Benefits July 23, 2003

HotJobs Unveils Job Search Tools

July 23, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Online recruiter HotJobs has added new tools that are designed to help job seekers and recruiters find each other more easily, including a proposed jobs function and a suggested search feature.
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The proposed jobs function automatically suggests employment opportunities based on a job seeker’s stated resume job title as well as saved job searches on HotJobs initiated by the job seeker, according to a company news release.

The suggested search feature shows users how to broaden their job search queries for additional available job opportunities if their initial search does not produce results. The feature lists up to three additional search queries and notes the number of jobs associated with each suggested search.

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Improved site features also include:

  • an enhanced search results page where job seekers can sort search results by job title, company name, salary and date, as well as conduct advanced searches by company name, employer or when the job was last updated
  • a streamlined version of quick search on the home page, enabling job seekers to find and apply to jobs more quickly through searches by keyword, city and state
  • enhanced search agents, which job seekers can request be sent to them on a daily, weekly or bi-weekly basis to let them know when a job opportunity matches their search criteria.
Compliance July 22, 2003

Court Finds No Standing In Unpaid Medical Bill Suit

July 22, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Never being billed, combined with no indication that a participant would ever be billed, leads to a participant's lawsuit for unpaid medical bills having no standing.
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>US District Judge Barbara Crabb of the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin determined the participant’s lawsuit had no standing under Article III of the US Constitution and thus granted summary judgment for the defendant in Bollig v. Christian Community Homes and Services Inc.   Crabb said to have standing, a plaintiff must have suffered a concrete injury or be on the verge of suffering one, according to Washington-based legal publisher BNA.

>However, the court denied the employer’s request for attorneys’ fees, saying the lawsuit was not brought in bad faith. The participant’s suit “appears to have been prompted by a genuine concern that they might some day be held liable for unpaid medical bills. On the record in this case, I have found that [Bollig’s] concerns are too speculative to support standing, but I cannot conclude that their suit was intended to harass or vex [the employer],” the court said.

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Unpaid, Unbilled

>Dolly Bollig was covered under the ERISA-governed Christian Community Homes and Services’ health insurance plan when her son received medical services related to a liver transplant at Fairview University Medical Center costing over $100,000.   Following the procedure, the health plan refused to pay for the medical services.

>Bollig then informed her son’s medical provider she was eligible for Wisconsin Medicaid.   However, when the provider submitted the claim to Medicaid, the claim was denied because it was submitted more than a year after the provider was first notified the son was eligible for Medicaid. The provider never billed Bollig for her son’s medical services, and said it would never bill her.

>Regardless, Bollig brought a lawsuit under ERISA for monetary relief against her employer for the unpaid medical expenses.

The case is Bollig v. Christian Community Homes and Services Inc., W.D. Wis., No. 02-C-532-C, 7/10/03.

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