I started at this job on Oct 13th, putting my 90 days at Jan 11th. On Wednesday of last week (Jan 7th) my manager gives me my enrollment form and says they need it turned in by friday, which i filled out and turned in on friday morning picking the $60 per pay period option. Im paid biweekly.
My manager talks to me yesterday and says they will be pulling $240 out of my upcoming paycheck on Jan 23rd. They said it is for payments for my insurance for January and February. I ask why I am having to pay for the month of January if I am not being covered the whole month and generally why this is happening, as I have always experienced a payroll deduction for my employee contribution upon the commencement of the package availability. They cannot give me a straight forward answer and direct me to the accountant for the business.
Before i go any farther I would like to add in that at the beginning of my employment I was told that my 90 days eligibility would be affected by days the business was closed for holidays etc, thus projecting my 90 days to be sometime in March instead of January. Thanks to an elder employee, they contacted the agent who is between the business and health insurance company and found out that was illegal. So i have distrust in this company already.
I talk to the accountant today who immediately is on defense and says “do you even know who i am in this company? I am HR and the plan administrator”. There is no employee handbook or written down documents of any kind at this business. The HR/accountant/plan administrator says that due to the health insurance company’s billing schedule they pay the full month a month in advance. They say they messed up due to the holidays happening and they should have been deducting from my paychecks in December for my January coverage even though my eligibility date was not until January 11th.
I tell them 240 dollars is a lot to be sprung upon without prior notice and they said they can split it up to 120 between my next paycheck and the following but to be aware that on the following paycheck (the first in February) i will also be charged $60 for the beginning of March.
I asked for the number to the agent whom my coworker spoke to about the holidays and they were extremely discouraging about me contacting the agent, saying the agent wouldn’t even know who I am and doesn’t deal with deductions, and going as far to say they had to tell my coworker to stop bothering the woman. (i checked with my coworker who said this was not true and the agent had been obviously very helpful in telling the company what they were doing with the holidays was wrong.) i asked for a benefit summary document to see my effective date and was told all they could give me was the date of January 11th.
I am looking for input on this situation as it is one I have never dealt with before and we all know how confusing insurance can be. Is this odd to anyone else ?
Posted by bluebell3344