June 29th, 2010
Being aware of the benefits you are entitled to
Awareness of what benefits a person is entitled to often happens only when the need comes. For example, what if an accident happens due an improperly placed object while you are walking around or shopping at a mall? Many would just say they were clumsy or careless and bear the costs of whatever the accident caused them. Be aware that shopping malls, office buildings and other commercial buildings should have comprehensive general liability insurance that would cover such accidents!
Governments should conceive of creating a ‘benefits agency’ that would make people be aware of benefits they are entitled to. We would never expect insurance companies to advertise in public what type of insurance covers the public. Why? Of course they are avoiding payment of claims! There are still some people who are not aware that public transportation has accident insurance for passengers. Sometimes that’s the problem when people have their own accident insurance; they forget about claiming from the insurance of the public transportation. Anyway, their insurance company can go after the insurance company of the transportation.
In talking about benefits, most of the time we think of costs or amount of money we are entitled to as benefits. Employees are entitled to benefits but may not be necessarily monetary benefits. They are entitled to sick and vacation leave benefits. If they don’t take it, sometimes it is convertible to cash. If the employer does not convert unused leaves to cash they implement forced or mandatory leaves. Bereavement benefit is one that an employee should be aware of. Most of the time this benefit is a fixed number of days for bereavement leave in case an immediate relative passes away. This depends on the company. There are those who provide cash assistance as additional benefit for burial costs.