Employers Must Send Amended COBRA Notices

In December, President Obama signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for 2010 (the “DDAA”). In addition to prohibiting mandatory arbitration agreements which cover Title VII claims brought by employees of defense contractors, it also extended and expanded the COBRA premium subsidy established last year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (and reported last year here). The DDAA extends the duration of the COBRA subsidy had been scheduled to expire on December 31, 2009. Now, individual will be eligible for the COBRA subsidy if they are experienced a qualifying event (like termination) between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010 and the duration of the subsidy has been extended from 9 months to 15 months. Last month, the Department of Labor issued new model COBRA notices which employers are required to send out to newly eligible individuals, individuals who were receiving the subsidy and individuals whose eligibility period expired prior to December 19, 2009. Likewise, the Ohio Department of Insurance issued updated notices for small employers who are not covered by COBRA so that they are consistent with the new federal law. Employers should send out the notices within 60 days of when the individual became eligible for COBRA and no later than February 17, 2010.

There are three new notices (two federal and one state notice). The