A Florida woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Southwest Airlines because she said the company failed to provide her the information she needed to continue her health insurance coverage after she lost her job.
Plaintiff Cherrita C. claims Southwest violated the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA law, when it sent her a notification of her eligibility that lacked critical information and did so after the deadline the law set. As a result, Cherrita says she lost her health insurance coverage.
Cherrita seeks to have the case certified as a class action. She expects many other former Southwest Airlines employees have had the same experience because the company’s actions were a matter of policy, the suit alleges.
COBRA Health Insurance Explained
U.S. employment laws require employers with 50 or more full-time workers to offer health insurance coverage to eligible employees and pay some part of the cost. Eligibility is chiefly determined by the number of hours worked.
In the event one of those employees becomes ineligible, either they stop working for the company or their hours are cut back to part time, the company can stop contributing to the insurance premiums. If that happens, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA law, takes effect.
COBRA mandates that the insured worker and his or her dependents are given the option of continuing coverage under the employer-sponsored plan at a group rate – which the worker must pay independently – for a period of at least 18 months.
The U.S. Department of Labor regulates the disclosure and notification of COBRA requirements to effected employees. According to the consumer information website Investopedia, notifications can be “difficult to understand because it includes a large amount of required legal information and language.”
For that reason, the Department of Labor actually offers a “model” COBRA health insurance notice that employers can copy and customize.
Southwest’s COBRA Health Insurance Notification
In her complaint against Southwest, Charrita claims the airline’s COBRA health insurance notification to her was confusing, misleading and incomplete and was mailed to her well after the 44-day deadline by which the law requires it to be sent.
Charrita says she was terminated by Southwest on or about May 8, 2019, and her COBRA notification was mailed on Aug. 6, 2019.
When she did receive the COBRA notification, the lawsuit argues, it lacked several points of information – the official date of the “qualifying event” or termination, the name, address and telephone number of the party responsible for administering the continuation of health coverage, the Plan Administrator, and the name of the plan. And overall, it was written in a confusing way, which Charrita claims was intentional.
For those reasons, Charrita says she “could not make an informed decision about her health insurance and lost health coverage,” her complaint says. Consequently, she says she incurred medical bills and then refrained from seeking medical treatment for an illness because she lacked insurance.
Other COBRA Health Insurance Lawsuits
Charrita’s suit against Southwest is not the first of its kind.
According to a report by the National Law Review published in September 2019, nine months before Charrita’s filing, three other class action lawsuits were leveled on similar grounds in Florida. All claimed employers failed to provide proper COBRA health insurance notifications that complied with Labor Department regulations.
The Southwest Airlines Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 8:20-cv-01381, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.
Join a Free COBRA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation
If you received a COBRA notice that did not fully disclose your rights and how to retain your health insurance following separation from your job, or you received no notice at all, you may be qualify to join this COBRA notice class action lawsuit investigation.
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