Open enrollment

lwl

In Virginia, does a FTE have to sign a waiver stating that he/she does not want to participate in the agency's health insurance coverage, or can the employer assume that the employee does not want coverage if they have not responded to the HR Department one day after the open enrollment period closes? Case in point is that an employee who works in the field and has limited desk time failed to turn in her application for insurance; she has worked at the agency for 16 years and has had coverage each year. Since the HR department had not recieved the employee's application, they sent an email saying that since they had not heard from the employee, that they "assumed" that she did not want coverage and therefore denied her request to turn the application in 2 days late.

Any feedback?

dixied

It's interesting that this same question is posted on SHRM's HR Talk site. Also intersting that this occurred the the person's wife and they are not in HR, but not looking to place blame, just interested in other's opinions! I think there was quite a bit of feedback on SHRM's site.