Even Actuaries Must Fight for What is Rightfully Theirs

Should the largest single health insurance carrier in the United States be exempt from compensating its workers in the city of Hartford, known as the insurance capital of the world?

In a press release today, the U.S. Department of Labor revealed that the multi-billion dollar company, UnitedHealthcare, had designated itself exempt from properly compensating its workers.

Apparently, UnitedHealthcare systematically withheld wages from its workers.  The insurance company refused to pay workers for hours in excess of 40 hours.  The company also failed to include certain compensation for employment in workers’ regular rates, on which time and one-half should have been paid.

It seems that in this country, workers in every economic class get taken advantage of– even workers who specialize in IT, finance, actuarial and underwriting operations.

United Healthcare will be held responsible for righting its wrong by paying 479 of its employees nearly one million of the dollars that they are owed.  The company will also pay $104,280 in civil money penalties after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the employees had been incorrectly classified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act and consequently denied compensation for all hours worked.

“Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s requirements, whether large or small, must ensure all of their workers are properly classified and receive the wages they are owed,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “Workers deserve to keep what they earn. It is simply unacceptable that a multi-billion dollar company misclassified its employees and failed to abide by some of the nation’s most basic labor laws.”