Hi there
I am employed by a company operating in Australia, and am Australian citizen, employed by the Australian affiliate.
I was expatriated to a role in the USA.
Part of the conditions and benefits of my expatriation was a US Health Insurance policy (very important I. USA!) provided by company, with a part pay deduction.
I was advised that enrollment was ‘automatic’ and that I would be enrolled with AETNA (US provider).
I am fairly healthy and after being here for nearly 12 months I wanted to go to the doctor and thought I better chase down my policy details. Long story short, the HR admin center never enrolled me as it ‘slipped through the cracks’.
After some days of messing around they finally got a policy activated but now want to charge me the deductions retrospectively for a policy that I never had.
They claim that insurance is mandatory and therefore I need to have my contributions retrospectively deducted in one hit!
The company also argues that had I been hospitalized without insurance they would have “picked up the bill anyway”.
I can’t believe this.
They say no exceptions and it will just be deducted out of my pay.
Surely this is a breach of contract on their part and I should not have to pay for something I was never provided.
I know as a US MNC in the Oil & Gas game we certainly don’t pay suppliers or vendors for stuff we never received, but seems the Corporatoon is happy to pull cash from our own employees in cleaning up those own mistakes.
What recourse do I have?
I am employed by a company operating in Australia, and am Australian citizen, employed by the Australian affiliate.
I was expatriated to a role in the USA.
Part of the conditions and benefits of my expatriation was a US Health Insurance policy (very important I. USA!) provided by company, with a part pay deduction.
I was advised that enrollment was ‘automatic’ and that I would be enrolled with AETNA (US provider).
I am fairly healthy and after being here for nearly 12 months I wanted to go to the doctor and thought I better chase down my policy details. Long story short, the HR admin center never enrolled me as it ‘slipped through the cracks’.
After some days of messing around they finally got a policy activated but now want to charge me the deductions retrospectively for a policy that I never had.
They claim that insurance is mandatory and therefore I need to have my contributions retrospectively deducted in one hit!
The company also argues that had I been hospitalized without insurance they would have “picked up the bill anyway”.
I can’t believe this.
They say no exceptions and it will just be deducted out of my pay.
Surely this is a breach of contract on their part and I should not have to pay for something I was never provided.
I know as a US MNC in the Oil & Gas game we certainly don’t pay suppliers or vendors for stuff we never received, but seems the Corporatoon is happy to pull cash from our own employees in cleaning up those own mistakes.
What recourse do I have?
