Denying Insurance

[jdamron]

What is the name of your state? IL

Hello,
We have a contract with an insurance company that says that if an employee works an average of 32 hours a week and has worked at least 90 days, then that employee is eligible for insurance. I have a female employee who meets these requirements. She asked me for insurance. I checked and she is average 37 hours a week and will continue to do so. I emailed my boss, the CEO, and said that we should extend insurance to her. He responded that she isn't worth the extra expense for what she does. Do we have the right to deny her insurance? There was a male in her department who asked for insurance a month ago. And he received it. What are our risks?

Thanks!

[ecmst12]

1. Your boss is a jerk.

2. Does your employee handbook/policies state that an employee who works 30 hours per week for at least 90 days can have insurance? If so then I think you have to give it to her.

3. Your boss is REALLY a jerk.

[cbg]

Your boss is going to be on the wrong end of both an ERISA violation and a gender discrimination suit if he persists in this. And when the DOL has finished auditing his records for any additional violations and the EEOC has torn strips out of him looking for other discrimination issues and he's paid the associated fines and provided the employee with back insurance at his expense, maybe he'll be lucky and the DOL and the EEOC won't call their friends at the associated state agencies or any other Federal agencies to see what violations THEY can come up with.

BTW, it's got nothing to do with what the employee handbook says; if the contract with the insurance company says that employees who work over 32 hours a week are eligible for insurance after 90 days, he's in violation of Federal law if he doesn't give it to her. He's allowed to violate his employee handbook with no penalty in many (not all) cases. He's not allowed to violate ERISA, which is invoked by the insurance policy/contract.

[ecmst12]

Originally Posted by cbg

Your boss is going to be on the wrong end of both an ERISA violation and a gender discrimination suit if he persists in this. And when the DOL has finished auditing his records for any additional violations and the EEOC has torn strips out of him looking for other discrimination issues and he's paid the associated fines and provided the employee with back insurance at his expense, maybe he'll be lucky and the DOL and the EEOC won't call their friends at the associated state agencies or any other Federal agencies to see what violations THEY can come up with.

Translation: Your boss is a big, fat, law-breaking jerk!

Originally Posted by cbg

BTW, it's got nothing to do with what the employee handbook says; if the contract with the insurance company says that employees who work over 32 hours a week are eligible for insurance after 90 days, he's in violation of Federal law if he doesn't give it to her. He's allowed to violate his employee handbook with no penalty in many (not all) cases. He's not allowed to violate ERISA, which is invoked by the insurance policy/contract.

Interesting, I didn't know the employee handbook meant bupkis. I love how much I'm learning on this board!

[jdamron]

Thanks for the great info. I'll take this to him. BTW - do you have a link to the actual ERISA legistlation that explains how it is an employee right etc.

Your the best!