Supplemental Life Insurance?

Question

I signed a form refusing supplemental life insurance via my employer. That was 10 years ago. I noticed a deduction on my paycheck shortly after and spoke to the payroll officer who assured me that I was not actually paying for it. I recently became aware that I have been being charged for it all this time. I don't even open my pay stubs as I am a salaried employee. Do I have any recourse as far as reccouping any of that money?

Answer 1

No.  If you had the benefit of the protection, you can't get a refund.  If it was being deducted from your pay, you obviously WERE paying for it.  Start opening your pay stubs - that's why they give them to you.

Answer 2

Does your employer administer the supplemental life policy? Do they calculate the amount that is to be deducted? Do they receive a report from a third party administrator which tells them how much to deduct?

Answer those questions first, and then go to your benefits department and ask for a copy of the original form that you signed. Make sure that it is in your file. Did you get anything in writing from the payroll officer?

Obviously, you should always check out your stubs. There are all kinds of deductions; make sure you can identify each one of them. They may have actually intended to stop your deduction, but accidentally stopped someone else's instead. Whether or not you can actually recoup any of that money is between you and your employer. If you were my employee and you brought all of that to my attention and it was obviously an internal error, then yes, we would refund the premiums to you and try to figure out where the error occurred. But if you had nothing in writing, including the original form, I would have to say you're out of luck.

Answer 3

No.  If you had died, they would have paid out.