Health Insurance Premium Reimbursement

[Guest ssek]

My company has recently increased the employee contribution for Health Insurance and required enrollment prior to 12/1. After 12/1 they announced that they would compensate anyone who enrolled in the company Health Insurance with a stipend of 1,750 and would not pay out to employees who declined coverage due to inclusion on a spouses policy elsewhere. Could this be considered discrmininatory and are there any precedents?

[Jacmo]

Sounds to me like they've got to hold open enrollment all over again. They have made a major material modification to their plan. I assume you have their announcement in writing. It may be time to see an ERISA attorney.

[QDROphile]

Sounds like the employer effectively decreased an employee's share of the cost of health coverage. Depending on how and when the amount is paid, some employees who do not participate the entire year may get a windfall if the the intent was to reduce the effective cost for the year. While the cost may have affected the decisons of some employees to enroll or not, I am curious about why a change of cost would require open enrollment. Please elucidate.