Bosses fined for not providing health cover
(CNS): Over the last two months three local bosses have been fined by the courts after failing to provide health insurance cover for their workers. The cases brought by the Health Insurance Commission have all resulted in $750 fines or potential short prison sentences after the employers pleaded guilty to the charges. These cases were all started before government amended the law which deals with the mandatory provision of health cover by employers last October but in future fines for the same offence could be as much as $40,000. Superintendent of Health Insurance Mervyn Conolly said the successful prosecutions should serve as a reminder to all employers about their obligations under the law.
Last month, Treva McIntosh of Archie’s Disco, Bar & Restaurant was fined $750 on four charges totalling $3000 total to be paid in two months or four months imprisonment and Lisa Kandler of Crewe Road Esso was fined $750 to be paid in two months or two months imprisonment by Magistrate Nova Hall in the summary court after the bosses pleaded guilty to the charge of “failure to effect and continue standard health insurance coverage for employees”.
This month Magistrate Margaret Ramsey-Hale fined Jerrilyn Rankine-Gordon of The Party Mart Ltd $750 also to be paid in two months or two months imprisonment.
Conolly said he was satisfied with the outcome of these cases but the department was working behind the scenes to improve health insurance coverage for all workers.
“With the recent amendments to the law the future fines that can be applied to these violations were significantly increased from $5,000 to $30,000 on summary conviction and fines of $40,000 on conviction on indictment – up from $10,000,” he explained. “I therefore hope that the recent rulings by the Magistrates will serve as a reminder to all employers that it is important to make sure they adhere to the requirements of the health insurance legislation.”
As a result of The Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2010 fines have substantially increased so any legal cases started after 15 September will face significantly higher penalties which government hopes will act as a real deterrent.
Mark Scotland the health minister who brought the amendments to the law stated in the Legislative Assembly that the Health Insurance Commission had recorded numerous complaints by employees that their employers were deducting health insurance contributions from their salaries but failing to maintain the policies. The increase in fines he said would “send a firm message to make it more clear that it is unlawful to make these deductions from an employee’s salary,” he added.
Category: Headline News
I am glad these culprits were caught! The fines were not hefty enough though should have been larger amounts!
Mr. Conolly I think you also need to check into some of the small companies operating under “medical centres”.
Long before Ivan and operating under another name there was no health insurance coverage for stafff…and God forbid if any staff member had gotten sick then or even now!!
It is mandatory and everyone should have health insurance so let them pay for their staff too…
Just saying my piece and fact!!
Great forum guys, i will send the link on to ESSO.
Do they care, well its only about money i suppose, why worry about life?
Good job prosecuting the employerhowever did they get back any deductions taken from the employee? It is not fair that the employer pays a fine but gets to keep the deductions.
Now if they could only do the same with those employers who are not paying pension! Most employers will pay health premiums before pension.
I agree, my husband just got his pension statement for the year and not a cent was paid into his pension. The pension company are aware of it and have advised the pension board but nothing is done, They continue to steal his money every week. There is absolutely no point having laws if they are not upheld.
Are you sure the pension company is actually reporting this to the NPO and not just telling you that they are?
That’s what happened to me so when I went into the NPO raising hell they had absolutely no indication there was a problem. Once that was resolved things moved very fast and the payments were brought up to date.
It seems the pension companies can be very reluctant to file mandatory non-compliance reports to the NPO for fear of losing business.
company name please
$750 with two months to pay?
That probably doesn’t even cover the prosecution costs.
Get real! This is not a victimless crime – it’s theft and fraud so should be treated accordingly.
Thats right keep the pressure up on the private sector, more of them will close up fire those poor underpaid workers who will then go home and stop renting apartments and eating food and comsuming items then our massive public service will have to slim down because there will have nobody to suck of off and we can all go back to fishing and eating breadfruit. Perfect,
“Thats right keep the pressure”
Spoken like a true idiot!!!…What is the sense of having laws if you are not going to enforce them…what happens to the domestic helper or construction worker when they are seriously ill and needs medical attention….do you think the gov’t will foot the bill for an expat?????
Just asking!!!!!
Bro we are already gone mate, I am not spending CI 3000 a month in the KY economy any more, I loved the country but the country did not love us expats.
Ooops, not very good publicity for Esso!
xxxxx 750 bucks. They’ll never do that again.
I agree with the actions and rulings of the court, HIC et al. However, my question is, who looks out for the employees when they have coverage but the insurance company refuses to pay claims?
I am aware of a case currently where someone is suffering while the insurance company suspended coverage and has dragged their feet on the matter for 7 months. The family is now almost bankrupt trying to pay health care bills out of their pocket, while the provider gives the run around everytime a call is made to inquire what is going on.
This has been reported to the HIC with several follow up meetings and little result.
Employers should be made to face the music, but so should some of these unscrupulous insurance companies. I wish someone would look into this matter with the same level of tenacity and try to ensure that everyone is treated fairly.
A seemingly positive move by our government, but could it be that this is a sign that employers are finding it extremely hard to cover their employees whilst they have to deal with paying the increased cost of business fees and permits? Could not government lower the fees, duties, licenses, and relieve such employers from economic stressors? “The increase in fines [Mark Scotland] said would ‘send a firm message to make it more clear that it is unlawful to make these deductions from an employee’s salary…'” Personally, I think it would send a firm message of a callous state where employers would have no other choice but to break the law! How much more will government be taking monies from the private sector, causing increased unemployment and unskilled workers? Mark, please reduce the size of government and liberate your people from expenses!
It is nice that the Governement anf the Regulatory Authorities are doing this finally.
Now they need to deal with the insurance companies who are abusing the system
Real simple, boycott these companies that treat their staff in such a mean way.
$750 is nothing…I’m going to boycott these establishments, well the ones that I would normally do business with. Treatment of staff in such a way is the same as poor customer service, it’s a lack of respect and common courtesy and I won’t spend any of my hard earned $ in places like that and I encourage any of you who feel the same way to do so as well. Despicable, remember you reap what you sow!
Well done Mervyn. You need to dig into some of these small electrical/air conditioning/plumbing/we’ll fix anything businesses around the place (some run by civil servants) because plenty of them aren’t providing health or pension coverage. They need the money so are scared witless to complain.
Mark Scotland has done a good thing is amending the Health laws and fining employers up to 40 grand for abusing it and their employees. No one can say that the UDP is not putting health as top priority.
Health only costs us in the long run. People should be left to die naturally in peace as the good lord intended. Imagine the surplus if we shut down healthcare altogether.