Imagine a world where employers can actually benefit from their employees' deaths. Unfortunately, this world is no figment of your imagination, but a harsh reality in the world of bottom-lines and profitability.

Companies take out what are referred to as "dead janitor" or "dead peasant" life insurance policies on employees at all levels, be it factory worker or executive. According to MSN Money, 20 percent of the life insurance policies sold each year are tied up in these policies, and often none of the benefits and payouts of the insurance go to the families of the deceased.

In and of itself, this ought to be a crime, but it does not stop there. Not only do large corporations profit from an employee's death, companies can also take out loans based on these life insurance policies, and the "death benefits" are tax-exempt. Until recently,employees did not have to be current, or evenrecent, employees for the company to collect.

In the companies' defense, a company does stand to lose something if an employee dies, especially those with expertise in certain hard-to-find areas. While some legitimate implementations of "dead janitor" policies may exist, it could be possible for a company to obtain life insurance for employees who work with hazardous chemicals, in dangerous locations or in volatile circumstances. This is simply a preposterous possibility, because the company has now removed any reason it may have had to ensure the safety of its workers. It seems as ridiculous to allow such a possibility with employee life insurance as it would to allow consumer life insurance for things like cigarettes, alcohol and heavy machinery, where the more dangerous a product is, the more the company stands to profit.

Apparently corporations have found yet another tax loophole and a way for companies to profit from the death of an employee.While you may hate your job, your boss, your co-workers or even your cubicle without a window, you can take solace in the fact that as long as your clock still ticks, your employers are just throwing their insurance premiums down the drain, because the IRS does not allow the premiums to be used as write-offs anymore.