Termination of Employees

When an employee is terminated (for any reason other than Gross Misconduct), it is necessary to send the employee and each dependent covered under the plan (all of which are referred to as Qualified Beneficiaries) a COBRA Election Notice.  Providing the COBRA Election Notice is the single most critical step in COBRA administration. If the COBRA Election Notice is not properly provided the election period will not start to run and the Qualified Beneficiary will have an open-ended right to elect COBRA. 

When you terminate an employee in the TBO/BPM system, the proper COBRA Election Notice is automatically generated along with the HIPAA mandated Certificate of Creditable Coverage.  Both of these documents are mailed to the employee’s home address via First Class with Proof of Mailing documented by the United States Postal Service. 

To terminate an employee in the TBO/BPM system simply follow these steps: 

1.      Log into the system using your Group Name, User Name, and Password

2.      Click on Accept to acknowledge the general disclaimer

3.      Click on Administer Company

4.      Click on Participants

5.      Click Search Employee (You may search by any criteria listed or leave blank)

6.      To the left of the employee’s name click on View

7.      Verify the employee’s address to the best of your company’s knowledge

8.      Click on Terminate Employee

9.      Make sure the correct date is inserted in the Termination Date field.  This is the date of termination of employment, not the date on which benefits are lost.

10.  From the drop down box enter the Number of Months of Employer Paid COBRA.  Normally this would be “None.”  Contact the complianceofficer@tboiservices.com if you have any questions about this field.

11.  If you are sure you wish to terminate this employee Click yes.

Please note the employee’s termination will not automatically appear in the system!  An email is immediately sent to you acknowledging the fact that you have terminated the employee.  You should retain this email acknowledgement for your records. Once we have confirmed the processing of the COBRA Election Notice and the Certificate of Creditable Coverage the new employee will appear in the system as Pending COBRA.  Please see the section entitled “Failing to Comply” to see how important it is to terminate employees in a timely fashion.