COBRA Coverage for US employees

[HRbeat]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can help me out here. We have offices in the US and HR is based at Head Office in Australia.

Companies with at least 20 employees have a legislative obligation to provide COBRA coverage for employees. How is "company" defined? Does it pertain to a legal entity e.g. registered company? Or does it extend to the group of companies the legal entity belongs to i.e. parent entity and subsidiaries?

Thanks in advance!!!

[Job Media]

Originally Posted by HRbeat

How is "company" defined?

It depends on how it is defined in the COBRA legislation, which probably means examining the Act in detail.

If it's not defined, you would probably have to ask a specialist lawyer in the US.

Presumably COBRA coverage is not applicable to employees based outside the USA, so one could assume that the employee count only includes USA based employees.

Unfortunately though, lawmakers don't always adhere to logic

[HRbeat]

US based employees are employed by our US entities

[HRbeat]

I couldn't find a copy of the COBRA Legislation online...does anyone know of any equivalent to Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)

[Glen Callaghan]

Hi
A bit late but this is the site I use for general Labor related queries:
The U.S. Department of Labor Home Page

They have FAQ's on Cobra:
Frequently Asked Questions about COBRA Continuation Health Coverage

[HRbeat]

Thanks anyway