Disabililty Policy

njjel

I'm wondering if some of you would like to share how much time you extend your employees beyound the 12 weeks of FMLA leave, if any? And if you do, do you pay your share of the employee's medical coverage? Currently we extend to 6 months but offer them COBRA after the 12 weeks.

marc

We do not extend the FMLA itself after 12 weeks, but we do have a LOA policy that can go another 90 days. To date it has never been approved for more than 30 days. During this leave, the EE must maintain all coverages. We do not give them Cobra notices unless they fail to make payments - which are due the first day of each covered month.

Carey

Our disability leave policy is pretty generous, allowing for leaves up to one year, if a physician certifies the disability. FMLA stops at 12 weeks (other CA leave laws may apply longer). While on disability leave, we continue to pay our portion of the health insurance and the employee pays theirs. Since FMLA protection is gone, when the ee is released to return to work, we see if we have a position available to return them to, but it's not guaranteed.

On another thread, someone more knowledgeable than I about COBRA said that failing to make payments does not create a COBRA qualifying event. That person could lose their insurance due to failure to pay and not be eligible for COBRA.

irenesmsaclaims

Yes, you may terminate coverage, but it's not a QE under COBRA until the employee notifies you of his/her intent not to return, or does not return. This is a special FMLA rule; another kind of LOA (ie., after FMLA expires) could result in the QE of reduction of hours, and would trigger the COBRA QE.