they took my accrued vacation time

[kerri11111]

i live in nh, but i work in ma. i was injured at work and out for 8 months on work. comp. 7 months after my injury i recieved a letter from my employer stating i now owe them approx $8,000 for my health insurance, (which is now cancelled), that they have been paying...which they said will be deducted from my already accrued vacation time....which leaves me with a bill for $2,500. they said i can sign a paper stating i will pay them x amount every week until it is paid off...what if i dont sign it ? can they take my earned vacation time? Can they pay my health insurance and bill me without consent? can they fire me for not paying it?

 

[swalsh411]

Yes, yes, and yes.

 

[cbg]

I do not entirely agree with swalsh.

While they can, at this point in time, cancel your health insurance, they cannot back charge you for it. At whatever point your insurance was canceled, it was up to them to provide you with COBRA information. If they failed to do so, too bad so sad but they don't get to charge you for their mistake. Contact the US DOL.

Vacation time must be unconditionally paid out in MA, and in NH they must have provided you with a written notice of vacation policies. Under NH law, unless a written policy which you had been given notice of, specifies that they could make this deduction from your vacation time, they cannot.

 

[swalsh411]

Why would the COBRA notification requirement apply if the OP has not terminated?

It is quite common for an employer to cover both the employer + employee health insurance during an extended absences and then require repayment of the employee portion when the employee returns to work.

edit: It's a little unclear to me as to whether or not the OP has terminated as of now.

 

[swalsh411]

double post oopsies

 

[cbg]

The employee does not have to terminate for COBRA to apply. COBRA applies any time the employee loses coverage, for any reason except gross misconduct. This includes reduction in hours, loss of coverage due to a leave of absence (excepting FMLA), or any other time the employee became ineligible for coverage under the plan's rules.

There are two possibilities here, and whether the employee is or is not currently employed does not matter to either of them:

1.) The employer left the employee's coverage in place during an LOA, as you suggest, and is now charging back the employee. That's fine; IF the employee was notified of this in advance and given an option of how to pay - weekly/monthly during the leave, all at once up front, after the leave, etc. If they didn't, it's questionable whether they can charge the employee now. The employer might win if it came down to it, but I'm not laying money either way.

2.) The employer covered the employee in error after coverage would normally have expired (once FMLA expired the employer had no legal obligation to continue coverage, and many employers will require COBRA after 90 days, which is slightly more than FMLA), and is now trying to recoup. Sorry, but they don't get to do that.

And taking the payments out of accrued vacation might be okay in some states, but definitely NOT in either MA or NH, with the single caveat in NH already mentioned. And I very much doubt that is the case.

 

[kerri11111]

thanks for the input from you all. i will be notifying US DOL and will see what happens