Of all the bullshit.

[crysthewolf]

A few days ago Stephen brought me a statement from my insurance company that had been sent to his house.  It said that my last visit to my doctor's office on July 16th (after Glenn Huelskamp had sent me home because I was having trouble breathing at the office... two days before he fired me) wouldn't be paid for by them because I was not covered by the insurance at that time.  

I called them yesterday, after the orientation meeting from Hell,  I called my insurance company to see what was up.  I was told, that when I was signed up for insurance at Huelskamp & Huelskamp, I was signed up for an individual plan.  What THAT means, is that whether my employer said that they were taking the premiums out of my check and sending them or not, it was MY responsibility to make sure that those payments got in.

And there was never a single payment made on my insurance plan.

The gal that I talked to on the phone was VERY nice and she apologized for what seemed like a royal kick in my ass.  It was, but it wasn't her fault.  

Frankly, it wasn't my fault either.  I didn't know about this.  If I was supposed to be paying the premiums myself, I was never told.  I was under the impression that my part of it would be taken out of my check and that Huelskamp & Huelskamp would be paying part.. considering that when I was hired on I was told "We DO offer insurance coverage", which to me means that I'll be on a group plan and my part of the coverage will be taken out of my check by the company.  Truth is, I don't know much about insurance, because it's usually taken care of by people in HR.  At Huelskamps', Karen is HR.  And Karen didn't tell me dick about my part of my insurance.

Am I shocked by this?  No, not really.  I will be EQUALLY not-shocked when I get my call to Huelskamps' returned with an edge of "Are you stupid, why couldn't you figure this out on your own?" from whoever makes the call because that will be Karen's reaction.  My answer?

No, you bleach-blonde, head-up-your-own-ass, skinny fucking pathetic bitch, I did NOT figure that out on my own, because it's YOU'RE FUCKING JOB TO TELL ME!!!!  Just like it was YOUR FUCKING JOB TO TRAIN ME, you hoity toity fucking jackass!!!!  

I have news for you, you fucking dingbat... YOU are the idiot.  YOU are the stupid bitch who can't figure out how the FUCK to do her job on her own!!!!  And your WORTHLESS, LYING, SEXUALLY HARASSING, PIECE OF SHIT, BASTARD of a HUSBAND, can BITE MY FUCKING ASS!!!!

I called my doctor's office this morning to explain what was going on and to apologize for the fact that they didn't get paid.  Hey, it's not my doctor's fault.  Yes, healthcare is crazy expensive, but it's supposed to have been covered by insurance.  The receptionist who answered the phone was COMPLETELY blown away... and she apologized to ME for having to deal with all of that.  She set me up with a month-to-month payment plan with no minimum payment.  "Whatever you can afford.  And I hope that you're able to get a good job soon... I am so sorry you've had to go through this."  I advised her, "Do yourself a favor and never work for lawyers.  You wouldn't believe the bullshit I've had to go through with this asshole, both while I was there and since I've left."

So, to recap.  I was hired by Glenn from the Clerk's Office, offered $12.10 an hour plus insurance coverage, and told that I would be trained to cover for the current secretary while she was gone (but NOT expected to work up to her standard since she'd taken three years to learn everything she knew), and that I would be kept on board after she came back.  While she was gone, regardless of how hard I worked, there was no pleasing the two of them.  I made phone calls, scheduled appointments, filed motions... whenever Glenn handed me something and said "I need you to create a pleading for this" and I didn't know how the hell to do it (and when I asked questions he wrinkled his nose at me and made a disgusted sound), I managed to figure it out on my own.  I put up with his yelling tantrums and his disgusted looks when he would walk into my office and say "What's X situation about?" and I, having absolutely no way of knowing because Karen or he had handled a good portion of X situation WITHOUT briefing me, would say "Which situation is that?" 

The people who know me, know that I'm not incompetent and that I don't slack.   The people who have worked with me can vouch for that.

Then, three days after his other secretary came back, I started having breathing trouble.  It turned out to be acid reflux, but at the time I didn't know what was going on and was afraid that if I ran my usual errands at the City County Building (where, by the way, Karen and Glenn go just about every day for court, and were going that day) I might pass out in the street.  So, I talked to the other secretary and asked her if there was any way I could cover the office and let her do it; since I'd been covering the office the whole time she was gone, I figured it wouldn't be a HUGE deal as long as she didn't mind doing it.  Her response was, "Of course!  It's no problem!" but, when she let Karen know that she was going to go across the street for me and why, Karen called me into her office.  "If you're sick," she said, "you need to go home."  I explained to her that I was okay to work, I was just concerned about walking across the street in the heat.  She said, "Well, we need Brandy in the office, so if you're sick, you need to go home."

