Wisconsin Spousal surcharge

[Kdub]

Jurisdiction

Wisconsin

I recently started a new job, and was reminded to sign up for benefits within 30 days. The soonest appointment I could get was nearly 2 weeks, and then I was told if my spouse worked there would be a surcharge of 50$/biweekly pay period. My wife had JUST started working that same month after 11 years of being a housewife, and was working a couple hrs/day as a temp. I expressed concern about being charged even though she wasn't benefit eligible, and I was told that I would be sent a link to a waiver. When it didn't arrive after nearly a week, I inquired and was told to look on the company's intranet. The link was corrupt, and I again asked for the form, which I finally received on a Friday. By the time my wife took it to work Monday, allowed several days for her employer to sign, and returned, the employer stated it was1 day past the 30 day "window"to waive for this year, but "maybe" they could waive for next year! Ultimately they stopped charging, but already had taken 250$ in fees.....though I was told not to worry, they will not reimburse. Seems like a scam to me-i couldn't even access the form and was not made aware of
a 30 day "window"...do I have any recourse?

 

[cbg]

Your post is, at least to me, unclear. Were you able to enroll in benefits within the 30 days and simply missed the waiver of the surcharge, or did you miss the window to enroll at all?

It makes a difference to what options you have.

 

[ElleMD]

Sounds like you just didn't get the waiver form into them in time. That is on you. There are any number of ways you could have made sure it was submitted within the 30 day window or verified that it had to be in by a certain date. It if unfortunate there was a bad link but that hardly accounts for the total delay.

It is not uncommon to have such a surcharge or even deny coverage to a working spouse. If your employer ultimately stopped charging the surcharge ,they did more than they had to do.