Legal team saves health benefits for suspended corrections officer

(Posted: Oct. 7, 2008)

By Martin Bihn
AZCOPS General Counsel

AZCOPS Legal was only four days into the appeals process on a suspension for a corrections officer when the member called attorneys in a panic. He had been notified that his health benefits were about to be cancelled. Because the officer had been on suspension for 80 hours, the Arizona Department of Corrections had not paid its share of the member's health and disability premiums. He was told he had eight days to pay nearly $500 to maintain his benefits

Not only could he not pay the premium, but the loss of the health insurance would have been a death sentence for his wife who suffered from a debilitating heart condition.

AZCOPS Legal immediately made calls to ADC HR, faxed a letter urging them to stop the foolishness. When there was no response from ADC, AZCOPS went straight to the top -- ADC's General Counsel and its AG Legal Advisor.

"The next day, they notified us that ADC had accidentally imposed the suspension in a single pay period," said AZCOPS General Counsel Martin Bihn. "This deprived our member of an entire paycheck and placed him in HR's "unpaid premium status."

"We convinced them to rework the suspension to pull our member out of the unpaid premium status," he said. "As a result, he never lost his health insurance and did not have to pay ADC's portion of the premium. Although we are still working on the appeal for his suspension, he is extremely relieved that he won't be losing his insurance."