble quickly if you...

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As an employer, are we legally bound to cover the dependent of an employee who has passed away?

George's answer is "on the mark". However, if your plan is not subject to COBRA, check any state continuation laws. I can see that you posted from Reading, PA, and, assuming your company is a PA-Employer, there might not be any state continuation coverage either. [Even though there is a new PA-Mini-COBRA that just passed for employer with 2-19 employees, it doesn't take effect until July 1, 2009].

Employer says employee's must provide this information to be eligible for medical,dental,vision, life accident

They certainly can ask for this information. In fact, as the employer / plan sponsor / plan fiduciary - they can argue that they have a fiduciary responsibility (duty) to ensure that they are only covering those plan participants that are in fact ELIGIBLE. A survey done by Kaiser estimates that 8-10% of people on employer's plans are ineligible (people cover their nieces, nephews, grandchildren, girlfriends, etc.). By ensuring that only eligible dependents are on the plan, the employer is...

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Employee Benefit Medical Contribution Question

There is nothing wrong with this scenario or practice whatsoever. Employers are free to set contribution levels at whatever they like, provided they are the same for all similarly situated participants. Consider this example: Employee ("EE") only $25 EE + 1 $100 EE + Spouse: $175 Family $400 What you don't see in that example is that the EE-only premium is $500 and the Family premium is $1400 (a month). So, for a family, the ER is paying $1000 and the EE is paying $400,...

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B acquired A. If B lays me off, how can I get company B to pay me severance for the years I worked at company A.

Comments subject to the disclaimer below. Excellent question! A lot may depend on the nature of the sale (stock sale vs asset sale). Also, in the purchase agreement Company B could have agreed to take on certain responsibilities (such as COBRA for non-retained Company A employees, etc.). [The comments that follow ignore the fact that you may be subject to a collective bargaining agreement]. The bad news MAY BE that Company A's severance policy was not an actual "plan" but was just a...

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Can an employee request FMLA leave if about to get fired

If you are FMLA eligible and you work for an FMLA covered employer, make the FMLA application to the employer. That way not save your job - you can still be terminated while on FMLA leave. However, the Employer must then show some objective criteria under which they were able to let you go. For example, all the employees in department X were let go (and you were one of them); or, everyone who had less than a 3.5 on their employee evaluation form for more than two-quarters of the year was...

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Can an employer withhold a full month's Health premiums from my last check

Timing is everything. It is conceivable that your final check included payment for other benefits, PTO, payment for accrued, but unused leave, etc. and that the ER's choice to have you make a pre-tax payment for the balance of the month's benefits was considered against that. True, there is probably a small technical infraction if you were paying $100 every check and all of a sudden they took $300 out of one normal pay period. Consider that your benefits probably run until the last day...

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Benefit discrimination?

It is completely legal and permissible for an Employer/Plan Sponsor to offer tiered benefits. A 3-Tier structure would offer coverages for: EE-only, EE+Spouse (or DP) and Family. A 4-Tier structure would offer coverages for: EE-only, EE+Spouse (or DP), EE+1Child, and Family (EE, plus Spouse/DP and children). The IRS permits the portion that the ER pays and the deferral the EE makes to be tax-free (IRC Section 125-pre-tax, for those IRC Section 152 tax dependents (spouse, children (...

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Should I sign a form that says I am responsible for all of the COBRA not the 35% the government has inacted.

Step 1. Reach out to your former employer and find out if they just sent out the COBRA at 102% because their software wasn't updated, or because you weren't eligible for the subsidy under ARRA. It sounds like you did that but didn't get anywhere. Step 2. Make sure you send in your paperwork and make your election. If you fail to elect COBRA during your 60 day window, you will not get another chance to elect. Step 3. Immediately go to the U.S. Department of Labor's website and appeal...

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