The province is not about to compel companies to notify employees when their benefits are cut, Alberta's employment minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, said Monday.

Mike Watts, a former employee of Welcome Ford in Fort Saskatchewan, recently learned his health benefits were cut off in October, three months before the car dealership went into receivership last month. No one from the company notified him and Watts now has to pay a $2,000 dental bill out of his own pocket.

However, there are no legal obligations for employers or insurance companies to let workers know their benefits have ended.

Lukaszuk said Watts' situation is unique as his ministry hasn't received any calls alerting him to a potential problem.

"Which leads me to believe most employers do the right thing and when they ammend benefits, add to them, subtract from them or simply eliminate them, they do let their employees know so it's not a common employer behaviour," he said.

Alberta doesn't regulate benefits because they are considered a perk.

However, Lukaszuk said he will ask his department to dig a little deeper into the issue. He said he may act if there's evidence what happened to Watts has happened to others.