Shawn E. McDermott - Blog

……
The President recently signed into law an economic stimulus package titled The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This law may impact your health care and other employee benefits. The plan includes provisions to assist certain eligible jobless workers pay for health insurance under COBRA. COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more employees and, specifically allows newly unemployed workers to keep health insurance provided by their former employers. The new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act makes COBRA coverage more accessible to former employees.

For workers who are involuntarily terminated for reasons other than gross misconduct between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009, the federal government will subsidize 65% of the premiums under COBRA for nine months. Additionally, for involuntarily employees who did not sign up for COBRA originally have been granted an additional 60 days within which to do so.

There is a high income exclusion however. If your adjusted gross income exceeds $125,000 per year or $250,000 per family, the income tax will be raised by the premium reduction amount which effectively removes the subsidy.

If you have lost your job involuntarily in this economic downturn, it is possible your rights under COBRA have been impacted. You may want to contact your employer to determine if you have the right to enroll in COBRA healthcare coverage or have the right to seek a subsidy under this new Act.

The U.S. Congress and our newly inaugurated President Obama signed into law this morning the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This new law is a clear repudiation of the conservative Supreme Court’s ruling last year in Ledbetter v. Goodyear which many legal scholars agree wiped out years of employment law precedence on equal pay provisions. While my law office emphasizes representing clients with employee benefit claims, as compared to the equal pay, wrongful termination and discrimination suits seen in the broader practice of employee rights, this new law is still worthy of mention.

Ms. Ledbetter is a former employee of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in a plant located in Gadsden, Alabama. She worked there for more than 19 years (more…)