I’m not exactly sure what to do in this situation and I’m looking for any advice or information. I’m currently working for a company in Lynwood, Washington. When I signed on to this company I filled out the standard W9 and also a “benefits selection/compensation reduction form” for this current year, set to expire December 31, 2022. We were provided a “Base Plan: Permera Heritage Prime HSA 200.” To my understanding, my selection was a certain dollar amount, X, to be deducted from each paycheck and put into a health savings account to be used along with our medical/dental/vision insurance. In May of this year, our employer (apparently) cancelled our company insurance but failed to inform any employees of the situation/cancellation. We finally found out in July or August, that we were uninsured, when a coworker had to have emergency dental work and was denied. He ended up having the emergency work done and paid full price out of pocket. When we asked the owner what was going on he told us that he had “bundled insurance” with his other Washington company and had since had to file for bankruptcy and disband the other company. He promised us he was working on finding us new insurance in the meantime. We are now one day away from October; 6 months without insurance. HOWEVER, the amount X is still being withheld from our (bimonthly) paychecks. We do not have access to our HSA without insurance. With no insurance, how is the company still pulling money from our paychecks? Is this legal? Is there someone to contact about this? When asked the owner has been dodging questions, emails, phone calls and texts. Now he just doesn’t even answer or acknowledge when someone reaches out asking for an update to the insurance situation. Additionally we are worried that we will be penalized (for lack of insurance) if/when we have to go out and purchase our own insurance.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thank you!