There has to be a reason for this...

[threecrazykids]

Without going into a great amount of detail I am wondering if someone (maybe an HR prof) can help answer a question.

I am losing my job. We were notified 140 days prior to our last day (to the day) of what our final on-payroll date would be. State laws mandate that when a group this large gets let go they have to give you your severance no less than 60 days from your off payroll date.

I am in the last group in our organization to be let go and we were given our last working day as Dec 18th, 2015. The first group that was done have been gone about 2 weeks now.

The first group let go was informed that their last date had to be extended to the following Monday because they hadn't given exactly 60 days notice...no biggie. The managers didn't make them come in, just let them have Friday be their actual last day - but technically they were "on payroll" through the following Monday.

So now we are hearing from that first group of employees that because they were technically on payroll for that Monday, their last paycheck was for one day of pay. Sounds correct, right?

Well...they also took out 2 weeks worth of benefits against that 1 day of pay stating they "can't pro-rate benefits".

I have to note that according to the severance packages - the company is paying 100% of our benefits during our severance period (it's very generous, yes).

And suddenly, now the next two groups have suddenly been told (as of yesterday) that our dates have also been moved out to the following Monday from our original dates as well.

There HAS to be a reason they are doing this, and I just don't think it's right. I don't believe for 1 second they can't pro-rate my benefits. And if they are going to charge me 2 weeks of benefits out of that 1 day of pay, then I should be covered for those two weeks prior to my severance date kicking in, not just for the 1 day! Either that, or keep me on payroll for 2 more weeks!

Is this even legal? I have to assume it is, and that this is somehow to the company's benefit...I just don't have enough knowledge about these things as to why this sudden move to everyone's last date going to the following Monday from the dates we were originally given.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Contact year ur state Attorney General's office.

 

[natfrac]

I know from an HR perspective (at least where I've worked) benefits are either on or off--you can't pro-rate for the pay period. The question regarding whether extending your last date to the following Monday is an issue for your state's labor bureau.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Your state attorney general's office cannot answer this for you since they will not provide legal advice to the general public, just fyi. You will need to contact an attorney in private practice. You could ask your corporate counsel (if you know who that is/if your company is big enough to have someone), but just a reminder that their duty is to their client, the company.

 

[morgan98]

The other reason benefits are generally either on or off (although I do know something about this area, but do know necessarily know all the legalities) is that generally health insurance and those types of benefits cover you toward the end of the month. In other words, even if you leave a job on the second of the month, the employer keeps you on insurance coverage until the end of the month. Are you sure that your insurance ends on a random day mid-month?

Edited to Add: When letting people go, I have seen cases where we have extended someone's last day purposely into the next month in order to allow them to get another month of insurance at employer rates (before Cobra kicks in). For example, if your last day is October 30th, your insurance (as an employee) ends on October 31. If we make your last day November 2nd, we can withhold the employee contribution for benefits for November as health insurance (at the employee rate) would go through November 30th.

 

[threecrazykids]

At this point, I know one of the gals who was let go told me she has escalated to the VP of HR at this point trying to get a solid answer as to when her company benefits end and when COBRA begins. She's been tossed around from dept to dept and no one will tell her what day one ends and the other begins.

I guess it just makes no sense to me - we are paid current. If they would just keep our last working day on Friday (actually Saturday as our last pay period day), none of this would happen.

If the benefits can't be pro-rated mid pay-period then what would be the benefit of having us stay on until the following Monday? I just assumed that the company paid the premiums once a month and then the employees contributions are broken into 2 pay periods for convenience.

We are supposed to have a meeting tomorrow and our Sr. Manager has been on the phone all day with HR trying to figure out why this is happening. He's not happy - I've heard him in his office saying things like "Then keep them on payroll for 2 weeks if you're going to take out 2 weeks of benefits - that is not right and you know it!".

I am just hoping there is a big misunderstanding with that first group and this doesn't end up a nightmare for the rest of us to follow...

