Maintenance of Health Benefits/FMLA/Accommodation

tlnelson

Good afternoon,

I am looking for some feedback regarding this question. We have a couple of employees out on FMLA leave. They are now out of FMLA time and we are accommodating them additional time off of up to approximately an extra 4-6 weeks. Once they run out of the FMLA leave rights, how should we be handling their continuation of Health insurance?

Are we still required to maintain their coverage under the same conditions before the leave where they pay their normal employee share, or is the exhaustion of their FMLA leave rights a trigger to now offer them Cobra? Or because we are accommodating them with the extra time off, we continue with them paying their normal employee share before they went on leave? We do anticipate they will be back from the extra time we are allowing them to be off.

Any information would be helpful. Thanks!

NaeNae55

Unless you have state laws or company policies that state otherwise, if their FMLA time has run out so have their FMLA rights. If you are now accomodating them by giving them more time off, you have entered into an ADA situation which does not require you to help pay for their health insurance. You should offer them COBRA.

lauralee28

You should also check your medical plan description. We continue medical coverage for up to 3 months past FMLA exhaustion (total of 6 months). The norm for most medical plans however is continued coverage during FLMA only and once exhausted, the employee is offered COBRA.

Sharon McKnight SPHR

[quote=lauralee28;723749]You should also check your medical plan description. We continue medical coverage for up to 3 months past FMLA exhaustion (total of 6 months). The norm for most medical plans however is continued coverage during FLMA only and once exhausted, the employee is offered COBRA.[/quote]


Lauralee,

Your first post! Welcome to the Forum. :welcome:

Sharon