McDonalds Refuses Life Insurance to Employee Killed on the Job

[JPZenger]

Excerpt from June 24, 2004 column by John Grogan in Philadelphia Inquirer:

www.phillynews.com

"Cynthia Molino was the classic little guy. The wife of a volunteer fireman and mother of four worked two jobs to keep food on the table. Her odyssey as a member of the working poor led her to a South Jersey McDonald's restaurant where she earned about $7 an hour. After two years, the restaurant promoted her to manager of the graveyard shift.

It was in that capacity that she was working at 4:30 a.m. on May 15, 2002, when a Cadillac crashed through the restaurant at speeds exceeding 100 m.p.h., killing Molino and two coworkers.

And now McDonald's has a public-relations debacle on its hands, not because of the deaths, but because of its actions after the deaths.

... Molino's widower, Louis Molino, filed a lawsuit earlier this month, seeking to force McDonald's to honor his wife's company life insurance benefit, equal to two years' pay. The suit claims that McDonald's refused to pay because Cynthia Molino, although a two-year veteran, was still on 90-day probation as a manager and thus ineligible for the death benefit.

The suit adds that McDonald's also refused to pay out the smaller benefit Cynthia Molino would have been entitled to as a non-managerial line worker had she not been promoted."
----
P.S. - This was a company-owned McDonald's, not a franchise.

[tom_paine]

1. Sounds like Bushevik Imperial Amerika to me

She was just a Filthy Little Nobody. She gave birth to Filthy Little Nobodies who's sole purpose in life is to serve the Empire and the Imperial Familky without question.

</Ruthless Dick Cheney's Brain OFF>

I'll bet all Busheviks everywhere can;t wait until they can act with impunity. On that day "they will come for us" in any number of creative ways we cannot yet imagine.

But we KNOW it's coming. History tells us that a nation, once gone this far into Tyranny, NEVER comes back on it's own.

[papau]

2. McD can't self insure - she needs only to contact Ins Commissioner

If Insurance Company is playing games there will be hell to pay.

[NJCher]

3. they'll pay

Because they'll buckle. They hate bad publicity.


Cher

[sui generis]

4. well I don't normally make a habit

of eating at McDonalds, but I can certainly not go there ever again and probably be even healthier. This is a perfect example of stupid people not exercising discretion in the face of common sense. The PR fallout from this is going to be extravagantly more costly than just making a managerial (and compassionate) decision on the matter in her favor. They saved, what, $40,000 dollars (if even that much) and they make bajillions of dollars a year.

Cheney them. They deserve every bit of the bad publicity. I sincerely hope it hurts their sales.

[Yogi]

5. and to think this.....

is the same McDonald's I worked at (my first job) 16 years old in 1975 and now the try to screw a hard workers' family out of her death benefit.

[spooky3]

6. here's what appears to be an update

Her family will receive worker comp benefit as required by law, and the estimated total payments over time will exceed "6 figures" but there appears to be no resolution on whether she will receive a death benefit under a private life insurance plan, which is a separate issue altogether.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/columnists/9035307.htm?1c

An earlier update (June 28, you have to register to read it) explained the problem a bit more.

"At noon, his attorney, Gary Ginsberg, called him with the bad news. Lawyers for McDonald's had provided documents showing that Cynthia Molino, despite being a full-time employee for more than two years, did not qualify for any life-insurance benefits.

The reason: Mrs. Molino for most of her time at the restaurant in Mount Ephraim was classified as a low-level "crew member," not "staff." As such, she was in a sort of workplace netherworld, toiling full time but not qualifying for the basic death-benefit package, equal to two years' pay, that other staffers automatically qualified for.

Just before her death in 2002, she was promoted to manager, qualifying her for the insurance once she passed probation. She never got the chance."

In other words, the plan said only managers ("staff") who had passed the probation period were in the plan. Lower level workers were not covered. She wasn't covered when she was in the worker group, and wasn't yet eligible in the manager group. If they deviated from the rules and covered her due to these tragic circumstances, they probably would have to do the same for all other employees or leave themselves open to charges of unfairness.

I have a little more sympathy for the company on this one, although the whole policy of covering staff and not all workers who had passed the probationary period can be questioned.

I hope that the widower can get money from the real culprit which is the driver of the car.

[Mel]

7. What Greed!

the corporatistas give not one wit for their serfs!

I do not understand why people continue in this country to eat shit sandwiches and say yum can I have another please.

I also like the one where (insert jerk here McDonald's) shits on your head and people think wow what a cool cap!

[cthrumatrix]

8. McDonalds boycott....until they resove this...let us know

[Q3JR4]

11. I hear that....

Boycott the Cheneyers.

[rocktivity]

9. Yet they couldn't give her something out of the goodness of their hearts?

They didn't even offer to settle? The limbo she floated between management and staff was of their making. She should be eligible for one benefit or the other. Either she got the promotion or she didn't. She gets promoted and her benefits disappear for ninety days?!!!

The family should get a good labor lawyer and ream them!

:headbang:
rocknation

[spooky3]

14. her benefits didn't disappear--see my earlier post with the update.

She never had the benefits, because McDonald's didn't cover any workers until they were promoted to "staff", which I take to mean management.

[Tempest]

10. Wanna bet McDonalds had a Dead Peasant policy out on her?

Odds will start at 3-1.

[JPZenger]

13. Follow-Up

When the bad press started, the company first tried to say that the families of the 3 dead employees had a trust fund to compensate them. It turned out that fund was about $25,000 each and was from contributions from caring people - but not McDonalds. McDonalds had not approved the release of any of those contributions - years after the incident. Then, after more bad press, McDonalds put $25,000 into that trust fund.

Then the bad press continued, and McDonalds a couple days ago started telling people that the families would make "six figures." It turns out this was the potential value over many DECADES of the monthly workmen's compensations benefit that they were REQUIRED to pay by Federal law.

The value of the life insurance benefit that they are refusing is only $40,000 to $50,000. Because she had been promoted less than 3 months previously, she was on "probation" and therefore was not eligible. Even if she was not promoted, she didn't qualify for the benefit because she was categorized as a "crew member" not an "employee."

Remember, she had worked for them for 2 years and was working when she was killed.

The guy whose car ran into the restaurant is in prison and trying to get off with an insanity plea. All his assets are probably going to his lawyers.

[Fridays Child]

12. Boycott McDonald's, and be sure to drive through, just to let them know...

...that you're not buying anything.

:evilgrin: