Fired because of medical bills

[myrjac]

What is the name of your state? MI

After 8 years of employment in Mfg Mgmt, my husband was terminated and the reason given was reduction in workforce. His employment record was spotless and they kept an employee in the same position, who made less money. This company was self insured and during the profit/loss meetings each month, it was discussed that certain employee bills would being paid and would cut into that months profits. (for example, an employee had premature twins, who had high medical bills) Several years ago, we gave birth to a child with a life long birth defect, requiring on going therapies. We feel that this may have played a part in the decision to terminate my husband. Is it legal to for self insured employers to consider the personal medical bills of it's employees? Since his employment was at will, would it be too hard to prove that medical bills played a part in his termination?

 

[Beth3]

Is it legal to for self insured employers to consider the personal medical bills of it's employees? It's not illegal to consider them in the context of group health Plan design, cost containment options, cash flow impact, and so on, but it's certainly illegal to consider them in the context of who to lay off or fire.

Since his employment was at will, would it be too hard to prove that medical bills played a part in his termination? You really don't have to prove that's what happened - the employer is going to have to demonstrate that they had a legitimate and sound business rational to lay off your husband and keep the other employee. While the systems that allow employees to complain of violations of employment laws to the government weren't intended to work this way, being on the employer's end I can tell you that there is very much a "guilty until proven innocent" flavor to the whole process.

Because there is the possibility of multiple employment law violations here - the ADA (your husband may have been discriminated against because his daughter has a disability), HIPAA (if the employer failed to keep protected health information confidential) and federal ERISA reg's (if in fact your husband was terminated because of his family's use of the health plan), I suggest you and your husband consult with an employment law attorney as soon as possible.