Help-old job compared to new job doing same just for new company

[Krischaser]

Hi our company was just bought out by a new one. They want to keep me and dh and match our pay (good). Now they want longer hours, on-call duty, and are giving 200 medical to one of us after 90 days, 6 sick days after 90 days also. At old job we had full medical and 10 sick/personal days each. We were on call but not to the extreme they want us to and shorter hours. I know we should be thankful for a job but what do you think about the situation? I haven't had to have a new employer in over 20 years so this is new to me. Thanks my dis friends Also I have three boys at home so the medical plan will be paid by me and all visits ect. Then I turn it into them and they will reimburse 200 of it. But that is only after I purchase the plan for 90 days. With this pay we can't really afford it.

 

[clh2]

I don't necessarily understand your comments about insurance. I'm sure other posters will have questions too.

Now - as far as everything else goes...only you can determine "are you better off with your current job under the new ownership/benefits or are you better off leaving". It sucks - I know.

 

[Krischaser]

I guess I wondering if this is the norm and should I be happy just to have a job. Or should I try and negotiate because they want me to do the same job for less compensation.

 

[ajk912]

Oh, that sucks. I think I would be looking for another job. I can probably work with the oncall hours and the longer hours, but I cannot work at a job that does not have group coverage. So that is a deal breaker, because securing a private policy can be really difficult unless you are pretty healthy.

 

[ceecee]

You no longer are getting medical insurance??? They are paying your medical bills after you pay $200? Is this for each visit/rx or what?

 

[cm8]

Oh, that sucks. I think I would be looking for another job. I can probably work with the oncall hours and the longer hours, but I cannot work at a job that does not have group coverage. So that is a deal breaker, because securing a private policy can be really difficult unless you are pretty healthy.

: agreed!

 

[Krischaser]

I pay for my whatever package of insurance I choose. Like a package that cost 500.00 a month I pay that 500.00 plus whatever out of pocket also for office visits and rx. Then they give me 200.00 back a month to help cover those costs.

 

[disneymom2003]

Jobs are hard to come by. My husband has been out of work for a year now. We have been on Cobra at a reduced cost but that is going away soon. I was able to get a second job with benefits. I really don't like this new job but we really need the benefits. I qualify after 6 months. Can't put hubby on for 2 years (so we are going to have to get a private policy of some sort for him), and the benefits are not as good as we had with his insurance. If we had to purchase them ourselves though they would be much higher. I would suggest you:

Check around. See if either or both of you can secure jobs elsewhere that have the pay and benefits you want, but I certainly would not quit my job until I had something better. Ultimately only you can say what is best for you

 

[vicki_c]

OP - your comments on the insurance are still not clear to me. Are you saying you didn't have to pay at all for medical insurance with the former company? (That would be amazing these days, IMO).

And now, the new company is offering to pay $200/month towards your medical and (not sure which of these you mean) either (1) they have medical plans you can pick from or (2) they don't have any plan at all and you have to obtain private coverage?

The answer to any of those has a lot to do with whether it's a comparable thing to your old firm.

My (large) company has multiple choices we can pick from, and then they of course, negotiate a group rate AND subsidize the cost as well (in some way that isn't obvious to the employees - not direct paid to the employees is what I mean), but I still pay $200 / month for medical for our family.

 

[Gigi22]

I would not leave your current jobs until you have something better in the bag. To decrease the stress level at home, may I suggest that you and your DH decide between the two of you which one is better able to do a job search and get a position at a similar level, with better benefits? One of you can then focus on pursuing a new job elsewhere, while both of you tread water where you are now.

 

[kittycat9]

OP - your comments on the insurance are still not clear to me. Are you saying you didn't have to pay at all for medical insurance with the former company? (That would be amazing these days, IMO).

And now, the new company is offering to pay $200/month towards your medical and (not sure which of these you mean) either (1) they have medical plans you can pick from or (2) they don't have any plan at all and you have to obtain private coverage?

The answer to any of those has a lot to do with whether it's a comparable thing to your old firm.

My (large) company has multiple choices we can pick from, and then they of course, negotiate a group rate AND subsidize the cost as well (in some way that isn't obvious to the employees - not direct paid to the employees is what I mean), but I still pay $200 / month for medical for our family.

Ditto to all of this.

