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The Florida Senate

2014 Florida Statutes

Title XXXVII INSURANCE
Chapter 627 INSURANCE RATES AND CONTRACTS Entire Chapter
SECTION 555
Trustee groups.
F.S. 627.555
627.555 Trustee groups.—Subject to all of the requirements of this section, the lives of a group of individual employees of employers or members of labor unions may be insured, for the benefit of persons other than the employers or unions, under a policy issued to the trustees of a fund established by two or more employers in the same industry or by two or more labor unions, or to the trustees of a fund established by one or more employers in the same industry and one or more labor unions or by one or more employers and one or more labor unions whose members are in the same or related occupations or trades, which board of trustees is deemed to be the policyholder.
(1) A policy may not be issued under this section:
(a) To insure employees of any employer whose eligibility to participate in the fund as an employer arises out of considerations directly related to the employer being a commercial correspondent or business client or patron of another employer, regardless of whether the other employer is or is not participating in the fund.
(b) To insure employees of any employer not located in this state, unless the majority of the employers whose employees are to be insured are located in this state, or unless the employer has assumed obligations through a collective bargaining agreement and is participating in the fund either pursuant to those obligations with regard to one or more classes of employees encompassed in the collective bargaining agreement or as a method of providing insurance benefits for other classes of employees, or unless the policy is issued to the trustees of a fund established by two or more labor unions.
(2)(a) The persons eligible for insurance shall be all of the employees of the employers or all of the members of the unions, or all of the members of any class or classes of employees or union members determined by conditions pertaining to their employment or to membership in the unions, or both. The policy may provide that the term “employees” includes retired employees, former employees, directors of a corporate employer, and the individual proprietor or partners if an employer is an individual proprietor or a partnership. The policy may provide that the term “employees” includes the employees of one or more subsidiary corporations, and the employees, individual proprietors, and partners of one or more affiliated corporations, proprietorships, or partnerships if the business of the employer and of the affiliated corporations, proprietorships, or partnerships is under common control.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (a) as to retired employees, an individual proprietor or partner is not eligible for insurance under the policy as an employee unless she or he is actively engaged in and devotes a substantial part of her or his time to the conduct of the business of the proprietor or partnership. The policy may provide that the term “employees” includes the trustees or their employees, or both, if their duties are principally connected with such trusteeship.
(3) The premium for the policy shall be paid by the policyholder either wholly from the policyholder’s funds or from funds contributed by the employer or employers of the insured persons or by the union or unions, or by both, or partly from such funds and partly from funds contributed by the insured persons. A policy may not be issued if the entire gross premium charged for the insurance by the insurer is derived from funds contributed by the insured employees or members specifically for their insurance. A policy on which no part of the premium is to be derived from funds contributed by the insured persons specifically for their insurance must insure all eligible persons, or all except any who reject the coverage in writing or as to whom evidence of individual insurability is not satisfactory to the insurer. For the purpose of determining the number of eligible persons who must be covered under a policy, dependents may not be included as eligible persons.
(4) The policy must cover at date of issue not less than five individuals, other than individual proprietors or partners, from each employer unit unless:
(a) The policy is issued to the trustees of a fund established by employers that have assumed obligations through a collective bargaining agreement and are participating in the fund either pursuant to those obligations with regard to one or more classes of their employees which are encompassed in the collective bargaining agreement or as a method of providing insurance benefits for other classes of their employees.
(b) The employer unit is a subsidiary corporation of an employer in the group or is an affiliated corporation, proprietorship, or partnership of an employer in the group whose business and that of such employer is under common control.
(c) The policy is issued to the trustees of a fund established by two or more labor unions.
(5) In addition to the requirements of subsection (4), if the fund is established by the members of a group of employers, the policy may be issued only if the participating employers constitute at the date of issue at least 60 percent of those employer members whose employees are not already covered for group life insurance or if the total number of persons covered at date of issue exceeds 600. The policy may not require that if a participating employer discontinues membership in the group of employers, the insurance of the employer’s employees ceases solely by reason of the discontinuance.
(6) The amounts of insurance under the policy must be based upon some plan precluding individual selection either by the insured persons or by the policyholder, employers, or unions.
History.—s. 528, ch. 59-205; s. 2, ch. 61-107; s. 1, ch. 65-19; s. 1, ch. 67-96; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-457; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 426, 448, 809(2nd), ch. 82-243; s. 79, ch. 82-386; ss. 49, 114, ch. 92-318; s. 332, ch. 97-102.