Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with insurance and employment

Is my company's wellness program legal?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:31:05 -0800

Is my company's new, highly Orwellian, wellness program legal? How can I get them to stop? Posting anonymously to avoid employer retribution if I end my making a complaint.

My spouse and I are insured by her employer's health care plan. Recently, she was informed about a new wellness program they are implementing. The plan is called voluntary but it seems anything but. If you refuse to enroll, $90/month is deducted from your paycheck. If you enroll, you have two choices: the "no monitoring" plan which costs $65/month and the "monthly monitoring" plan with costs $30/month. Under terms of the monthly monitoring plan, you agree to health screenings of weight, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, etc. every 30 days. If you have a negative screening, such as your weight going up instead of down, your rate climbs to $65/month until corrected.

In general, I have no problem with wellness programs, and all for healthy living. However, I don't like the fact that they are penalizing people who don't want to participate, and I don't like the idea of anyone being forced to pay "fat fees." I did a little research on the EEOC site and came up with this:

"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has offered employers some guidance with regard to the ADA's restrictions on medical inquiries and examinations. Under the guidelines, an employer may conduct medical examinations and activities that are part of a voluntary wellness and health screening program. Therefore, offering employees the opportunity to voluntarily participate in health screening programs for high blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring are not likely to violate the ADA, as long as there is no penalty (economic or otherwise) for not participating. Employers must treat any information acquired as a confidential medical record. (source: http://hr.blr.com/whitepapers.aspx?id=19254)"

We have no other access to health insurance, so switching plans isn't an option. I know you're not a lawyer, and you're not my lawyer. But I'd be interested in opinions as to whether this program is legal. And if not, I would also appreciate any tips people may have for how to get the employer to change the program. We live in Georgia, if that helps.

Throw away email address: illegalprogrammefi@gmail.com

Fired from the Borg! Can I get Unemployment Insurance in MA?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:17:50 -0800

Can you get Massachusetts Unemployment Insurance if your fired for a "violation of company policy"? I worked for a financial services company as a software engineer for over 7 years. I was just fired for a "violation of company policy" (I'll explain what happened below if your interested).

I was told to go home after speaking to company investigators about the "violation" and my boss took my company ID. The next day I got a phone call from my ex-boss who said I was terminated, because of a "violation of company policy". The boss (or now ex-boss) said the company would not contest it if I applied for unemployment insurance.

Yesterday I applied for unemployment, the very nice man on the phone said that someone would phone me in due course about why I was let go, and that they would contact the firm.

My main question is, will I get unemployment insurance for being fired? What recourse do I have if I can't get unemployment insurance?

What I did to get fired, and other trivia (and me ranting a bit):
I was using NX to connect to my Linux desktop at home so I could access my personal e-mail (which is blocked at work).

I started doing this late last year so I could help my sister co-ordinate arranging home-help for my elderly mother, and then my sister broke up with their parter of over 10 years and was devastated and I continued accessing my e-mail via NX to talk to and comfort her. There's a major time difference between us which is why I wasn't doing this after work hours (and Gmail mobile is too hard to use for long e-mails on a small phone).

When I was investigated I was asked did I know why I was there. I admitted to what I had done, and when asked if I knew it was a violation I said yes (I wasn't really sure if it was, but being confronted about it I think I said “yes” because otherwise I wouldn't be there). Unfortunately, I didn't tell the investigators (who were like CSI only nicer) about the mother & sister thing, I only said I was using it to communicate with my family in Ireland, and not why. Afterward I told my boss ... about the mother & sibling thing.

The investigators admitted that they didn't think I'd revealed any company secrets and so on, which I assumed was their primary concern.

On top of that, for 2008 I had a boss that I didn't get on with and ended up with a bad, very bad review for 2008. Before this my reviews were good, and my boss never complained about my work (he was moody and just very difficult to deal with, and treated everyone like servants). Things were looking up when I got assigned to a new manager (whom I respected) . But, then to be dumped like this; and no or little support (and 95% of my money in the 401K that's worth 50% what it was worth last year).

To be honest I'm kinda shitting myself; I'd worked there for over 7 years and thought I was a conscientious employee, maxed out my 401k into the company's 401K and now feel like I'm getting the shitty end of the stick.

Beside my unemployment insurance question, do I have any legal or non-legal recourse about my termination? (I doubt if I do, as I probably signed something when I was hired for just such a thing.) On top of that they'll be doing layoffs any day know (with a severance package), and I suspect I might have been picked to be laid-off (due to the bad review) and suspect this was another reason I was let go.