I went home, made an apopintment at my doctor's office, and later received a call from Brandy telling me that Glenn had said not to bother coming in until Friday at around 10am, that he wanted me to feel better and that I should make sure that I went to the doctor.  

When I went in on Friday at 9am, I was directed to wait for Glenn in the conference room.  I waited for about ten minutes for him to come in and, after attempting to accuse me of snooping around the online database at night, tell me that I was fired, and that I "Just wasn't suited for a law office."

THEN, when I filed for unemployment he filed the claim that I was not doing my job.  THEN I find out that the asshole wasn't sending in the insurance premiums for my plan, even though no one had told me that I was the one who was supposed to be PAYING for this plan out of MY OWN pocket.

And my doctor has my back.  She's my only hero in this story.  But I suppose between an asshole ex-boss lawyer and your own doctor, I guess I'd prefer the latter to have my back.

Still, what a piece of bullshit this has all been.

Love,
Crystal

Comments

[cori-chronicles.livejournal.com]

That's really really really annoying.

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

Gawd, I am disgusted reading this. We don't have these kinds of issues in Canada, but some times we do. The advice regarding working for lawyers was a good one, since my profession is reception/administrative.

I hope you will get this all straightened out soon.

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

HOLY FUCK!!!!!

Those fucking bastard pieces of cocksucking taintlicking fuckshit. (I apologize for the delicacy of my language; you know I try to be moderate and circumspect, and I'm afraid that if I really unloaded what I thought of the Huelskamps it might offend some delicate lj readers' eyes. But rest assured that even though my words are fairly mild given the situation, their actions do, in fact, warrant much stronger verbiage.)

If I was you, I would put in a call to your local Legal Aid. This seems like something that *ought* to be illegal, so perhaps it just might be. People in positions of power generally count on the fact that the ones they're stomping on don't have enough confidence to fight for their rights.

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm with mycybertuffet. You have crossed the line into lawsuit territory. If you were told that your offer included health insurance, there has to be some sort of recourse to nail his ass to the wall.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

I can look into it, but he covered is butt pretty well here. I would think all he'd have to do is get the insurance company to testify that they made me aware of the fact that I was held responsible for whether or not the premiums got paid, whether the company told me that I was supposed to pay them out-of-pocket or not.

But I'll give it some thought.

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

It would certainly help if you had an offer letter stating that your job included health insurance. Just to be clear: were you being paid extra to cover the insurance premium? If you were offered $12.xx/hour and health insurance, even verbally, then that should constitute a lie. The lack of documentation will hurt you, but I still think there's a good chance that there's some legal recourse here.

I've never started a job where they didn't give me something to sign stating that I understood how health insurance would be paid for. If he didn't do that, then I think that HE is also missing documentation. "You should have figured it out by yourself," is absolutely frakkin' absurd.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

I was offered $12.10 an hour and health insurance verbally, but I don't have anything in writing. I don't think that I signed any documentation about the health insurance though.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

The problem is that I did an electronic signature with the insurance company, and I believe that one of the things that they asked me was whether I understood my policy and I believe that I stated that I did. Part of my policy was that I was responsible for the premium, so it's possible that that could be used against me.

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know if you have a good legal case here. But I think you do yourself a disservice by assuming you DON'T. That's what he wants you to do. If you had a good case and never checked it out, then he wins. If you check it out and you don't have a case, well, then all that's hurt is your pride (which is real -- checking this stuff takes emotional energy you're using on your job search :-p).

I think some of my insurance policies have said that I am responsible for making sure the premium is paid. I don't think this is necessarily a protection for the boss. I believe this is protection for the insurance company so that they can cut your coverage when they don't get their premium.

And I'm also concerned on the point that this is a big surprise to you. If the premium is not being paid on your health insurance, you're supposed to be TOLD that. I took out Aflac at work, and my job screwed up my withholding. I was paying for it myself, but the money was supposed to be taken out of my paycheck. Aflac sent me like FIVE notifications that they were going to have to terminate the policy for nonpayment. That's now I knew to contact HR.

It seems like the very fact that you went to the doctor with a REAL health insurance card that was SUPPOSED to be active, and you hadn't received a single notification from anyone that it wasn't, is evidence that there's wrongdoing someplace.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

" If you check it out and you don't have a case, well, then all that's hurt is your pride (which is real -- checking this stuff takes emotional energy you're using on your job search :-p)"

Which is the only reason I hesitate. My emotional energy isn't exactly at its peak right now. But I promise I will give it some thought, and at the very least a BIT of research (to find out just how draining it may be to actually pursue something.)

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

I would also bring up your little interview where he narrowed a list of potential clients down by apparent gender and hispanic surname. I don't know if that's unethical as defined by the board association or not, but it might be.