Employer deducting more from paychecks than authorized for health insurance

[dolphin1mam]

I recently uncovered the President of our company is deducting more money from employees than what was agreed upon with the ins. co for our health insurance. I confronted him and he admitted he was but he will not repay the employees and states he is justified in doing what he wants. He is taking that money he stole and putting it toward the 70% he agreed to pay for our health insurance to offset his own costs. What can I do since I am still employed there and currently don't have another job to go to? I have to continue to watch him steal from the employees and it is not easy but I have nowhere to go right now. He is trying to state that health insurance benefits and compensation are lumped into one pool of money and he states the benefits are a raise in salaries that he has to offset from.

 

[Patricia_Young]

You signed an authorization for the benefit deductions, correct? And that authorization included how much the deduction was supposed to be?

 

[dolphin1mam]

No...he did not have anyone sign any authorized payroll deductions

 

[dolphin1mam]

I have the rates from the Insurance Company that states what was to be taken out of the employees paychecks and he added his own amount to that and is deducting a higher amount than what the insurance company and he agreed upon.

 

[Patricia_Young]

Here is the law in PA regarding deductions from pay:

You must give written authorization to your employer to make such non-tax related deductions. It is not valid to sign a "blanket" authorization at the time of hire to cover any future deductions.

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=563209&mode=2#12

So, by making the deductions AT ALL without your written authorization, the employer is in violation of the PA Wage Payment and Collection Law.

Having said that, the plan itself normally does not specify the percentage that the employee will pay and the percentage that the employer will pay. Are you saying yours does?

 

[dolphin1mam]

His agreement with the employees and the insurance company was a 70/30 split. That is the plan he went with and our portion should only be 30% but he is taking more than that out of payroll deductions. He never changed the payroll deductions last year when we switched from Aetna to Health America (a cheaper plan) and when he was confronted regarding the overpayment from all employees for the past 13 months he does not plan on giving their money back and stated "he forgot to change the deductions in the system". He is now trying to say that money went to help offset the 70% he is paying.

 

[Patricia_Young]

Well, I go back to the primary premise, being that the law prohibits deductions, that are not required by law, from being deducted AT ALL without the employee's express written authorization. And not just, "I agree to pay for health insurance", but "I agree to pay XX per paycheck (or XX per month or XX per year) for health insurance".

 

[cbg]

The insurance company has nothing to do with how the premium is divided between employer and employee.

 

[Patricia_Young]

The insurance company has nothing to do with how the premium is divided between employer and employee.

I thought not, but I wasn't 100% sure.