 

[supersnoop]

When you say the company is paying 100% of your benefits during the severance period, what does that really mean? When I was offered a severence, my company would continue to fund their portion of the benefits package, but I would be responsible for my portion. So, I suspect you'll still have to pay your portion for benefits, and this is really a non-issue.

 

[Allison]

When you say the company is paying 100% of your benefits during the severance period, what does that really mean? When I was offered a severence, my company would continue to fund their portion of the benefits package, but I would be responsible for my portion. So, I suspect you'll still have to pay your portion for benefits, and this is really a non-issue.

I was just thinking the same thing.

 

[threecrazykids]

Surprisingly, the company is paying for 100% of our benefits during the severance. We don't have to contribute to the cost at all. When the big wig HR dudes came in to inform us of our layoff they thought they were funny when they said we were "sort of getting a raise after being let go" because we would have $0 taken out for our medical coverage out of our severance.

Yeah, super funny joke.

 

[Ngwira]

Without going into a great amount of detail I am wondering if someone (maybe an HR prof) can help answer a question.

I am losing my job. We were notified 140 days prior to our last day (to the day) of what our final on-payroll date would be. State laws mandate that when a group this large gets let go they have to give you your severance no less than 60 days from your off payroll date.

I am in the last group in our organization to be let go and we were given our last working day as Dec 18th, 2015. The first group that was done have been gone about 2 weeks now.

The first group let go was informed that their last date had to be extended to the following Monday because they hadn't given exactly 60 days notice...no biggie. The managers didn't make them come in, just let them have Friday be their actual last day - but technically they were "on payroll" through the following Monday.

So now we are hearing from that first group of employees that because they were technically on payroll for that Monday, their last paycheck was for one day of pay. Sounds correct, right?

Well...they also took out 2 weeks worth of benefits against that 1 day of pay stating they "can't pro-rate benefits".

I have to note that according to the severance packages - the company is paying 100% of our benefits during our severance period (it's very generous, yes).

And suddenly, now the next two groups have suddenly been told (as of yesterday) that our dates have also been moved out to the following Monday from our original dates as well.

There HAS to be a reason they are doing this, and I just don't think it's right. I don't believe for 1 second they can't pro-rate my benefits. And if they are going to charge me 2 weeks of benefits out of that 1 day of pay, then I should be covered for those two weeks prior to my severance date kicking in, not just for the 1 day! Either that, or keep me on payroll for 2 more weeks!

Is this even legal? I have to assume it is, and that this is somehow to the company's benefit...I just don't have enough knowledge about these things as to why this sudden move to everyone's last date going to the following Monday from the dates we were originally given.

Anyone have any ideas?

The benefit to the company is that they are complying with the 60 day layoff provision.

 

[threecrazykids]

The benefit to the company is that they are complying with the 60 day layoff provision.

I would agree with that...however, we were told 140 days prior to our last day what our off payroll date would be. Had that meeting TO THE DAY. Suddenly when it comes to having the actual package handed to us (which requires 60 days notice) they have somehow forgot how to calculate what 60 days out from each groups last payroll date is?

And they tell us on Tuesday of this week (which would actually be the 60 day mark) that they are bumping our last day out to the following Monday, and giving our actual packages to us tomorrow.

The reason I question this whole thing is because they had originally given dates to the very first group 30 days prior to off payroll date. The states workforce group came back at the company and said they were required to give 60 days notice if they were letting go a certain % of employees at one location - it didn't matter if they did it in one big lump sum or broke it up over the course of 3 months - they had to give more than 30 days. They then had to extend all those people on payroll an additional 30 days. This was in our company, just a different organization within our location.

So, it's not like this is the first go round - they've done this several rounds already. And now this is the new process - to let us know ON the 60 day mark) that we've been extended 1 day into the following pay-period.

It just concerns me because I have never dealt with this before - been with the company 20 years. I just find it odd that they keep bumping us out 1 day into the next pay period at the very last minute.

Maybe it's all legal - and I'd like to believe it is. I just think it's crap if they are going to make me pay for 2 full weeks of benefits out of 1 day of pay. Heck, I cover my whole family so maybe they will just send me a bill for that last day worked.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

If you're paying for 2 extra weeks of insurance, I assume you're on the insurance 2 extra weeks. I think I'd prefer to be on the insurance an extra 2 weeks if possible even if the check for that one day were next to nothing as a result.

