This audio conference was recorded on Friday - April 17, 2009

Credits:

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification.

Description:

Still have questions about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) COBRA subsidy provisions? Everyone seems to. It’s not surprising since the ARRA left little, if any, time to prepare when it went into effect immediately upon being signed into law on February 17, 2009.

The Act requires employers to provide notice to “assistance eligible individuals” (AEIs) who have lost or will lose their jobs between September 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009, of their the right to pay reduced COBRA premiums of 35 percent for periods of coverage beginning on or after February 17, 2009, with available coverage lasting up to 9 months following the separation of employment.

On March 19, the U.S. Department of Labor gave employers some breathing room by issuing four model notices to assist them in complying with the COBRA subsidy’s notice requirements. But, while the notices are a cause for some relief, employers aren’t out of the woods just yet. There’s some understandable angst over which notices employers should exactly be using depending on the groups of qualified beneficiaries involved: There’s the DOL’s general notice; the abbreviated general notice; the alternative notice; and the notice to give in connection with extended election periods. It’s no wonder that the multitude of notices is leaving many employers feeling overwhelmed. Don’t let anxiety hinder your race toward compliance.

If you sponsor a group health plan, you can’t afford to miss our upcoming event all about the latest developments concerning the COBRA subsidy, as errors in judgment could cost you.

Order this in-depth 90-minute audio conference where we’ll explain the fundamental aspects of the subsidy, and probably most important for right now, we’ll provide crucial insight into how to interpret the DOL’s model notices. Our expert – a seasoned employment attorney – will teach you how to determine which AEIs should receive which notice and why.

Speaker(s):

Daniel Schwartz, Esq., a member at the Hartford, Connecticut, office of law firm Pullman & Comley, LLC, has extensive trial and litigation experience in both the federal and state courts in a variety of areas, including commercial litigation and trade secret enforcement. He represents employers in various employment law matters such as employment discrimination, restrictive covenants, human resources, retaliation and whistleblowing, and wage and hour issues.

Schwartz is a frequent presenter on a wide range of employment law and commercial litigation topics, and has been interviewed by newspapers, radio and television programs, and legal blogs on employment law topics. He is the author of the independent Connecticut Employment Law Blog, one of the most widely read blogs of its type in the country. He has also been cited for multiple years in The Best Lawyers in America for his work in the labor & employment arena, and the Connecticut Law Tribune named him a “New Leader of the Law” in 2003.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• When AEIs may be eligible to change their benefit elections, and the deadline for them to make those changes
• What impact the subsidy may have on preexisting condition limitations
• How to evaluate when the COBRA premium subsidy ends
• The subsidy’s payroll and tax implications for your organization
• When “alternative notice” is necessary and how to ensure that you’re amending your notice to comply with state-based requirements
• How to evaluate whether you’ll need to customize the DOL’s model forms
• The action plan every plan sponsor needs to implement to ensure compliance with the notice requirements