Can I be fired if my employer is a creditor listed in my BK?

[sealpup]

I have worked for the same healthcare corperation as an RN for nealy 8 years. Because I work there I also try to use them for my families medical needs. I owe them $500 on a hospital stay that is nearly 2 years old. My husband lost his job shortly after the debt was incurred and was unemployed until late October of 2010. We are still trying to get back on our feet and I had every intention of paying this, but now we are about 99% sure we will be filing BK in late Feb. or March.
I am now getting calls/letters from Medicredit regarding this. I do not know if Medicredit now owns this debt, or is just collecting it. Based on a previous bill, I have reason to believe they are just collecting it. I know that billing/collections within the corperation I work for are handled on a much higher level and out of state. I also noticed that my legal name (which is what I am employed under) is not on my bill.
I asked the attorney I plan on retaining if I could potentially be fired for including this $500 bill in my BK. He said if something was going to happen (such as me being fired) over this, it would have happened already.
Can anyone shed some light on this? I know if your employer really wants to fire you they will find a legal reason, but I don't want to risk this. I'm thinking because the billing and collections are handled on such a higher level and the names are slightly different that maybe they just haven't put 2 and 2 together and maybe they won't?
Thanks!

[kornellred]

Good heavens - you would risk your job for a paltry $500? It is illegal for an employer to discharge an employee for filing for bankruptcy. But if an employer does not want you there any more, there are ways of making that happen.

[Freddy03]

Can you work out a payment plan with your employer and not include them in the BK (if thats possible)?

[chicagoannie]

Honestly, I was thinking the same way as kornellred. Can't you start paying $5/week on that bill? You have a good job...and most states are at-will employment, so we can be fired for no reason whatsoever. Why give your good employer any reason to take a look at you?

[sealpup]

That's kind of what I was thinking- why risk it? But, I was confused when the lawyer said not to worry about it, that if something was going to happen it would have already happened. I called the CA and found out that my employer still owns the debt and of course they wanted payment from me. I told them I would deal with the creditor directly in getting this paid. The woman was very nice before this, but when I said this she snapped-of course because now she isn't going to get her commission! Then she tried to tell me that if I didn't pay through them and paid the creditor directly my payment would take a lot longer to post. With an almost 2 year old debt, and no pending legal action- does she really think I care about a few days??

I wonder if worst case scenario I could set up some kind of payment plan to start paying it and reaffirm the debt (if we had to file before it got paid off) and then finish the payments? I have a lot of things requiring $ before we file (probably in March) and even though $500 may not seem like a lot- with what we have to get paid by then, it seems like a lot to us. We have to finish paying our roofer before we file and pay almost 4K to the lawyer.
Thanks for everyone's input. I'm going to see what I can do about paying it before we file.

[SunshineGal]

If you're that worried you may want to talk to your human resources department. Even though you have to include the debt, there isn't anything that says you can't pay them after discharge. I would NOT reaffirm a debt listed as a collection, it will do nothing for you but harm your credit further.

For what it's worth, if you've had a good track record I doubt your employer will fire you over $500.

[yang0837]

I agree and am pretty sure that you can't be fired over that. Owing a balance on hospital visits is totally separate from your job performance. What your lawyer said is true.

[sealpup]

I'd almost be afraid to bring this to the attention of HR. I think bc it's such a large company (nationally and having several entities in my area) that maybe it's flying under their radar bc company wide or even local billing/collections is completely seperate from the HR dept. and hospital I work for. Unless by some chance once they get notice of BK on a consumer they run their name to see if they are employed? To make things a little more complicated (which maybe works in my favor) I have a primary position and a secondary position. The debt is owed to the place where my secondary position located, not my primary. Even though they are within the same company they function independently- like my supervisor for my secondary position can't even view or change my time card- it has to be my primary position supervisor. I wonder if I list the actual hospital that the debt is owed to on my list of creditors, or the company that owns the hospitals? I have no other debts to the company besides this one.
I think I am going to kind of ride this out for the next month and see what happens. If I can come up w/the $ to pay them pre-BK I will, but it kind of all depends on the timing of things (I have a pending lawsuit).

[kila1980]

sealpup,

I work in registration at a hospital and if your system is anything like ours they will know you are an employee. We flag all employee and immediate relatives account as "Employee/Dependant Employee" so I would think they would know you work for them when they get the BK info.

[tyson24]

I would say after 2 years the debt is sold. I think if it was going to matter you would already know.

[Flamingo]

You cannot be fired solely for filing bankruptcy. The only iffy issue is if you have an employment contract that requires you to inform your employer if you file bankruptcy or if there is any financial wording/clauses as to owing your employer money. However, if you are an "at will" employee (someone else mentions this above), they can let you go at any time and you can leave at any time for any reason. The only time you would have recourse is if you can prove discrimination (i.e., that you were fired due to filing BK or including them as a creditor in the filing). Proving that would be extremely difficult but you can always consult with a Labor Law attorney if you feel there may be issues and your job is at stake.