Labor & Employment Law

COBRA Extended Again

As I have previously discussed extensively here, the COBRA subsidy has been extended yet again.  This time through May 31, 2010.  This means that those who lost their jobs are now eligible for the subsidy, so long as the job loss occurred before May 31st.

Here are the details:

1.  Notice must be provided to those who experienced a qualifying event (termination of employment) on or after April 1 (The Defense Act and TEA amended ARRA, extending the benefit to March 31).

2  Notice must be provided by June 14th.

3.  Those who did not elect COBRA must be be given 60 days to elect after the new, retroactive notice is provided.

So, yet again, we now have to go back and see whose jobs were lost and renotify them of these new benefits.  While I am not at all opposed to making these benefits available for a longer period of time, I am concerned about two things: (1) the impact that this continued "back and forth" retroactively compliance mandate has on employers.  Enough already.  This is unbelievably burdensome and complex; and (2) If we need to provide government subsidies to our former employees to continue their health care on the tax payer dime, isn't there something wrong with the entire picture in the first place?

Lastly, as I have previously mentioned in my tweets, unemployment benefits have been extended as well.  This, on top of the fact that over 30 states are, well, broke when it comes to unemployment funds.

Full post as published by Strategic HR Lawyer on April 17, 2010 (boomark / email).