Frito-Lay
2001 Work Injury Disability Benefits Tied to Social Security

I was injured in 2001 while at work. Medical treatment was delayed and the actual incident report omitted critical facts about the operational status of the safeties on the equipment that caused my injury. Further I was repeatedly bombarded with documents from the moment I was hurt that required my signature before medical treatment and plan benefits could be awarded to me.
On occasion I would sober between medications and episodes of intense pain an come to the realization I was being manipulated and all efforts appeared to be attempts to make the injury appear as if I were injured off the job site.

After being forced to file for Social Security according to the company plan I was immediately threatened with a right for the company to recover all benefits money I received through voluntarily paying the Social Security money to the plan administrator. While on surface this sound logical and appropriate according to law I have been puzzled as to how my contributions to the various company provided disability insurance plans was applied. I yield the company has a right to draft a contract any way they choose so long as they are the sole contributor to the policy. When I contribute to a policy I expect to be represented in some way. Additionally I elected additional coverage from the first opportunity to qualify for such plans because I was the primary earner in my family. I knew in advance the company provided basic plan would not provide enough for me to live on if I was unable to return to work, therefore I elected optional coverage.

What has happened is the plan administrator and Frito-Lay have manipulated various state laws and ERISA laws to appear to be in compliance while dumping insurance responsibilities off onto the Social Security System. Mind you I paid into the Social Security System for most of my working life (more than 30 years) while I had only been employed with Frito-Lay for about six years when I got hurt.

Efforts to resolve this issue have yielded no positive results. Either one of the two companies or both have reaped the benefits of my contributions and other injured employees for a questionable time. However many are also threatened with the corporate standard contract to gag oneself against reporting the criminal activity in exchange for a cash buyout of the benefits the individuas were intitle to by nature of the benefits they elected.

Company: Frito-Lay
Country: USA
State: California
City: Bakersfield
ZIP: 93206
Address: HWY 58
Phone: 6613286000

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