When you purchase medical, vehicle, life or home insurance, you are buying financial protection in the case that something unexpected should occur. As part of your premium payments, the insurance company agrees to provide financial coverage if a situation arises that falls under the plans policy. In some cases, however, insurance companies may not hold up to their end of the bargain and could try to avoid paying their share of the insurance coverage when you file a claim. This is known as bad faith insurance, and people who believe that their insurance company has engaged in a breach of contract may be able to file a claim against them and receive compensation. When you are involved in an accident or have a tragic event occur, your insurance company may contact you and ask for details surrounding the event. Once they have all of the information, they will make a decision as to whether they will…Read More
No matter what line of work you do in California, you can probably relate to many others who think “pay day” is the best day of the week. Especially if you work at a job that involves physical labor and hourly wages plus overtime, you probably scrutinize every paycheck to the very last penny to make sure it’s correct. Employers throughout the nation are obligated to adhere to various state and federal regulations that govern wages and timesheets. It’s a real problem when people who work so hard just to make ends meet discover discrepancies in their pay. If you suspect the company you work for is not in compliance with all laws governing pay rate, benefits, etc., you are not alone. Many other workers have addressed similar wage and hour issues in the past. Most Common Violations Every year, there are reviews that list some of the most common types of wage and hour infractions in…Read More
According to a new state report, California’s biggest health insurers are reporting inaccurate information about which providers are in their networks. As a result, 36 of the 40 reviewed providers could face heavy fines from the state for not complying with state rules. What does this mean for patients insured by these companies? In many cases, it can result in patients unknowingly going out-of-network for care, resulting in denial of coverage by the insurance companies. California officials discovered this problem when reviewing annual reports that were filed by health care insurers, as required by law. They found huge discrepancies between the provider lists use to measure patient access throughout the year and their final tallies. In many cases, the state’s report noted, the discrepancies included several thousand physicians. “Their inability to accurately document which providers are in their networks raises serious questions about the reliability of these networks,” said Sen. Ed Hernandez, chairman of the state Senate…Read More
The sad reality is often that the workers who receive the least pay often do highly important work. It’s also sad but true that workers at the bottom of the economic ladder are the most likely to be exploited and have the least opportunity to complain. Hospital environmental services workers are an example. According to a recent class action lawsuit, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and its hospital services contractor, Xanitos, routinely denied their hospital services workers things that are guaranteed to them by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code. How Were The Workers Denied Their Due? Misclassification. The way environmental services works at 13 Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in California is this. The worker is initially hired by Xanitos, who has a contract with Kaiser. However, according to the complaint, the workers are told that Kaiser controls the details of their employment, including discipline and termination. This describes a relationship in which the…Read More
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a government agency tasked with protecting consumers in matters related to misconduct by businesses in the financial sector. This generally means unlawful acts involving mortgage loans, credit cards, retirement and insurance policies, and student loans. Among the powers of the CFPB is to issue broad administrative subpoenas during its investigations. One of these subpoenas was issued in 2015 to the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). The ACICS is an organization that since 1912, has granted accreditation to for-profit colleges. This means that it was supposed to ensure that these colleges met admissions and academic standards, that they were financially stable and that their students stayed at the college and graduate. It was also supposed to monitor job placement rates and ensure that students had positive outcomes after spending the time and money to complete college. ACICS Has Been Under Fire For Years Unfortunately, the ACICS…Read More
You spend several hours a day in the hot sun working on a farm. Your manager or crew leader comes through, reminds you of quotas and tells you to pick up the pace. Hopefully, your crew leader also ensures that you take adequate breaks out of the sun, have clean, cool water to drink and are paid what you earned. If your pay doesn’t reflect the hours you put in, you may not believe you can complain because your employer hired you as a seasonal or migrant worker. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The federal Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Protection Act of 1970 provides you with substantial protections against wage and hour violations. After all, you aren’t donating your time. You expect fair payment for your time and effort. How Does the Act Protect Your Pay? California’s Wage and Hour Division enforces your rights under the act. It requires your employer to provide the following:…Read More
It is becoming increasingly difficult for university graduates to find appropriate – and well-paid – employment. As such, many have begun to question the value of obtaining a degree in the first place. Why, after all, should one take on tens of thousands of dollars in debt to acquire workplace skills, if one is ultimately unable to enter the workplace? The situation is as problematic for schools as it is for students. In recent years, many colleges, universities, and graduate programs have seen a steep drop in applications. Many institutions – the responsible ones – have adjusted with the downturn, buying out teachers and cutting back on the number of students they admit. Other programs (for-profit universities, most notably) engage in underhanded schemes to keep their enrollment numbers up. Namely, they make unfounded promises about job prospects and potential salaries. One institution in particular – DeVry University, which operates more than a dozen campuses in…Read More
Insurance plays a crucial role in the lives of many people. They purchase insurance policies to protect themselves and their families from events that could happen — but hopefully won’t. It is meant as a contingency. It is meant to make people feel safe in light of tragedy. It is meant to protect people. So when insurance companies act in bad faith or go out of their way to mitigate their liability under the terms of an insurance policy, the individuals or families affected will feel as though the literal reason for their insurance (or even insurance in general) has been stripped away. This isn’t right. In fact, it’s unacceptable and illegal for insurance companies to renege on their responsibilities and promises. As obvious as it may seem when an insurance company acts in bad faith, sometimes it can be difficult to tell. Insurance representatives will sound very confident when they talk to you about…Read More
It is sad to say, but violating an employee’s right to fair wages and properly tracking and paying for a person’s hours seems to be a common tactic in the world of business right now. Companies are willing to risk the seemingly paltry penalties associated with wage and hour violations to try to undermine their employees ability to earn the wages that they are owed or due. Hertz has been the target of such wage and hour lawsuits before — just as much of rental car industry has — and they face another one now. A former associate manager is suing the company for forcing her to work hours that she wasn’t paid for all under the guise of being able to keep her job. She claims that Hertz willfully refused to pay overtime wages, which is a violation of federal law. There are a couple of things to take away from this story, with…Read More
You receive your credit card bill in the mail. As you start to scan it, you see strange purchases that you haven’t made. Or maybe you see that you have been overcharged for something you purchased. What do you do? Thanks to the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), you have the right to dispute purchases on your credit card bill that are fraudulent, unauthorized or otherwise unsatisfactory. The FCBA also allows you to withhold payment without hurting your credit. The card issuers must investigate any disputed charges, and fix them if they are wrong. Below are some of the details regarding the FCBA, and how it can protect your consumer rights: You have 60 days from the billing date to dispute a charge. It is also a good idea to monitor your statements online, which can be particularly helpful for catching errors. Mail in your dispute. Sent the letter to your credit card issuer by…Read More
