[BuckeyeOhio]

After 35+ years in the insurance business, I find this very hard to believe. Even if a company ownes and pays for the premium, the insured MUST sign the application. Even on group life insurance, the insured MUST sign an enrollment form of some type and they indicate a beneficiary.

One of the rules in life insurance is the owner must have an insurable interest - just because a person is an employee, doesn't make them an insurable interest. The company has to PROVE they would be financially harmed by the death of an employee. Walmart would not be harmed by the death of a minimum pay employee.

[AppyPappy]

I didn't think you could take a life insurance policy on someone without their consent. Maybe it's a state-to-state thing.

[Ross Amann]

Any company has an interest in the life of any employee - to at least the cost of finding and training a replacement (though I doubt this comes to $64,000 for a low-level emplyee).

Does this discourage safe working conditions? Not theoretically. It just transfers the benefit of safety to the insurance company - which would charge more for the policy if the workplace is unsafe.

This sounds more like a taz dodge than anything else. Are insurance payments treated "off book", when figuring profits, while insurance premiums are "on book"?