For Unit 9’s assignment I chose to interview four individuals working at different companies and in different positions.

Maria Lopez
Maria is an Accounts Receivable and Billing Specialist. She works for the law firm Condon & Forsyth.

What type of benefits does your company offer?
We receive medical, dental, vision care coverage, FSA, HSA, 401k, life insurance, Commuter Benefits, workers’ compensation, short-term disability, long-term disability, free bottled water, soda and food. I am entitled to four weeks vacation. I can carry over up to five days into the following year or cash out it out in April of the following year. The company offers multiple types of health insurance plans that employees can choose from based on premium or types of coverage needed. Some of the plans offer 80/20 coverage and others 70/30 coverage but they all have high deductibles. They also give us a MetroCard Stipend of $100.00 per month which you can apply towards the purchase of your monthly MetroCard. Pre Covid, the company would order soups, sandwich, fruit and salad platters for partner meetings, conferences, and depositions. Most of the time the amount of food ordered exceeded what was needed and the employees were invited to partake in the consumption. This occurred at least two to three times per week. In addition, we would receive a birthday breakfast every first Monday of every month to celebrate the birthdays of all the staff members.

Which of the benefits that are offered by your employer is the most important for you?
As an asthmatic the most important benefit for me is my medical, especially now with Covid in the picture. It could mean life or death for me.

Are there any benefits that you would like your company to offer that they don’t offer now?
The firm’s benefit package is pretty competitive and is similar to that of other companies, but it would be nice if they gave tuition reimbursement or pay raises more often. Some of us have not received a raise in over four years. Also, it would be nice if we had plans with lower deductibles.

Gina Pacheco
Gina is a part-time Paralegal. She works for the law firm Pasternack, Tilker, Ziegler, Walsh, Stanton & Romano, LLP.

What type of benefits does your company offer?
I am a part-time employee who works less than 30 hours per week. As a result, I am not eligible for many of the benefits offered by the company. The only benefits that I can partake in are workers’ compensation, short-term disability, long-term disability, Profit Sharing and 401k. Fortunately, as a part-time employee I qualify for coverage under the Marketplace. I also do not get any PTO time and can only accrue 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 sick hours per year.

If you were a full-time employee, what benefits offered by your company would you participate in?
I would definitely participate in the medical insurance. I have several medical conditions that require consistent care and maintenance visits to the doctor.

Are there any benefits that you would like your company to offer that they don’t offer now?
I would like for the company to offer more incentives to employees like gift cards, free MetroCards, etc.

David Maldonado
David is a retired doorman and a former 32BJ Union member.

What type of benefits did your company offer?
The company offered workers’ compensation, short-term disability, long-term disability, and medical, dental, and vision coverage at no cost to employees. I had 5 weeks paid sick/vacation time. The company also gave us the option to enroll in 401k and I also get a pension from the union. I was also eligible to other perks and benefits through my union. I could enroll in any trainings offered at the union free of charge and received gym reimbursement. In addition, there would be an annual raffle for employees’ children to receive tuition grants provided they maintained the required average.

Which of the benefits that are offered by your employer is the most important for you?
The most important benefits were my medical and 401k. I have diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol problems so I need to have medical coverage and medications all the time.

Are there any benefits that you would have liked your company to offer that they didn’t offer when you were employed?
The company would contribute to your 401k but they only contributed less than 1% of your earnings which was approximately $360.00 per quarter. I wish they would have at least matched my contributions.

All three of the persons interviewed considered medical coverage the most important benefit. The only one who gave an equal amount of importance to his 401k benefits was David Maldonado who is a retired doorman. I also consider medical coverage to be essential. Medical visits, medications, and hospitalizations can be very expensive. Illness and accidents can happen at any moment and it is a relief when you know that you won’t have to spend your savings to cover these expenses. However, for me I also consider PTO and sick time to be essential benefits as well. This is a benefit that some people take for granted. I know there are places where PTO is limited to 1 or 2 weeks maximum per year regardless of the amount of time you work there.