HR screw up

[Deleted]

My friend is going to have a baby next month. She signed up for short-term and long-term disability before she was even pregnant. Recently she found out that she will not get short-term disability because human resources forgot to enroll her. They cannot enroll her now because she is pregnant (per the insurance company). So, when friend is on maternity leave, she will not be getting any pay because the company does not offer maternity leave. She has no PTO left either.

What do you think should be done to rectify this?

The company was nice enough to ask her if she can work one day a week after she has the baby. Then she will have a little bit of income. Is that even legal?

[Deleted]

Yes, it's legal.  There is no law saying you HAVE to take maternity leave.  You can go back the next day if you want. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Did she not get some sort of verification for the STD?  Was she supposed to pay for it?  Was the money taken from her check for it?

I didn't carry STD through work, but my supplemental LTD policy was on my dime.  The first paycheck I received afterwards, I made sure that I was paying for it.  

If if she has proof that she signed up for it, I think her company should pay half salary for part of the time.  Her bigger concern though should be if her health insurance is going to be covered while she is out.

Whether or not it is legal for her to work shouldn't matter.  I know some employers, this is not a problem, but when I went out on FMLA, I did do some work while out.  However, at that time I was not collecting disability.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

The company was nice enough to ask her if she can work one day a week after she has the baby. Then she will have a little bit of income. Is that even legal?

It's legal.  If you read in the fine print of the FMLA rules it states that you/your direct supervisor can petition that you need to be able to work X amount of time while on leave.   It's then up to your employer to approve it.

My employer would not approve it.  I had to be under a complete black out while on maternity leave, I couldn't even email my boss. 

HR logic being that I could come back and try to sue saying they bullied me into working and it becomes a he said/she said type of situation they'd rather avoid.

Does she not have the approval paperwork for her policy?   When I sign up for benefits every year I recieve a statement outlining what I agreed to.   If the benefits office screws up that's on them to fix because I can show I did indeed sign up.

[Deleted]

She was paying for the short-term disability. A small amount was being withheld from each paycheck.

Every month HR was supposed to be reconciling the disability invoice with employee deductions, but apparently they weren't.

FWIW: This is a company with 25 employees. FMLA in not applicable.

[naughtybear]

That sucks. I think she may be referring to plans that you pay for yourself out of your paycheck, if that's the case then she should have checked her paystubs.

[taz157]

Feb 20, 2017 11:25:20 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Feb 20, 2017 11:24:01 GMT -5 @bluester said:

She was paying for the short-term disability. A small amount was being withheld from each paycheck.

Every month HR was supposed to be reconciling the disability invoice with employee deductions, but apparently they weren't.

In that case I would definitely make it their problem to fix. 

Even if it's the employer paying what she would have gotten on STD.

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2017 11:25:20 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Feb 20, 2017 11:24:01 GMT -5 @bluester said:

She was paying for the short-term disability. A small amount was being withheld from each paycheck.

Every month HR was supposed to be reconciling the disability invoice with employee deductions, but apparently they weren't.

In that case I would definitely make it their problem to fix. 

It's not like the payout is that much.  If insurance won't pay, the company should just pony up the money. 

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2017 11:25:12 GMT -5 naughtybear said:

That sucks. I think she may be referring to plans that you pay for yourself out of your paycheck, if that's the case then she should have checked her paystubs.

There was money being deducted.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Feb 20, 2017 11:24:01 GMT -5 @bluester said:

She was paying for the short-term disability. A small amount was being withheld from each paycheck.

Every month HR was supposed to be reconciling the disability invoice with employee deductions, but apparently they weren't.

FWIW: This is a company with 25 employees. FMLA in not applicable.

Then on that note, she needs to tell HR that they need to figure it out, but as she was paying, she is going to expect to receive the benefit.  

This is might be worth consulting a lawyer about if they push back.

[973beachbum]

I used to work for an insurance company in the group health.  I never did any small group but it is basically the same.  Companies would come to us all the time saying "Jane Doe" started work on Jan 1 and we forgot to put in the paperwork and oh by the way she found out because she fell and the hospital told her she had no coverage so can you please back date her coverage for us quickly pretty please".

