Company offers insurance to some employee's families, but not all

[Bobafettacheese]

I work at a small company, under 50 employees, there is no HR department. The owner of the company is the commander-in-chief and controls wages, benefits, bonuses, etc. We also have a sister company that he semi-controls.

I have been working at this company for 8 years and have been full-time the entire time.

As a full-time employee I get health insurance, it is paid in full by my employer. Now, certain employees are allowed to have their families added to the plans free of charge. I was not allowed to have my wife put on the insurance plan because she is working and was offered it through her employer (his reasoning). Yet, there are employees here with working wives (as well as stay-at-home wives) that are on the plan. I was told that I would have to pay $5,000 a year in order to have my wife added. I ran into the same situation when I tried adding my son, I was told it would cost $5,000 a year and that I should look to "Obamacare" for plans.

I know for a fact that other employees have their entire family covered by the company, is this legal, can the owner of the company dish out benefits as he sees fit? Is it some form of discrimination, or his he just a turd?

 

[Zigner]

What state are you in?

 

[Bobafettacheese]

I am in Illinois, sorry for not including that.

 

[LdiJ]

I work at a small company, under 50 employees, there is no HR department. The owner of the company is the commander-in-chief and controls wages, benefits, bonuses, etc. We also have a sister company that he semi-controls.

I have been working at this company for 8 years and have been full-time the entire time.

As a full-time employee I get health insurance, it is paid in full by my employer. Now, certain employees are allowed to have their families added to the plans free of charge. I was not allowed to have my wife put on the insurance plan because she is working and was offered it through her employer (his reasoning). Yet, there are employees here with working wives (as well as stay-at-home wives) that are on the plan. I was told that I would have to pay $5,000 a year in order to have my wife added. I ran into the same situation when I tried adding my son, I was told it would cost $5,000 a year and that I should look to "Obamacare" for plans.

I know for a fact that other employees have their entire family covered by the company, is this legal, can the owner of the company dish out benefits as he sees fit? Is it some form of discrimination, or his he just a turd?

You are not going to like my response, but it very well could be that there is some sort of law that says that the same benefits must be offered to everyone in a specific class of employees. However, I can just about guarantee that if you are able to convince your boss of this, or get some regulatory agency to prove it to him, that he will simply stop offering coverage to anyone other than the employees. Therefore you will not gain insurance for your wife or son, you will just cause your co-workers to lose the insurance for their families.

 

[Bobafettacheese]

Thanks for replying LdiJ.

As far as a hierarchy, it is a "boy's club" mentality, those closest to the owner reap the most benefits and membership to that club has been closed for quite sometime. I assumed bringing in an outside agency would only hurt the people I work with, which is something I would rather not do.

I guess I can chalk it up to working for a turd. The joys of working for a multimillionaire who sees employees as a handicap rather than a needed commodity.

 

[Zigner]

Thanks for replying LdiJ.

As far as a hierarchy, it is a "boy's club" mentality, those closest to the owner reap the most benefits and membership to that club has been closed for quite sometime. I assumed bringing in an outside agency would only hurt the people I work with, which is something I would rather not do.

I guess I can chalk it up to working for a turd. The joys of working for a multimillionaire who sees employees as a handicap rather than a needed commodity.

Your sense of entitlement sucks. How are YOU privy to how the insurance is handled for others? Perhaps their salary already reflects the benefit?

 

[Bobafettacheese]

I am privy to how things are run at the company, because it is a close knit company, to the point where things like benefits/bonuses are discussed on the regular (which is completely legal). A system does not exist here for example; certain employees do not have to log vacation hours when others are scrutinized for how they use vacation, I know this because I manage our clocking/vacation system.

Health insurance is part of our "total" compensation. There is no rhyme or reason to how or when it is given. I received my health benefits after working three years at the company, others received theirs within a month of being hired.

I might be missing the part where I displayed an air of "entitlement". My intention was not to anger anyone, I was just seeking an answer/information as to whether offering benefits to one employee over another is completely legal.

 

[cbg]

If I were a betting woman, I would put folding money on the families who are currently covered for free having been "grandfathered" when the policy changed. Nothing illegal about that.