Before You Begin: The tools in Benefits Setup > COBRA Event Reason are only applicable to organizations offering health benefits in the United States.
The tools in Benefits Setup > COBRA Event Reason allow you to configure Dayforce to manage coverage in accordance with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
When employees lose coverage in a plan subject to COBRA without subsequently enrolling in another COBRA plan option, Dayforce automatically triggers a COBRA event. COBRA event reasons are then assigned to events in the COBRA tab of Benefits Administration. You can define COBRA event reasons in Benefits Setup > COBRA Event Reason.
Dayforce comes configured with nine custom reasons that you can update and two system reasons that are read-only. They are listed below along with their reference codes:
| Reason Name | Reference Code |
|---|---|
| Child Ceases to Qualify as a Dependent | 6 |
| Death of former employee | 3 |
| Divorce or Legal Separation | 4 |
| Entitlement to Medicare | 5 |
| Layoff | 0 |
| Leave of Absence | 9 |
| Reduction of hours | 2 |
| Retirement | 8 |
| Termination of Employment | 1 |
| Reason Name | Reference Code |
|---|---|
| HIPAA Only | HIPAAEVENT |
| Not a COBRA Event | NOTCOBRAEVENT |
You can add custom COBRA event reasons and make updates to those reasons at any time. You can also delete the preconfigured custom reasons as long as they aren't in use.
For each COBRA event reason that you add, Dayforce can be made to automatically assign that reason to an event based on configured qualifiers. You can do this by selecting an option in the Auto Assign Eligibility drop-down list in the event reason setup. If you do set this field, then you should also set the Auto Assign QE Date field which determines the date type used for the event. The two fields are explained in more detail as follows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
|
Auto Assign Eligibility |
When a COBRA event occurs, Dayforce determines if the employee and dependent are eligible for any of the configured reasons and assigns the appropriate event to the Reason column in the COBRA tab of Benefits Administration. If the employee qualifies for multiple reasons, Dayforce doesn't automatically assign a reason. If appropriate, you can manually assign one to the event record in the COBRA tab of Benefits Administration (multiple employees) or in the Benefits > COBRA screen of People (individual employee). See Manage COBRA Events in the Benefits Administration Guide. |
|
Auto Assign QE Date |
Dayforce can assign two types of dates in the Event Date (qualifying event date) column in the COBRA tab of Benefits Administration:
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The following topics describe how to configure COBRA event reasons: