Health Ins-Boss pay for some, not mine?

[Ouisch]

What is the name of your state? MI

I work for a small steel brokerage - four employees, including the owner/boss. I've been here for nearly five years, and the boss still deducts the full cost of my Blue Cross from my paycheck. His own BC and that of the other two employees are paid by the company. (I'm the only female employee, by the way). Is this legal? Can he pay for the others' insurance but make me pay for my own?

He's doing the same with the company pension plan - when I hired in, he told me that after three years I was eligible to participant in it. When I asked him about it recently (because I've never heard anything further about it), he just shrugged and said "Oh, I've decided not to add anyone else to it."

 

[ALawyer]

Absent discrimination on the grounds of sex, or such other prohibited grounds such as race, religion, national origin, age, etc. -- which may be hard to prove in a small firm -- an employer usually has no obligation to provide health or other benefits.

My sense is that absent a specitfic Maryland law (ask the Maryland Employment Department) this is a matter of negotiation between you and your employer and there is not much you can do.

 

[Beth3]

An employer may "discriminate" in their benefit plans based on "classes" of employees. For example, the company could make decisions based on exempt/non-exempt, managerial/non-managerial, office/shop, by senority, etc. As ALawyer says though, they can't make those decisions based on gender, race, religion, and so forth. From what you have posted however, it's impossible to tell on what basis your employer has made the decision that you will pay "full boat" and everyone else has their insurance paid.

Now the retirement plan is both a simpler and more complex matter. First off, to answer your question we'd need to know whether this is a "qualfied" retirement plan. That is, a formal retirement plan (such as a "pension" plan or 401k) governed by federal ERISA regulations and thus is subject to the oversight of the IRS and the federal Department of Labor. If the answer to that is "yes," then the employer MUST abide by the terms of their Plan Document that describes the retirement benefit. And that includes offering participation to ALL employees once they meet the eligibility requirements set forth in the Plan Document. If it's a qualfied Plan, an employer CANNOT pick and chose who will be allowed into the plan.

If on the other hand it's not a qualfied plan and the employer is making an after-tax contribution to some sort of savings plan that is to be used for retirement for the employees, then the particulars in first paragraph applies. The employer can pick and chose as long as those decisions aren't based on gender, race, etc.

Since I don't remotely know what type of retirement plan your employer offers or on what basis he's making these decisions, I can't say whether what he is doing is legal but at least this points you in the right direction and gives you the basis on which decisions must or can be made.

 

[Ouisch]

Benefits

Our pension plan is an SEP through Kemper Funds.

I'm a full-time, exempt employee like the others. I had read once (but can't find it now) that in Michigan, an employer cannot have different (better) health insurance coverage than he offers his employees. Given that, I was hoping somehow my boss not paying for mine, but paying for the others, is also illegal.

As far as I can tell, it's only because I'm female. When I question him about it, he cuts me off and says "What the others get has nothing to do with you." He's not an entirely above-board kind of guy to begin with - for example, he brags that he hasn't paid for a toner cartridge for the copier in 11 years. He takes the empty one back to the store and tells them it was empty when he bought it and gets a free one. He also operates three different companies out of the one office, so that he can give himself credit references when needed. Stuff like that.

 

[Beth3]

I'm not familiar with MI reg's but what you recall reading strikes me as quite unlikely. If he's treating you differently because of your gender, that certainly is prohibited by both State and federal laws and there's also the possiblity of an ERISA violation on the retirement plan thing. You can always contact the federal DOL and see what they have to say (which may well be to call them back when you get a copy of the Plan Doc.)

I suspect the boss is just slinging the B.S. around about the toner - sometime in the last 11 years I think the supply store would realize what's going on.

Regardless of whether any laws are being violated or not, you may want to look for a job elsewhere. You're paying through the nose for your health insurance and don't have a retirement plan. You can certainly get a better deal elsewhere.