Company Wants Me to Pay for Benefits I Didn't Recieve

[dead_onion]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Michigan

Hi, I am a nurse. recently at the end of july i started a new job with HCR Manor Care. i was required to fax documents to the corporate hq or whoever it is that does benefits so that i could recieve benefits for myself and family. i faxed the documents in the alloted time. a month later i hadn't recieved any communication from the benefits provider or my employer about benefits, so I asked the HR director about weather or not I have benefits. a few days later he got back with me and said that I failed to fax the documents, and that I don't have benefits. I told her that this wasn't true, she said i need to find the fax receipt. another week went by and I finally located the receipt. I gave it to her. 2 days later I was ready to quit this job because I had a better job offer and quite frankly this facility I was working at was horrible, nurses would routinley stay after for 3 hours to catch up on their work, no time for lunch breaks, etc.etc.
so on my last day, my HR director tells me that the company did in fact find the documents and that my insurace is effective. he then goes on to tell me that the are making the insurance retro-active and that I owe the company about 1000 dollars that will be deducted from my upcoming paycheks. I asked him how I owe money for something I didn't recieve, and he said that its retro-active and thats their policy.
so I quit later that day for that reason and the others listed above.

So is this legal? how can I be forced to pay for something I didn't recieve?
I was specifically told that I didn't have benefits. I never submitted any claims for re-imbursment. I never recieved anything stating I had insurance.

what are my options??

thanks

[cbg]

Yes. It is legal. They granted you the coverage retroactively, so you did receive it. If you have claims you want to submit for reimbursement, you can do so and they will be covered. They are going to be charged by the insurance carrier for the coverage - you also get to pay your share.

I'm not saying that it wasn't badly handled. Nonetheless, this is entirely legal.