Well, another football season is upon us. The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are turning, and the sun shines brightly on the football fields across America. The season includes parties, tailgating, fantasy football, and games at every level – from pee-wee league to pro.

We’ve covered many COBRA administration twists and turns through the years. As COBRA has evolved, the challenges continue to increase. Leaves of Absence (LOA) during employment has made COBRA even more complex. LOA used to be about sick time and vacation. Now it can include leaves for maternity, paternity, personal, family, childcare, medical, military, sabbatical, adoption, ADA and other reasons.

Earlier this year, we posted an article on “The COBRA Implications of AHP Expansion” in which we discussed how COBRA may be impacted by the DOL’s proposed guidance on expanding Association Health Plans. On June 21, 2018, the Employee Benefits Security Administration division of the DOL published the Final Rule (29 CFR 2510) giving us the definition of “Employer” under Section 3(5) or ERISA related to Association Health Plans.

The news has been abuzz recently with several large corporate mergers and acquisitions. No doubt large corporations have teams of lawyers on staff to ensure compliance during and after corporate changes. However, even businesses that are not large enough to staff a team of lawyers undergo mergers, acquisitions and restructuring.  While these businesses may not make the evening news, they are held to the same COBRA compliance standards as large employers. 

In the world of employee benefit plan administration and compliance, we often focus on what not to do. However, even in this highly regulated industry, plan sponsors have options when it comes to COBRA.   

No matter how long you work with COBRA, questions still arise. Here are four COBRA administration questions that caught our attention this month. Ready for a pop quiz? See if your team can answer these four questions correctly!

Warning: This article is technical, and it contains way too many acronyms. In fact, we had to engage our ERISA counsel, Amy Grace at ERISA Logic to make sure we got the facts straight. That said, it’s worth reading. This topic is one more example of unintended consequences. What started as a way to help employers save money on employee benefits, may ultimately result in some COBRA complications. Read on to get the details.

As one of four iTEDIUM Solutions, COBRAGuard has a line of sister products that can help you provide the Human element in Human Resources. Learn more about our EESe eligibility and enrollment platform that was built for benefits professionals like you. View the video and then contact us to learn more.

COBRA can be denied in some cases for gross misconduct. Of course, sexual misconduct can be gross in that it is disgusting … and demeaning, insulting, terrifying, and awful. That said, does sexual misconduct in the workplace constitute “gross misconduct” allowing employers to deny the availability of COBRA coverage upon termination of employment? If so, what are the requirements and ramifications?

A sad and scary reality is sweeping our country. Drug addiction has skyrocketed. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in 2015, 12.5 million Americans misused prescription opioids, 828,000 people used heroin and 33,091 people died from overdosing on opioids. In late October of 2017, the Trump administration declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency.