Late Thursday night, President Obama signed a measure that extends the COBRA premium subsidy for another two months — to May 31, 2010. The subsidy had expired on March 31, 2010 when Congress failed to act on this measure before its recess. However, yesterday, Congress approved a bill that covers all those who have been… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: COBRA
President Signs Bill Extending COBRA Subsidy For One Month; To be Applied Retroactively
Posted in Legislative DevelopmentsLate Tuesday night, the Senate approved and the President signed a bill that , among other things, extends the COBRA subsidy (that had expired on February 28, 2010) to March 31, 2010 and applies that extension retroactively. That means that any terminations on Monday and Tuesday this week that would have been subject to the COBRA subsidy… Continue Reading
New Model COBRA Notices Are Finally Released by United States Department of Labor
Posted in Laws and RegulationsSeveral 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
COBRA Subsidy Extension Information Now Available from U.S. Department of Labor
Posted in Laws and RegulationsThe United States Department of Labor this morning updated its website to include brand new information about the COBRA subsidy extension that was passed at the end of 2009. Among the new documents: Updated Fact Sheet (useful for employers) FAQs for employees and employers A new job loss poster A new flyer for employees A… Continue Reading
Twas the Night Before Christmas: COBRA Subsidy Extension and Health Care Bill Special Edition
Posted in Laws and RegulationsTwas the night before Christmas With a whole bunch of laws, A new COBRA was stirring, with a health bill (and flaws?) Congress sure has been busy the last few days. This Christmas Eve morning, the Senate passed a landmark health care bill. No doubt, it will continue to be tweaked and modified as the… Continue Reading
COBRA Subsidy Extension Becomes Law; What Employers Need to Do Now
Posted in Laws and Regulations, Legislative DevelopmentsSo, President Obama signed a bill that extends the COBRA subsidy. No big deal, right? Well, not exactly. First, let’s go over what’s in the final provision: The eligibility period to receive the COBRA subsidy has been extended two months — to February 28, 2010. That means that individuals who have been laid off recently… Continue Reading
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
Gross Misconduct under COBRA – Strategies for Compliance
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsOne of the great mysteries in the employment law arena is what is "gross misconduct" under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). A provocative article published in the latest "The Labor Lawyer" (a publication of the American Bar Association) answers that question by providing a fairly thorough summary of how courts have analyzed this… 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
Quick Takes: Firing Via E-mail, COBRA, EFCA, Facebook, Last-Chance Agreements & Restrictive Covenants
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Legislative Developments, Wage & HourEmployment law is quite the hot topic among various blogs. So much so that it’s time for the next installment of Quick Takes — a quick summary of what’s new and noteworthy. Don’t miss the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog’s post on how NOT to fire an employee. In the post, Jon Hyman describes how an employer… 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
So What’s REALLY in the Economic Stimulus Bill Related to Labor & Employment Law?
Posted in Legislative DevelopmentsWhile much of the press reports about the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of the Economic Stimulus bill center on the size of it, there’s a lot of details that haven’t yet been explored. Because the bill’s prospects are looking (somewhat) favorable, it’s time to look at some of the specifics that relate to employment… Continue Reading
Sign On Bonus, Accrued Vacation and COBRA Insurance are not “Wages”, Says Superior Court
Posted in Litigation, Wage & HourConnecticut’s wage payment statutes, with the definition of wages found at Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-71a(3), certainly have left courts room to interpret the statute. After all, the definition of wages is merely: compensation for labor or services rendered by an employee, whether the amount is determined on a time, task, piece, commission or other basis… Continue Reading
Gross Misconduct and COBRA – When Can An Employer Try to Deny Coverage to Terminated Employee
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsThe Employee Benefits blog has a terrific post this week explaining the "Gross Misconduct" rule for COBRA Coverage. For those unfamiliar with the lingo, The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) (among other aspects) describes rights that employees have to continue their health insurance after their employment as been terminated (and for some other reasons… 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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