Employers who ignore their basic responsibilities to send election notices and offer COBRA when required do so at their peril. A Florida employer recently learned that lesson the expensive way.

Barbara Doss-Clark was a nurse for Babies and Beyond Pediatrics (B&BP). Some seven years into her employment, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was still able to work while undergoing chemotherapy. However, a few months later, still in treatment B&BP terminated Doss-Clark's employment with an off-hand suggestion that she "should go to Social Security and get disability." B&BP offered two weeks of additional pay and promised to let her remain on health insurance for two more months.

About a month later, Doss-Clark was told that her medical coverage had already been cancelled. A few days later, she asked her former employer for a COBRA election form. B&BP did not respond. Months later, she again asked for an election form. B&BP replied that it had sent an election form 15 days after her termination. B&BP also ignored a Department of Labor inquiry. Eventually, B&BP did send an election notice, some 10 months after the qualifying event. The election notice indicated that the COBRA coverage period would begin three months after the date the notice was sent and several months after her chemotherapy ended.

Finally, Doss-Clark sued on the grounds of COBRA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It was the proverbial open-and-shut case, in favor of Doss-Clark. In addition to the ADA violations (which cost the employer nearly $100,000), the court awarded her with the following damages under COBRA:

In awarding these damages, the court found both that Doss-Clark had suffered prejudice and harm and that B&BP had acted in bad faith. Those two factors are a bad combination for employers when the issue at hand is COBRA.