Late last semester, dining staff were required to sign a form that appeared to charge a deductible on their health insurance in order for them to receive coverag— condition in violation of their stated agreement with Bon Appétit. Their worries were allayed after top union members examined the fine print and found that there would be no deductible. Later, though, an error in the forms’ delivery left the workers with no health insurance for five days, leaving many workers in uncomfortable medical situations.

“Somebody dropped the ball somewhere and it was very stressful,” said Union Steward Raquel Adorno. “People had to cancel physicals scheduled for their children, and there were diabetes patients who couldn’t get their insulin.”

Bon Appétit’s parent company, Compass Group, requires that workers send in health insurance forms every November. Aramark, the University’s previous dining service, had no such requirement.

Bon Appétit Resident District Manager Delmar Crim said that the forms necessary for ensuring the workers’ health insurance arrived at Compass, but missed the company’s Tuesday processing date. The forms lay untouched at Compass for five days until the next Tuesday, when they were processed.

Whether the forms should have been sent earlier is a question that Philip Abraha—he Bon Appétit controller responsible for sending the—id not answer, declining to comment on the matter.

There have been previous problems between Bon Appétit and the Dining Union over health insurance. Over the summer, Bon Appétit tried to persuade the workers to transfer to the Compass-affiliated Aetna health insurance policy, even offering a $1,000 incentive. The union refused, claiming that the Aetna policy was inferior to the Anthem Blue Cross plan, which still provides insurance to Union members.

Union Representative Len Nalencz said that the lapse in insurance came after employees had appropriately fulfilled the conditions presented by Bon Appétit. Nalencz, who is often skeptical of Bon Appétit claims, is unsure whether the dining company’s mistake was innocent.

“I think that Bon Appétit made a mistake,” he said. “I don’t know whether it was intentional or not.”

Crim said that it was in fact a mistake, and nothing more.

“Nobody would ever do that,” he said. “Health insurance is important. We don’t play games like that.”