Health Benefits: Checklist for Determining Gross Misconduct under COBRA

Under COBRA—the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act—employers with 20 or more employees must offer employees and their dependents the right to continue their group health coverage if they lose group health insurance coverage because of a "qualifying event." Cal-COBRA, which is the California law providing health benefits continuation coverage if an employer has 2 to 19 employees, has similar requirements. One type of "qualifying event" that will entitle an eligible employee to elect COBRA continuation coverage is termination of employment. However, there is an important exception: If an employee is terminated for "gross misconduct," COBRA rights don't kick in. This month's Online Exclusive is a checklist you can use to help determine whether the cause of an employee's discharge qualifies as "gross misconduct" for COBRA purposes . . . (to read the remainder of this article, please log in below.)