16 weeks of base pay - perhaps this is becoming industry standard for big company layoffs? (influenced by CA WARN act?)
Interesting they are paying the cash equivalent of 6 months of healthcare, rather than just extending healthcare for 6 months.
Interesting they are paying the cash equivalent of 6 months of healthcare, rather than just extending healthcare for 6 months.
Giving former employees the cash equivalent allows them to use COBRA if desired or to find alternative coverage.
COBRA, as far as I understand, is not offered by the employer. It is a federal safety net. The employer has no monetary obligation whatsoever, besides those ruled by contract and conscience, to give the departed employee anything. Zero, zip, zilch. They are only obligated to pay out for work performed and anything required by contract, such as unused PTO. Again, that's it.
At least in my state, the only other obligation is the employer must submit to another agency to handle COBRA (should you elect) within 30 days and that agency has 14 days to contact you.
Reading between the lines, this has at least one serious flaw. Suppose you're let go on the 15th of the month and your former employer chooses to not continue your coverage. You then only have coverage until the end of the month. That's approximately 15 days. However, because the employer isn't obligated to submit to the third party for 30 days and they're not obligated to submit paperwork to you for another 14 days, it's potentially 34 days before someone contacts you about setting up continued coverage, or 19 days after your coverage ended. If the former employer doesn't provide you the name or contact info for the third part, you have to cold-call potential agencies in hopes that 1) they're the agency handling you and 2) the employer has submitted to them so that they know point 1. Good luck, hope nothing bad happens to you while you figure this out!
I mention this because your post suggested that employers were required to do more. As far as I know, they're not. It's my contention (and experience) that, because companies tend to be tight fisted and short sighted, it has high probably for them to do only the minimum and to force former employees into the nightmare scenario.
COBRA is also hella expensive. For one individual, expect to pay $450-500. For a couple, at least $1000. PER MONTH. Otherwise, check the marketplace. Already paid your deductible and let go in the first quarter? Too bad if you can't afford COBRA. You have to restart your contributions to the deductible if you opt for a new plan on the marketplace.
So, make sure you're setting aside appropriately in when money's coming in.
Apologies for the rantyness. This has happened twice, once during 2020 and again during the current rounds of layoffs. It hits home, hard. I think it's important for people's safety to make sure these facts are known.
I'm sorry my post suggested that -- it was not intentional. As you note, employers have no monetary obligations to former employees under COBRA.
My intent was to offer a reason why Plaid, having decided to give employees money towards health care, would opt for cash vs extending the Plaid's existing policy to cover non-employees.
Totally get the rantyness. My experiences with COBRA have not been great either and your points are good ones.
I looked at the price for COBRA coverage for me and the family when I left my previous employer - $34,000 / year. Ouch.
> Interesting they are paying the cash equivalent of 6 months of healthcare, rather than just extending healthcare for 6 months
Given COBRA, that is practically the same thing, but gives the employee more choice (it also provides finality to the employer, who doesn’t keep a declining liability on the balance sheet, doesn’t risk having to deal with problems for the ex-employees payments after the one lump sum exit check, etc.)
Admin burden of dealing with COBRA is non-trivial, so I would rather have the healthcare than the money.