My husband has been with his 'company' for 15 years, though it's been bought and sold about 4 or more times now. We have cafeteria plans for insurance, meaning we are given "$X" to 'buy' insurance from the bundled plans. The amount they give doesn't really cover family plans, it covers single plans, so what we go over comes out of his paycheck (which skyrockets for families). There are like 3 PPO plans in our state plus a couple HMO, but I think 7 plans company wide (at least in the states, it's an Int'l company - which means everyone outside of the US gets some form of universal HC - how nice for them). Some plans are risk coverage for hospital tragedy only - like if you were in a major car accident. Some are major medical with in networks of - 70/30, 80/20, 90/10. All have out of pocket max, copays, deductibles, etc. Each plan you choose deducts a different amount from the allotment "provided" by the company. If we go over that - then we pay extra. So if the company gives us $400/mo credit, and we choose a family plan that costs $1600/mo (medical, dental vision) - then we pay an extra $1200/mo for that plan. If my husband chose to just cover himself - he may only pay the $400/mo for the same plan.

Do you know the name of the insurance provider, and if it's an HMO or PPO - or if you have multiple options there?

Also, I would never think to leave a job before I had another one lined up, unless I didn't need it. Especially in a market like this one. As it stands, there are people out there that have been unemployed for more than a year and companies just are not hiring people that have been unemployed like that (sad but true according to resent reports). Depending on your skills, you need to find a headhunter and go that route - and just just wait it out.

 

[Krischaser]

Yes under my old employment we paid nothing but the co-pays. Now we shop and get our own insurance plan (not through them) and pay the premium every month and they give one of us 200.00 towards it. So if we get a family plan that is 800.00 they will give us 200.00 each month.

 

[vicki_c]

All I can say is that you were really fortunate with your previous free medical. Most companies no longer do that and I think it would be MUCH more difficult to find a new job that did. So definitely keep that in mind when making any decisions to leave.

I'm sure though, that getting your own insurance, is going to cost a lot more than getting an employer-sponsored plan. If you want to look for a new job, don't expect it all to be paid for, but it would be better to not have to get your own insurance.

My current firm doesn't have a pension plan, only a 401(k) and I was shocked by that when I started, because I had a pension with my former employer. But apparently companies with pension plans are also going the way of the dinosaurs. I had only worked for one company for 17 years when I changed jobs and I just thought all the big companies had pension plans, but that is no longer the case.

 

[thebeesknees]

You were very fortunate to have all your medical paid for before. That is very rare these days. I know what a pain it is to go back to paying for most of it yourself because that is what happened to us. DH worked for a company that was going gang-busters during the early 2000s, and they picked up our enitre medical insurance premiums except copays. Then with the economic crisis, it all went downhill and they went under. He was fortunate to find a new job relatively quickly, but the benefits are very poor compared to what we had before. However, that is the way it is everywhere, now. Medical coverage and pension plans seem to have all but disappeared at most places now. I think if I were you, I'd continue at the job for now (at least they are giving you the $200 a month - that is something, anyway). Dust off your resume and put your name out there on recruiting lists and job websites and see if you get any bites, in the meantime. If you do get an offer, you can compare what they are offering benefits-wise and see if it would be worth it to change jobs. It is hard to put a price on job security at the moment. There are so many people out there that have been unemployed for so long that it might take you a lot longer to land a new position than you are planning on.

 

[NotUrsula]

Two issues really stand out for me:

1) that they are offering the insurance premium reimbursement to only ONE of you: big-time wrong, and it smells of sex discrimination. You both work there, and presuming that you are both entitled to benefits by virtue of the number of hours you work/seniority, your marital status vis-a-vis one another is something that they are not entitled to use to get themselves a "discount" on benefit payments. If employees are normally entitled to a $200/mo premium reimbursement, then as your household contains 2 employees, you should EACH be getting
$200/month. (Trust me, you are unlikely to find a good private plan that will cover a family for less than $1000/month.)

2) that they are requiring that 90-day waiting period before coverage kicks in. Waiting periods like that are normally waived in the case of employees acquired in the course of a company buyout.

Also, while it isn't something that is wrong, you are NOT being offered a pay match. You are being offered the chance to keep your job, all right, but to do so, you will be taking a MASSIVE pay cut, even if you do get the $400/month for insurance. All those longer hours and higher insurance costs equal a lot of money lost.

Do you have any way of finding out what your old company paid for your medical insurance premium every month? That was part of your pay, and it should count as part of the match if they are truly matching, minus any premium reimbursement that they are offering. Here's an example: I pay a monthly insurance premium of $384 for my family. My employer picks up the rest of the premium cost, which is an additional $1000/mo. Because Federal law allows that the premiums are currently non-taxable, that extra $1K doesn't show on my pay stub, but it is definitely part of my compensation package, along with premiums for a life insurance policy that covers one year's pay, and the premiums for short-term disability insurance that my company also pays on my behalf. In addition, the value of my vacation and sick time counts, too. Every year I get a letter from my employer that shows the total amount they invest in me each year, and what I see on my paycheck only totals up to about 70% of that amount.

I understand about feeling lucky to have a job, and that is a compelling argument, but don't think that they are being generous; they are not. They are getting you at a very big discount if you agree to this plan.