The problem here is this isn't a big company and this is disability to boot.  The disability insurance company underwrites all the new adds.  They really can't just put her on the list. 

To me this is all on the company and they have to suck it up and make it right with paying her while on mat leave.  This isn't like someone going to Wally World and buying a shirt.  You can't walk out of there having bought a shirt and with only a sock.  But in this case with that deduction showing on her paycheck she would have no way of knowing she wasn't actually covered for what it said she was. 

The company on the other hand was collecting money from her to pay the ins company and yet not paying them.   How they could have that happen for more than a month and not know is beyond me!  This screw up it totally on them.

[muttleynfelix]

Feb 20, 2017 11:36:56 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

I used to work for an insurance company in the group health.  I never did any small group but it is basically the same.  Companies would come to us all the time saying "Jane Doe" started work on Jan 1 and we forgot to put in the paperwork and oh by the way she found out because she fell and the hospital told her she had no coverage so can you please back date her coverage for us quickly pretty please".

The problem here is this isn't a big company and this is disability to boot.  The disability insurance company underwrites all the new adds.  They really can't just put her on the list. 

To me this is all on the company and they have to suck it up and make it right with paying her while on mat leave.  This isn't like someone going to Wally World and buying a shirt.  You can't walk out of there having bought a shirt and with only a sock.  But in this case with that deduction showing on her paycheck she would have no way of knowing she wasn't actually covered for what it said she was. 

The company on the other hand was collecting money from her to pay the ins company and yet not paying them.   How they could have that happen for more than a month and not know is beyond me!  This screw up it totally on them.

Yes! Yes! Yes!
If the company took her payroll deduction (her money), then they either self pay the disability claim or give her her money back.

DH had something similar with his health insurance. He started on probation with a company and he was supposed to wait 90 days until he got benefits. Well, the office manager contacted the insurance company, but then they didn't get the paperwork and deemed him unsigned up and closed out his enrollment period. When he tried to enroll on the group policy, they said no can do. You have to wait for open enrollment. The company paid for an individual policy for until he could get on the group policy. Of course his medical crisis started at that time and the individual policy had a preexisting conditions clause and deemed his problem preexisting after months of treatment. We were out like $3k (10 years ago, now we'd still be out $3k with insurance, but we would expect it because that is what our policy says).

[JustLurkin]

Feb 20, 2017 11:36:56 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

The company on the other hand was collecting money from her to pay the ins company and yet not paying them.   How they could have that happen for more than a month and not know is beyond me!  This screw up it totally on them.

  This isn't a month or two, the lady has been paying in for at least 8 months (since she can't enroll while pregnant and is due in a month).  After reading it, I wondered if the company even had a STD plan.

Working one day a week to earn money isn't feasible for most employees--what you would pay for the care of a newborn...she'd probably end up owing money, not earning money.  As others have pointed out, while home on disability you are still responsible for covering health insurance payments.  The company needs to pay whatever the STD "plan" would have paid out (what is it, like 50%?).  Reimbursing her for what she paid in would be insulting...oops, our bad, here's $20 to cover your expenses while home with your child--once again, makes me wonder if they have a plan.

[CCL]

Feb 20, 2017 11:32:33 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Another thing for her to figure out... how much has she paid in for the STD coverage that she doesn't have?   I know typically it's not a very high dollar amount out of each check.  But at the very least she should be reimbursed for paying in to something that she didn't actually have.  This would probably be more applicable if she's worked at the company for a long time.   




See if she can figure that out and if the amount she's paid in is greater than or near what the STD payout would be then have her demand that money reimbursed.   On the flip side if it's much less she shouldn't mention it and have the company foot the bill for the STD payout. 

I'd want the coverage or an equal benefit amount paid to me, not just premiums reimbursed. She may need to be off more than 6 weeks after the birth or, more likely, before. In addition, something else might come up between now and open enrollment. Accidents and illnesses happen every day.