A Sad Thanksgiving Tale of Lost Health Insurance Due to Allstate

How Allstate treats people…

“I left Allstate in 2000 when they fired us all.  I was with the company 23 1/2 years and was 53 years old.   I suspended my health coverage at that time.  Last year my wife’s company liquidated so we lost our health coverage.   Because we had preexisting medical problems, we had to go with Allstate under my suspended coverage.

This year they had us with United Healthcare for $870.50 per month.  Next year (1/1/2010) they are putting us with Blue Cross/ Blue Shield.  Out premium will be $957.00 per month.  That is a killer but what other choice do we have?”

Running Clock Rant: “Run Like Your Butt Is On Fire”

To the poster that is thinking of starting a scratch agency.  Run like your butt is on fire.  You can’t make it with Allstate today as a scratch agent.  Unless, you have enough money to live on for 5 years and take nothing from your business during that time.  Otherwise buy an existing book and see if the current agent will finance.  RFG, executive advantage, and co-op and geared to help the larger offices and harm the smaller agencies.  TC wants you to fund their success.  You open scratch and dump your life savings in to write as much as you can example:  friends, family etc.  They will raise rates causing you to loose customers and new business and when you are out of money they will be glad to boot you take your policies for TPP and then sell them or give them to the larger agents.  RUN!!!

Belated (good) News from Texas (Allstate LOSES again)

May 13, 2008: Allstate Texas Lloyd’s policyholders in Texas have a $71.3 million payday to look forward to, now that the insurance company has reached a settlement with state regulators in a dispute over homeowners insurance rates.

Out and About in Florida: Michele Linca and Lauren Woodard

On more than one occasion, Michele Linca and Lauren Woodard (left, in beads, and below, on the right in black; Michele Linca is to the left, in green) Mission Capital have been photographed together in the greater Jupiter, FL area.

The particulars of their relationship are not known, and it is also not known if this is just a personal relationship, or indicative of something bigger going on between Allstate and Mission.

George Ruebenson and Ken Lewis: Rats Leaving the Sinking Bailout Ship

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Oct 26, 2009 George E. Ruebenson, president of Allstate Protection, is retiring at the end of the year, said Allstate Corp. A striking parallel can be found in the departure of Ken Lewis from Bank of America.

Ruebenson, who has been with Allstate since 1970, will begin his retirement Dec. 31, Allstate said in a statement. He was appointed president of Allstate Protection in 2007 to succeed Thomas J. Wilson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Allstate.

A search for Ruebenson’s replacement is under way, the company said.

In 2000, Ruebenson was named vice president for the Property-Casualty Service Organization, the largest employee group in the company, then he became a member of the company’s senior management team as senior vice president.

The past several years has seen some shuffling among executives at the largest publicly traded personal lines insurer in the United States. Most recently, former vice chairman of American International Group Inc., Matthew Winter, was named president and CEO of Allstate Financial. Ruebenson had assumed the role as president of Allstate Financial when James E. Hohmann left the company. Don Civgin, former chief financial officer of OfficeMax Inc., was named CFO of Allstate last year.

Allstate Protection combines property/casualty offerings of Allstate, Encompass and Deerbrook Insurance, which are sold through Allstate and independent agents, respectively.

Allstate is a Sinking Ship

From the Insurance Forums site…

Do NOT enter Allstate’s scratch agency program! I went in with a group of 20 agents and the only one that is still around is the agent who purchased a book of business. I was going to buy an agency but thank goodness I didn’t. Remember this with them you DO NOT own your book of business, what you do own is an economic interest. However, if you do not meet the company’s expectations you will be out on your arse with what they call a TPP settlement. On top of that the rumor right now is that the commission is about to be cut below 8% with no overhead expense. You need to send an email to runningclock@aol.com and ask for a secret decoder ring. It is a newsletter about the inside workings at Allstate. Also, there will more than likely be an Encompass (independent Allstate brand) with better rates and commission just down the road from you. Go to the Allstate website and look at all the agencies across the nation for sale, for an agent Allstate is a sinking ship.

The Sexual Harassment of Mary Ann Hetreed

Statement of Mary Ann Hetreed
May 1997

Allstate Insurance Company’s reaction to a charge of quid pro quo sexual harassment by a high-ranking Vice President was to begin a campaign of retaliation against the victim and then fire her after almost 10 years of outstanding performance!

I was subjected to outrageous sexual harassment including coerced sex by a Vice President of Allstate Insurance Company in Northbrook, Illinois. Some incidents occurred at company off-site meetings paid for by Allstate.

