COBRA Subsidy Notices Due

On January 17, 2009, the Economic Stimulus Plan was enacted, a part of which provided for subsidies of COBRA premiums pursuant to certain criteria.  See the postings in this blog of March 5 and 20, 2009 for a brief description of that criteria. 

The U.S. Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service have continued to update information concerning this subsidy and employers should check these websites with respect to complying with the mandates of this program.

April 18, 2009 was the deadline for mailing Notices to all employees who have been involuntarily separated since September 1, 2008, whether they elected to take COBRA coverage or not.  The DOL website contains model notices to be sent to former employees, as well as to employees who are involuntarily separated during the remainder of 2009.