I bet there are some who would applaud this as a company creatively thinking outside the box (or coffin, as it were) to increase profits. And profits, after all, is the reason to be in business.
When Karen Armatrout died in 1997, her employer, Wal-Mart, collected thousands of dollars on a life insurance policy the retail giant had taken out without telling her, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
Armatrout was one of about 350,000 employees Wal-Mart secretly insured nationwide, said Texas attorney Michael D. Myers, who estimated the company collected on 75 to 100 policies involving Florida employees who died.
Myers is seeking to make the Armatrout lawsuit a class-action case on behalf of the estates of all the Florida employees who died while unwittingly insured by Wal-Mart.
“Creepy’s a good word for it,” Myers said. “If you ask the executives that decided to buy these policies and the insurance companies that sold them, they would say this was designed to create tax benefits for the company, which would use the benefits for benevolent purposes such as buying employee medical benefits.
“If you asked me, I would say they did it to make more money.”
“Key Man Insurance” is very common in larger corporations for top management. I’m pretty sure the employed person has to agree to it. K-Mart? – – – Their reputation remains intact.
Unless you believe Wally World bought the policies then purposefully bumped people off, who cares? They paid the premiums, they collect.
What rock did you crawl out from? This story is at least 3 years old.
Yeah, so what, no one lost anything in this deal. Even if you take the highest of their numbers walmart made a whole whopping million or so, which to walmart would be like me cashing in a shiny nickel.
Yawn, wal mart bashing is only slightly older and more boring than Bush bashing, it’s the same thing over and over blah blah blah
But just like Bush, Wal*Mart is just too creepy to believe. Insuring their minimum wage workers and then cashing in on their death? That goes BEYOND creepy. Yuck. Is it any wonder people lump them is with Dumbya as “scum of the earth”??
BushCo—-the WallMart of Presidents.
Works for me.
Dude, but if walmarts employees die, who is gonna clean up the store!! See what I mean?
#7
Well, there’s going to be plenty of baby boomers retiring in the next 5 to 10 years..
Buy Walmart stock. 🙂
With Hilary on the Wal-Mart board, and having signed off on this, shall we say, ‘ghoulish’ policy, what sort of things might she go along with as POTUS?
Doesn’t sound too confidence-inspiring to me…
Ok then, don’t buy Wal-Mart stock… buy life insurance on Hilary.
(Duff, Clinton… doesn’t matter)
Always the lowest morals …always!
While no means a wal mart supporter, what exactly is wrong with them doing this?
They broke no laws.
Their collection of premiums didn’t affect the estates of the deceased.
So exactly why is this newsworthy again?
Is this just limited to employers? Can I buy insurance on anyone without their consent? Can I buy insurance on Dvorak?
What prevents anyone with a longer lifespan from buying insurance on anyone with a shorter lifespan?
How does the insurance companies make money if everyone is going to die?
13—Well, at least in Missouri, such policies are illegal. You’d think the Ins Co would take steps to recover the monies paid.
http://tinyurl.com/2hvfx9
#13, Brian Yea I see your point what the harm. It make good American business sense!
1.) Hire old people (preferably someone who has served their country)
2.) Collect the geezer confidential information
3.) Maximize their stress
-Pay minimum wage
-Treat them like crap
-Give them shit for hours
-Don’t give them heath insurance
4.) Buy life insurance
5.) Collect when they kick the bucket
Brian hurry up and apply at Wall Mart.
Wal-Mart’s minimum wage employees are killed by on the job accidents, and then Wal-Mart collects large insurance payments that increase their profits.
This sounds like a disincentive to provide a safe work place.
You know, the only way you could make money while buying life insurance for other people would be to also snuff the insured….
I am no fan of Walmart, but I don’t see why they can’t insure their employees. If an employee dies suddenly, they need to restaff the position etc, pay overtime etc I don’t see why you can’t insure yourself to recover costs etc. Insurance companies aren’t stupid, they aren’t going to sell the policy if they don’t collect more money than they pay out….
19–They can insure their employees WITH the employees knowledge. Do you want someone to profit off your death and you don’t even know it? One would hope even at WalMart that evil motivations would not be imputed, but the requirement of knowledge of the insured is valid nonetheless. WalMart should lose bigtime. The need to be roped in. They are after all only the largest employer (?) in GOUSA, not BushCo itself.
(((I tried to google who was the largest employeer in GOUSA and all I got was repeated hits that WalMart had the most number of employees on Welfare. They deserve “more regulation.”)))
>>If an employee dies suddenly, they need to restaff the position
>>etc, pay overtime etc
Given that working at Wal*Mart is one of the shittiest jobs out there, you’d think they could cut down on that expense by making it less likely that employees would QUIT, rather than die while working in their sweatshop. And do you suppose it costs Wal*Mart any more to replace dead employees than it does McDonald’s, K-Mart, or agricultural companies that employ illegal aliens?
It just stands to reason that the sleaziest retail outlet in the free world would engage in the sleaziest imaginable way to make even more profit off of the people they exploit.
I think a good question would be whether WalMart selectively insured some employees and not others. If so, how did they decide which to insure?
Did no one read the first comment in this thread?
“Key Man Insurance!” Google it!
If you work for a company and they don’t insure themselves against the loss of your life you aren’t very damn important to them. You may use the expression “You want fries with that?” quite often.
Perry “Former Key Man” Noiya
#14 – Insurance companies will be obsolete soon because we’re all gonna fry n’ die.
>>Did no one read the first comment in this thread? “Key
>>Man Insurance!” Google it!
Did no one read the actual article cited? Click it!! These were not “key men” that were insured, the were rank-and-file shelf stockers and bathroom cleaners. Wal*Mart though they could use their deaths as a profit center.
Classy. Very classy.
Oh great. Another class action lawsuit. The lawyers will make millions and the estates of the employees (who weren’t even legally wronged) will end up with a $5 gift certificate to Wally World.
16-
Again, neither you or I know the details of who they insured. As far as stress goes, many, many jobs are stressful, so saying wal mart’s jobs are is hardly eye-opening. Oh my god, tough hours? No health insurance? The humanity!
Look, the only people here upset are those looking for a handout. If my employer wants to take out a life insurance policy on me without my knowledge, pays the monthly premiums, exactly why do I care?
Oh wait, I don’t.
>>exactly why do I care? Oh wait, I don’t.
Maybe you don’t, but I do. It’s sleazy, creepy, and (at least in some states) illegal. Oh wait. That’s Wal*Mart’s specialty!
Every employee working for more than a year is life insured. It’s payout is equal to 1 years pay. When we start working there we have to list family members that we want it to be payed out to in the event of our death. Perhaps, this is whats causing the confusion, or perhaps they’re pocketing the difference between the policy and 1 years pay. Either way the associates’ families likely got something.
#29 Bradley
“Either way the associates’ families likely got something.”
Seems more of a question then a statement.
“Without Their Knowledge, Wal-Mart Insured Employees, Collected When They Died”
That is a statement.