SANANTONIO -- An employee for insurance giant USAA says he was unfairly retaliated against and eventually placed on leave after uncovering problems with how the company pays back customers involved in auto accidents with uninsured motorists.
Scott Plutzer told the I-Team he was hired by USAA in 2007 because of his expertise in uninsured motorist subrogation, which involves recovering money from uninsured motorists involved in auto accidents with USAA customers.
Plutzer said he crunched data on thousands of these types of claims, and found USAA had failed to pay back deductibles for 821 customers in 45 states, even after it had recovered the money.
The claims totaled more than $218,000, according to paperwork provided to the I-Team.
Plutzer said his findings are problematic because Texas insurance laws prohibit companies from holding onto recovered money owed to customers.
My thing was let's just get it fixed, let's get these people their money, and let's be done with it, said Plutzer, who thinks this became an issue after parts of the reimbursement process were outsourced.
Plutzer said he brought what he found to USAA management in November 2012.
He claims the company eventually paid back the money it collected.
Friday, a California based spokesman for USAA said the company changed its policy for deductible reimbursements in June 2013, after Plutzer brought the problem to the attention of management in Nov. 2012.
Instead of reimbursing customers hit by uninsured drivers in a lump sum payment, USAA now makes annual payments until the recovery of money is complete or deemed unlikely to be recovered.
The spokesman pointed out that insurance laws do not require USAA to try and recover money from uninsured motorists; it is done as a service to USAA members.
However, he acknowledged that since USAA recovers money, it is responsible for paying it back in a timely manner.
The following is the full statement from USAA:
At USAA we are driven by our core values and follow the highest ethical standards. And we investigate each claim to ensure our members receive every dollar they are entitled to. For certain claims, that includes working to recover funds from uninsured at-fault drivers and reimbursing our members for the payment of their deductible. In handling those claims, our goal is to reimburse members as quickly as possible, and our process for doing that meets or exceeds state requirements for making timely reimbursements.
Plutzer claims he noticed a shift in how he was treated soon after voicing his concerns, and claims he was retaliated against after continuing to ask if the problem had been addressed.
I'm relentless. I'm the kind of person who just won't give up. I'm not going to let this go until I know its fixed, said Plutzer.
Plutzer said exhaustion caused by problems at work and a bout with stomach cancer have forced him to take multiple leaves of absence.
He said he was placed on administrative leave Thursday, after telling co-workers about what he had found.
We're here to serve our members and we're taught to go above and beyond, and I have and this is what I got.
A spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, TDI, confirmed Friday the agency is investigating claims submitted by Plutzer against his employer.
The spokesman declined to discuss specifics of the investigation.
Plutzer said he is scheduled to sit down with TDI investigators in Austin next week.
He said USAA handles between 22,000 and 24,000 uninsured motorist claims each year.
