Unum

Infobox Company
company_name = Unum
company_
company_type = Public NYSE|UNM
foundation = flagicon|USA Tennessee
location_city = Chattanooga, Tennessee
key_people = Thomas R Watjen, president, CEO, and executive director Jon Fossel, chairman of the board
Robert Best, COO
Robert Greving, CFO
industry = Disability insurance
revenue = $10,519,900,000 (USD) in 2007
operating_income = unknown
net_income =
num_employees = 10,000
homepage = [http://www.unum.com/ www.unum.com]

Unum (NYSE|UNM) is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based insurance company previously named UnumProvident, which was formed from the merger of two competing insurance companies, Unum of Portland, Maine, and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company of Chattanooga. It is currently the largest disability insurance company worldwide. Unum also provides long-term care insurance and life insurance.

Corporate

Corporate parent company Unum Group consists of three divisions: Unum US (headquartered in Chattanooga), Unum UK (headquartered in Dorking, England), and Colonial (headquartered in Columbia, SC). Unum Group employs approximately 10,000 people and has significant operations in Chattanooga, Columbia, Dorking, Portland, ME, Worcester, MA, and Glendale, CA, in addition to field offices in 38 major U.S. cities.

History

Unum’s predecessor, Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, was founded in 1848, making it one of the oldest continuously operating insurance companies in the United States. It was one of the first major U.S. mutual insurance companies to convert to public ownership, forming Unum Corporation in 1986. Unum’s strategy eventually evolved to have a clear focus on disability and special risk products. Through its subsidiaries, Unum became the leader in group disability insurance. And through its business unit, Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company, it became a leader in voluntary insurance.

Founded in 1887, Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company provided accident insurance for "uninsurable" workers in the sawmills and coal mines around Chattanooga. Provident went on to become a leader in individual disability insurance and "return-to-work" programs that helped disabled workers return to the workforce.

In 1997 Provident completed the acquisitions of rival insurer The Paul Revere Corporation and its subsidiaries. It also acquired GENEX Services, Inc., which provides disability case management, vocational rehabilitation and related services to corporations, third party administrators and insurance companies.

Unum and Provident merged in 1999, creating UnumProvident Corporation. Following a rebranding effort in 2006-2007, the company shortened its name to Unum in January 2007 [ [http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/unum/template.NDM/menuitem.a50c9bf22444d0af809e6be2e6908a0c/?javax.portlet.tpst=287696e4165573c5eebbb3743893bc8a_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_287696e4165573c5eebbb3743893bc8a_viewID=news_view_popup&javax.portlet.prp_287696e4165573c5eebbb3743893bc8a_newsLang=en&javax.portlet.prp_287696e4165573c5eebbb3743893bc8a_ndmHsc=v2*A1167570000000*B1218343028000*C3155806799000*DgroupByDate*G11*J2*N1005763&javax.portlet.prp_287696e4165573c5eebbb3743893bc8a_newsId=20070116005976&beanID=2141892801&viewID=news_view_popup&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken Press release April 11, 2007] and unveiled a new logo in April 2007.

Controversy

Unum became the focus of extremely unwanted media attention in 2002, after attorneys who had sued the company went to national television outlets offering proof that the company had quotas for closing claims. CBS 60 Minutes aired a very devastating article about UNUM's alleged abuses. One of the law firms evem subpoened UNUM's Claims Manual, and later offered it for sale on the internet. UNUM's "Vulture Award" became public. The winner of the continuous monthly closed case campaign received valuabe personal incentives from UNUM by winning the Vulture Award. CBS' 60 Minutes aired a very damaging story about UNUM's claims practices. UNUM attempted to counter the accusations by noting that "only 2% of the policyholders who filed a claim with the company ... were found not to be disabled" and that court judgments in the prior year were in the company's favor 75% of the time, although this amount is by case, not by total monetary obligation, which can be misleading. [ [http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=112190&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=357576&highlight= Unum - Investor Relations - News Release ] ] In December 2004, the company and several states entered into a regulatory settlement agreement. Due to its alleged unfair business practices, investigations, and fines, Unum was labelled an "outlaw company" by the former California Insurance Commissioner, John Garamendi (who later bacame Leutinent Governor). [ [http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2006/09/06/72065.htm Anon. Insurance Journal News Sept 2006] ]

In April 2007, the "LA Times" published a major article updating problems with the multistate review. [Daniel Yi, [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=UNUM&type=current&sortby=REVERSE_CHRON&datetype=6&frommonth=04&fromday=12&fromyear=2007&tomonth=04&today=15&toyear=2007&By=&Title=&at=ALL&Sect=ALL&x=57&y=15 Case reviews fall short for hurt workers] LA Times (fee required)] ] Advising the United Kingdom government on claims since 1994, Unum is also involved with the UK's current, much criticised Welfare Reform Bill. [Loukas Christodoulou [http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2940 Welfare or Wealth Care?] Corporate Watch May 14, 2007] [Jonathan Rutherford [http://www.compassonline.org.uk/article.asp?n=563&offset=20 New Labour and the end of welfare,] Compass Online April 25, 2007] [ [http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=d&tab=av&recipe=all&q=welfare+rogue&x=0&y=0 "'Rogue' firm advising in UK"] , "BBC", June 6, 2007 ]

External links

* [http://www.unum.com Unum] website
* [http://www.stopunum.com StopUnum.com] - A website exposing the corporate corruption and insurance fraud of the Unum Corporation. Run by bad faith insurance claim victims.

References