Several weeks after the passage of an extension of the COBRA subsidy provisions, the United States Department of Labor has finally released its model notices for employers to use. All of them are available here. There are three such forms, a General Notice form, a Premium Assistance Extension Notice, and an Updated Alternative Notice. … Continue Reading
Tag Archives: arra
Congress Approves COBRA Subsidy Extension
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Legislative DevelopmentsOver the weekend, Congress approved of a measure that I reported on last week that will extend COBRA for a few more months. The President is expected to sign the measure and no doubt the DOL will be updating its website with new information. Thus, employers should continue to keep tabs on this development as it… Continue Reading
House Passes COBRA Subsidy Extension and..What’s This? Restrictions on Arbitration Clauses??
Posted in Legislative DevelopmentsUPDATED The health care bill debate seems all consuming. At least in terms of press coverage. But yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a defense spending bill (H.R. 3326) that, according to the DC Employment Law Update: "prevents most defense contractors and subcontractors from forcing their employees or independent contractors to sign, as a condition of… Continue Reading
COBRA Subsidy Coming to an End, Kind Of – What Employers Need to Know
Posted in Laws and RegulationsUPDATED This week, both the Hartford Courant and the Hartford Business Journal, have run lengthy articles suggesting that the COBRA subsidy — which went into effect in February of this year — is coming to end for most workers. Unfortunately, the articles miss the big picture of the law and, in doing so, add to the… Continue Reading
COBRA Subsidy Provisions – What the ?@#$% is a “Material Negative Change”?
Posted in Laws and RegulationsEarlier today, I was fortunate to give a teleconference on the new COBRA subsidy rules for BLR. Not surprisingly, there were still lots of questions at the end of it. One of the biggest issues that people had concerned who was eligible to receive this assistance. As I’ve indicated previously, only those employees who have… Continue Reading
Sounding the Alarm Bells: Three Reasons Why Most Employers Should Get Their Act Together on the COBRA Subsidy Provisions
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsAlthough I’ve been sounding the alarm bells for the last two months or so, on the new COBRA subsidy provisions, I’ve had informal discussions with various colleagues that suggest that some employers are either ignorant of the new rules or do not believe that the rules apply to them. Here are three areas why most employers… Continue Reading
COBRA Changes Are Here: Do You Have An Action Plan?
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsAmong employment law professionals and human resource personnel, the last year has been full of changes. Among the more technical changes are thenew COBRA Subsidy provisions that were passed with the stimulus bill earlier this year. April 18th is a big deadline for some of the implementation of the provisions — providing notices to some former employees about their rights… Continue Reading
Department of Labor Releases Model COBRA Notices
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsThe U.S. Department of Labor recently released notices for employers to use in conjunction with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These notices provide a good start for employers, but each of these notices will also need to be edited to fit a particular employer. So, to what employees is this concerned with?… Continue Reading
What’s In The Stimulus Package for Employers – Part II – The Whistleblower Provisions
Posted in Laws and RegulationsIn yesterday’s post, I talked about the significant changes to COBRA that are in the new economic stimulus law. Today’s post focuses on another, less-publicized provision in the new law regarding whistleblowers. Employers that expect to receive funds from the stimulus package need to be aware of the provisions so that you can be in… Continue Reading
What’s REALLY in the Economic Stimulus Bill for Employers – A Recap
Posted in Laws and RegulationsFor those of us with school-age children, the school calendar (vacations and all) seems to be the rhythm that most of us adopt. So, now that February break is over, it’s time for a little heavy lifting. In this case, the heavy lifting involves the text of the new economic stimulus bill – which checks in at… Continue Reading
About Daniel Schwartz
Trusted advisor. Experienced employment law attorney. Bar leader. Award-winning author. Noted Speaker. "Legal Rebel". All can be said to be apt descriptions of Daniel Schwartz, a member of Pullman & Comley. More +
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