The Department of Labor (DOL) has released updated models of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notices listed below, updating the expiration date of these documents to be January 31, 2023:
- The COBRA General Notice describes general rights and employee obligations under COBRA regulation and must be provided to each covered employee and each covered spouse of an employee within 90 days of becoming newly covered under the group plan.
- The COBRA Election Notice describes an employee’s and/or a qualified dependent’s rights to the continuation of coverage and how they can make an election. This notice must be issued from the group plan administrator, commonly the employer, within 14 days from when an employee and/or qualified dependent experienced an event where coverage was lost.
Employers are not required to use the new notices and can draft their own documents. However employers are required to provide their employees with a COBRA General Notice and a COBRA Election Notice as outlined above. To review the revised notices, please visit the DOL website:
Contact your Cowden representative for more information on this or other compliance issues.