Having witnessed retaliation against others who spoke out against an Officer, I had no place to turn. My own boss and other Officers witnessed the harassment, but did nothing.

Encouraged to file charges by Corporate Security, I did so in September, 1995. Despite repeated commitments from Corporate Security and the Law Department that there would be no retaliation, Allstate began a campaign of retaliation against me including — Human Resources disclosing the charges to many of my staff, a significant reduction in my responsibilities, and down-grading my performance reviews. After advising my boss how seriously ill I was as a result of the harassment, his response was to appoint a new supervisor over me — a man who had previously sexually harassed me verbally !!! On February 24, 1997 Allstate suspended me and on March 7 they fired me. I was escorted from the premises with five minutes notice and told not to return. This, after almost 10 years of “Exceeds” reviews, promotions, and dedicated service to the company.

Although Allstate acknowledged that the harassment occurred, they are using their formidable resources – your premium dollars – to fight my lawsuit. I am now unemployed, struggling to find a job at the age of 47.

The only reason more is not known about their discriminatory practices and a corporate environment where Officers are exempt from the rules, is that employees are afraid to speak out, having witnessed willful and malicious retaliation such as I experienced.

Michele Linca’s Blog – http://michelelinca.blogspot.com

This subject of this blog appears to be the same Michele Linca who is an Allstate agent in Jupiter, FL.

This blog has been up since early 2008 and is still up in October 2009.

Allstate Pays $4.5 Million in Age Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement!

September 11, 2009: NORTHBROOK, Ill.—Allstate Insurance Co. has agreed to pay $4.5 million to about 90 former employees to settle an age discrimination class action lawsuit, said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Friday.

The litigation with the EEOC, which was filed in 2004, stems from the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer’s efforts in 2000 to convert its 15,000-member agent workforce to independent contractors from regular employees.

The EEOC said Allstate had adopted a hiring moratorium for a period of one year, or while severance benefits were being received, that had a disproportionate impact on workers over age 40 because more than 90% of the agents subjected to it were in that age group. Allstate has denied that its hiring moratorium violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

An Allstate spokesman said in a statement that “while confident that we acted appropriately,” the insurer decided to settle the dispute “to avoid the burden and considerable expense of continued litigation for everyone involved.”

The spokesman said Allstate believes “its position is correct and that it would have ultimately prevailed in this case. The court has indicated, and the EEOC acknowledges, that the dispute is centered on a point of law over which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion.”

Running Clock Rant: “It Has Come To Our Attention”

July 23, 2009

It has come to our attention that some mortgage companies have recently mailed letters to Castle Key (formerly Allstate Floridian) property customers concerning the company’s recent downgrade by A.M. Best. We are in the process of contacting the two mortgage companies from which we have copies of customer notices to explain that Castle Key maintains a sound capital position and extensive reinsurance. Our emphasis in these discussions is that, despite the A.M. Best downgrade, Castle Key was recently reaffirmed with an A´ (A Prime), Unsurpassed financial rating from Demotech, Inc.  Demotech is an independent financial and actuarial services firm.  Many property insurance companies in Florida operate with only a Demotech Financial Stability Rating®.

One of the customer letters, from Midland Mortgage Company, indicated that they will accept a Demotech financial rating.  As stated above, we are having discussions with this company to advise them of our Demotech rating and will request that they discontinue sending customer notices.  We hope to resolve this issue with little customer disruption.  In the meantime, you or the customer may contact Midland and provide them a copy of Castle Key’s rating. The website www.demotech.com contains the ratings for Castle Key and other Florida property insurance companies.

The other letter, from Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker Mortgage Company, indicated that their company will accept policies written only by insurers who earned high ratings from A.M. Best.  We will contact them and request that they accept Castle Key policies based on the companies’ Demotech rating.  If they do not agree to accept Demotech for Castle Key, you may want to consider calling the customer and offering to place them with one of the available expanded market carriers.  If this transpires, we will provide you with an audit of policies listing this mortgage company that are associated with your agency.

Your agency can affirm to customers that the Castle Key companies are financially strong and stable companies.  At the end of 2008, the Castle Key group held $162 million in surplus and $233 million in cash and invested assets.  Our reinsurance program for 2009 was developed using methodologies supported by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).

We will provide you with additional details as they develop.  If you receive any additional customer calls involving mortgage companies other than those mentioned above, please contact your Product Management Consultant and if possible, provide a faxed copy of the mortgage company letter.