Workers -- and some judges -- frustrated in legal fights over benefits with large employers


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.
"He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30.

But Spherion Corp., the temporary staffing company where Amschwand worked, told Amschwand-Bellinger she would not receive any of the $426,000 in benefits she believed she was due. When she went to court, Spherion succeeded in getting her lawsuit thrown out. The Supreme Court on June 27 refused to review the case.

Amschwand-Bellinger received a refund of the few thousand dollars in insurance premiums she and her husband dutifully had paid. The total, she said, would not cover the costs of his funeral.


By Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080705/benefit_battles.html

Thats big business for you, make the company rich and screw the little person. What they are doing is unethical at the least,and definitely should be illegal! That man did everything in his power to insure that his wife would not be left without the money she needs to carry on with her life. What the company Spherion did is entirely disgraceful, I have made a note to myself to never,ever, patronize this company! That is all we can do until the law is changed, hopefully with a sufficient public reaction, the company will make amends and right the terrible wrong it has done to this couple. Now the wife does not only have to deal with the death of her husband, but also with outright heartless corporate dishonesty by Spherion!

That's horrible-they should be ashamed of themselves, but hey that's how it is, so long as it isn't them then hey you just have to deal with it. But you got it right ^ that is the thing to do, don't do business with them. Although we all know the money will not bring the man back or ease her pain, I still must say that we should put money aside, and if possible purchase a funeral plan, because if one thing is certain you just never know when your time will come!