Hello I was fired for being "late" but my manager blamed me for all her mistakes. Can I get cobra health insurance?

You may as long as it was not gross misconduct, which is like arson or fraud against the company. Are they fighting your unemployment claim?

Were you on the company health plan even one day?

I just filed for unemployment, still waiting to see if they deny it. I had the company health plan, but that has ended now.

The company has up to 44 days to send you the paperwork if you qualify. Did you work for a small employer (under 20 total full time employees)?

I think companies pull this often 2 get out of cobra requirements specially if the applicant is ill and costing the carrier profits

The carrier usually does not administer COBRA except in several states like California. The employer hires a health plan admin to handle the COBRA or they service it in house, if a larger corp.

Was it a small company? Cobra might be something they are unfamiliar with and they ddont want 2 deal with

The employer has the burden of establishing the termination was for “gross misconduct.” The presumption is that the termination was a qualifying event that entitles the employee to COBRA benefits. If the employer intends for the termination to act as a bar to the general COBRA continuation rights of the employee, it is incumbent upon the employer to create a record of the activity alleged and prove, if challenged, how that conduct rose to the level of “gross misconduct” to justify denying COBRA right.

What is the DOL definiton of gross misconduct for an employee as it applies to COBRA?

Nancy:

COBRA regulations contain no definition of gross misconduct.

According to the Department of Labor. “Generally, it can be assumed that being fired for most ordinary reasons, such as excessive absences or generally poor performance, does not amount to gross misconduct." In the past, such acts as theft, embezzlement, misrepresentations, violations of company policy, and non-work related violence which affected the workplace have been successfully used in the courts as reasonable events to deny COBRA benefits upon termination. However, violations of company policy have also been denied as gross misconduct.