Is this legal?

[Kylebowman46]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida


My cousin passed away January 2017.
The few months leading up to him passing, he was in and out of the hospital quite a bit. During this, his employer switched him from salary to hourly. He did not know this and neither did the family until life benefits were claimed. When the employer made the switch, his supplemental insurance was wiped out completely and no one had a clue. His employer said there is nothing they can do even though he wasn't paying in to these benefits. Was this all legal?

 

[adjusterjack]

He did not know this.

How could anybody know what he did or did not know? Just to show you how impossible it is to answer your question I'll ask you a few.

While he was in and out of the hospital was he also in and out to work? Did he receive any paychecks during that period? Pay stubs should have shown a change from salary to hourly? With regard to employee benefits paid for by the employer, was there a plan document showing how one qualifies for any of those benefits?

With all due sympathy for your family, your cousin may have known or should have known because the information may have been readily available to him.

That's how most businesses work and it's entirely legal.

 

[cbg]

I have a few questions. It is *probably* legal but something isn't sitting quite right with this employee benefits manager.

At the time of your cousin's passing, how much time had he missed due to illness during the previous 12 months?

Was he collecting either STD or LTD benefits from his employer? If so, which, and for how long?

What was the nature of his illness?

Was he making payments on his life insurance policy? Either via payroll deduction or by writing checks?

What did he do for a living?

I may have more questions depending on the answers to these, but let's start with this and see where it takes us.