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  1. #1

    Default Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

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

    Thanks in advance for any advice. I am inquiring on behalf of my younger sister. She works for a grocery store chain in California and is a member of the union. She is married and has had her husband covered on her medical, dental & vision insurance. After the last couple of years of an abusive marriage he split. Nobody knows where he is, she has no contact with him. During open enrollment she attempted to remove him from benefit coverage. She was unable to do so. She scheduled a meeting at the union office and they asked her to write up a statement of facts and sign it. She is asking that they remove him and stop taking money from her check for his coverage. The local union office sent the statement in for review and she received a letter asking for more information. She mailed a statement explaining that he has left and that she has no idea where he is. He is on Social Security Disability and I would believe is qualified for medical coverage through Medicare. She included that in her letter. They have once again denied the removal and state that they will continue to deduct from her check for his coverage. There is no evidence that he has attempted to use the coverage since he left (she would have received a statement).

    Any ideas?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

    Quote Quoting WhoDonnit
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    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California

    Thanks in advance for any advice. I am inquiring on behalf of my younger sister. She works for a grocery store chain in California and is a member of the union. She is married and has had her husband covered on her medical, dental & vision insurance. After the last couple of years of an abusive marriage he split. Nobody knows where he is, she has no contact with him. During open enrollment she attempted to remove him from benefit coverage. She was unable to do so. She scheduled a meeting at the union office and they asked her to write up a statement of facts and sign it. She is asking that they remove him and stop taking money from her check for his coverage. The local union office sent the statement in for review and she received a letter asking for more information. She mailed a statement explaining that he has left and that she has no idea where he is. He is on Social Security Disability and I would believe is qualified for medical coverage through Medicare. She included that in her letter. They have once again denied the removal and state that they will continue to deduct from her check for his coverage. There is no evidence that he has attempted to use the coverage since he left (she would have received a statement).

    Any ideas?
    She needs to file for divorce so that he is no longer eligible to be covered under her insurance.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    1,179

    Default Re: Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

    agree it's time for her to do something legally to formalize the separation/divorce ... it's probably best for other financial reasons also.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

    Why was she unable to remove him during Open Enrollment?

    I'm asking for a reason.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

    That is a good question, she said that it "didn't go through". I am wondering myself how they can force you to cover other persons, isn't it up to you if you want to cover dependents or not?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

    There are Federal laws that dictate when you are allowed to add or drop dependents from your employer-sponsored coverage. You can made the change during Open Enrollment every year but outside of that, there has to be an IRS-approved "qualified life event" before you can make any changes. It cannot be done any time you want. That's Federal law, not the employer being obstructive. Even with a qualified life event, there's only a short window in which to make the change. Usually 30 days.

    "It didn't go through" can mean a lot of things. If you can find out more about WHY it didn't go through, I may be able to help more. But if not, if she really is stuck for now, a divorce would be a qualified life event and she'd have (probably) 30 days from the date the divorce is final on which to drop him.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Employer Won't Remove My Absentee Spouse from My Benefits

    Thank you for your response, it really sheds some light and was what I was looking for. I suspect that she and one of my other sisters attempted to remove him from coverage during the open enrollment period using an on-line system. When she says "it didn't go through" I believe that they did not complete the process correctly. The union representative gave us the impression that writing a letter explaining the circumstances would cause a review and possibly the removal but it seems that they have strict guidelines to adhere to and probably are not able to change it even if they wanted to. She may have to live with the money coming from her check until the next open enrollment period. Meanwhile she needs to get some divorce paperwork started although it will probably be complicated not knowing where he is. I suspect it will involve making some sort of public notice in the newspaper. I doubt she can find out from the Social Security Administration where he is receiving his checks. Thanks again!

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