lapsed insurance policy

[rlt]

What is the name of your state? Alabama

I have a short term disability policy with my employer who payroll deducts my check weekly for this policy.I have had this policy for a little over a year and on Oct.26 i recieved a letter from the insurance company stating that my policy has lapsed and i need to pay $693.00 to pay my premiums up to Nov.1 2002. I have over heard a couple of other employees state that they have recieved the same letter.The company i work for has had some financial difficulties over the last few months.I have not confronted my employer about this letter from the insurance company and what i would like to know is if i am entitled to be reimbursed for these deductions by my employer since it is apparent that they did not send these deductions in to the insurance company? Thanks in advance

 

[Beth3]

It appears your employer may be in violation of federal ERISA regulations.

Yes, I suggest you speak to your employer immediately. It's possible that there was an administrative snafu or that the payment and cancellation notices crossed in the mail. I once had a carrier with whom we took multiple lines of coverage (life, STD, LTD) for multiple divisions and the knuckleheads in their receivables department were applying all payments to just one division's lines of coverage. So one line was massively overpaid and they sent cancellation notices to the employees in the other divisions. Nice. I had hundreds of hysterical employes on my hands.

On the off chance that there is an administrative problem at the employer's or carrier's end, you should speak to your employer immediately and give them a chance to rectify things. If you can't get a straight answer from them on a timely basis (i.e. before the week is over), then you should contact the federal Department of Labor.