 

[savannie]

I am not a lawyer, and I really don't know the answer to your question about the legality of it all. However, I paid the bills for several different companies for years, and I worked closely with HR. Here's some information that may help:

1. Insurance premiums are usually paid once a month by the company.
2. Setting up insurance is sort of a multi-step process. The HR director adds you and your family to the insurance policy by submitting the paperwork to the company. HR/the payroll department then adds the deduction to your paycheck. It's very easy for the employee to pay a bit too much or too little for their total insurance coverage period. Most of the time, though, it's too little because of the timeline of everything.

You're assuming that the benefit amounts taken out are to cover the next two weeks of coverage. That may not be true. It may be covering the prior two weeks of coverage. Most of the time, your insurance is backdated to the first day you started working for a company or were eligible for benefits. You normally don't start paying for the coverage until you get your first paycheck, which may be a week or two later. So you're not actually paying in advance.

If I had to guess, I'd say that you'll probably be covered for the entire month regardless of your technical last day. I'm also betting that if you added up all of your payroll deductions, you've actually paid less overall than your total portion should have been. But that's just a guess based on what I've seen at other companies. Either way, the company should definitely let you know when your coverage ends. In fact, they're legally obligated to do that and to give you a COBRA packet within a certain amount of time. And, yeah, it's weird that they're paying for your benefits during your severance but not for that last day. I doubt it's illegal, though. I wish you the best of luck with all of it.

 

[smbarr]

When I left my last position, I was able to call my insurance company directly to find out what date my employer had paid my benefits through.

 

[threecrazykids]

Thanks for all the advice/info. We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow so hopefully our Sr. Manager has some answers from HR.
He said he called a few of the others who were let go that same day and some had two weeks of benefits taken out and some didn't.
Strange to say the least...
But I'll take the two weeks of coverage being taken out as long as they can tell me the date it switches over.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

Surprisingly, the company is paying for 100% of our benefits during the severance. We don't have to contribute to the cost at all. When the big wig HR dudes came in to inform us of our layoff they thought they were funny when they said we were "sort of getting a raise after being let go" because we would have $0 taken out for our medical coverage out of our severance.

Yeah, super funny joke.

I am still confused. What deductions, aside from the usual taxes, are they taking out of the check if 100% of your benefits are being paid by the company?

 

[Anthony1971]

Another possible reason.
In general with large companies there is a waiting period from your last day to when your severance benefits start.... HR needs to take inform the payroll company, Insurance company etc and set up everything for you to continue with pay and benefits... Not so hard for one person but with a large group to make everything work correctly as payroll companies and insurance companies make mistakes... they likely extend you for a day which keeps you current and give HR time for the transition. In the end it is no loss you to as you are getting an extra day that you will likely not have to work and maybe ending up with a few dollars after the deduction. As far as your insurance being paid until... it does not matter it can be ended at any time... You have to be covered by Cobra should you choose or in this case being paid for by a certain day that varies by state.

 

[threecrazykids]

I am still confused. What deductions, aside from the usual taxes, are they taking out of the check if 100% of your benefits are being paid by the company?

The deduction they are taking out actually IS for benefits. The issue is that they bumped our last day ON payroll from the Friday we were originally given, to the following Monday. The issue is that they are giving 1 day of pay for the Monday, but on that paycheck are taking out 2 weeks of benefits against that 1 day.

Our Sr. Manager said he has been working with HR to find out when our last day of paid benefits ends and our COBRA kicks in. I am perfectly fine with having 2 additional weeks of coverage paid by me if they are giving me the 2 weeks of coverage. The problem was that when the first round of people called HR to find out what was going on, they were told that they can't pro-rate benefits to the day, but that since we were "on payroll" for that Monday they were taking out 2 weeks of benefits but the coverage stopped after that 1 day.

We still have no answers as of today...hoping to hear something this week.