Life insurance policies taken out on rank-and-file workers by their employers---often without the knowledge of workers or their families---are causing growing outrage among American workers. This corporate-owned life insurance, or COLI, is unrelated to life insurance plans included in benefits packages for workers and their families, and is used as a source of non-taxable revenue. While many employers defend the practice as a means of funding retirement benefits, abuses have led to the introduction in Congress of a bill that would require disclosure of this practice to affected workers, and plans for legislation encompassing stricter regulations.
See "Employer collects when worker dies", ADAM GELLER, Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2002