Any advise is appreciated, and for anyone suggesting a lawyer, I don't think I can afford a lawyer to fight a financial company with their hordes of legal staff.

Posted anon as being terminated and people knowing about it isn't good for one's career, and I'm rather mortified about the whole situation. And sorry for ranting a bit.

Please email me at my throwaway email if you require more info, or want to provide advise (off-forum that you don't want public): MassUnemploymentQuestion@gmail.com

Thanks

How do I deal with unexpected job loss?

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:49:02 -0800

Legal secretary abruptly unemployed in New York State. Help me understand my job hunting and insurance situation. Until yesterday afternoon, I was a legal secretary with a large firm in a mid-sized city in New York State. I'd been with my employer for seven years, six and one half of it under a single supervising attorney, who left the firm in January. His replacement and I got along poorly and yesterday afternoon she fired me, allegedly for frequent typographical errors.

Prior to this point, I have always received excellent performance reviews. My previous supervising attorney will provide a glowing reference, as will the law clerk for the judge most of my department's work is docketed in front of. I had been in the process of looking for another position when I was fired.

None the less, I have never been fired from a position before and I would appreciate advice on how to best represent the situation at subsequent interviews.

I will lose my health insurance on July 31. I presently take Celexa, Wellbutrin, Seroquel, Klonopin and Synthroid. In so far as I can tell, COBRA coverage is prohibitively expensive, while Healthy New York does not cover mental health treatment. I am extremely concerned by the possibility that, if I'm forced to cease taking my medications for financial reasons, beyond the depression, the withdrawal symptoms will make it difficult to find work. Any advice on how to acquire maintenance medication until I'm on my feet would also be welcome.

Epilepsy, health insurance, employment, and a stupid little town

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:17:05 -0800

This question is for people with epilepsy or other lifelong conditions or spouses/boy/girlfriends of them, and is related to medical insurance and employment. My girlfriend has a degree in Journalism, and has experience in a few other fields (graphic design, photography, video), all of which are relatively useless where we live right now. We live in a smallish (30k) town with no real proper avenues of employment for her. We have a year lease that's up in about 10 months after which we're pretty sure we'll move to a metropolitan area for a couple reasons, not just the issue of her employment.

In the meantime, she has a crappy job that she hates working with people that suck. She'd just take a couple part time jobs and quit the damn thing, but she needs medical insurance because of her epilepsy. She said she tried for insurance that wasn't through employment before and they wouldn't accept her because of her preexisting condition. Admittedly, we're both a bit uneducated about this since during college she was covered by her parents' insurance.

We're looking for people who've been through similar situations (stuck in a situation with low prospects for gainful employment, but requiring health insurance) or at least know what _not_ to do. At the very least, some sort of words of experience in general would ease her mind a bit, since she feels pretty shitty about the whole ordeal.

asmallautomobile@gmail.com

Chronic condition, health insurance, small company?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:57:31 -0800

If someone has a chronic health condition, and accepts a job at a small U.S. company, how likely is it that health insurance premiums will go up for employees at that company?

Part-time w/benefits??

crapulent — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 04:01:26 -0800

Where can I work part-time and get benefits? I'm making a pathetic attempt to beat the system (or else I'm moving to Canada). The pay doesn't have to be spectacular, just reasonable. I think Whole Foods and Wild Oats offer benefits to part-time employees, but I need more options.

Employee Benefits

aacheson — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:55:41 -0800

Is there an easy way to find out what companies provide their employees with a pension and medical benefits after a certain period of time working there? I am looking for a centralized list or such that would tell me all those companies that are local-as I want to look at working at a company like that. A centralized list probably doesn't exist. How do you find out if there isn't a centralized place?

Objective information sites about heart disease?

mischief — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 16:57:23 -0800

OK, guys, the smartass has been humbled. Last weekend I experienced what should have been a mildly stressful event for the average person. However, I have fairly advanced heart disease, and the anxiety put me in the emergency room with chest pains and arrhythmia despite my normal meds and my emergency tranquilizers.

The time has come for me to seriously consider disability, as totally distasteful as I find that. Does anyone know of some objective information sites, particularly regarding how to document my condition, beyond the basic primers that Google coughs up? ( Yes, I am pursuing this through my doctor, but I want a 'second opinion'. ;-P )