COBRA Update

The Sixth Circuit recently held that giving a COBRA notice to an employee is not sufficient notice with respect to the employee's spouse. McDoweel v. Krawchison, 125 F. 3d 954 (6th Cir. 1997). The Sixth Circuit stated that notice under COBRA must be sufficient to allow the qualified beneficiary to make an informed decision. A spouse, as a qualified beneficiary, is therefore entitled to receive his or her own notice of COBRA rights. In making its decision, the Court relied upon the provision of the statute which provides that a plan administrator is not required to separately notify all dependent children living at home, provided that the nonemployee spouse is given proper notice. The Court reasoned that if the nonemployee beneficiaries were not entitled to a separate notice this provision would be extraneous. It should be noted that the Court relied upon earlier case law which held that if an employer fails to provide appropriate COBRA notice to a qualified beneficiary, that employer may be bound to provide coverage to the qualified beneficiary. In light of this case, plan administrators should provide appropriate COBRA notice to both the employee and nonemployee spouse.