MOONING A FELLOW EMPLOYEE IS NOT GROSS MISCONDUCT

As you know, large employers with 20 or more employees with health insurance are required to provide health insurance to fired or terminated employees as long as the employee is not released for “gross misconduct.” The question is, what do the courts consider “gross misconduct?” It might surprise you.

In the first case, a fraud conviction is grounds for denying COBRA health care coverage. A professor was fired after the school learned that he had just plead guilty to student loan, bank and Social Security fraud. The school also discovered he had fabricated his credentials and never actually earned a bachelor’s degree. That is gross misconduct, a court says (Moore v. Williams College, D.C., Mass.).

But, according to another court, “mooning” a fellow worker is not gross misconduct. In this case, a female nurse who was fired for exposing her derriere during a dispute with a male coworker. Although this violated workplace protocol, her isolated and impulsive act wasn’t a case of gross misconduct (Stormont-Vail Health Care v. Reavis, D.C., Kan.). According to the court, she can be fired but she cannot be denied COBRA coverage and also is eligible for a 65% subsidy from the federal government of her health care premiums for up to 15 months.

EMAIL SAYING EMPLOYEES WILL HAVE TO PAY INCOME TAX ON EMPLOYER PROVIDED HEALTH INSURANCE IS SPAM

I have received about a dozen emails saying that according to an email that is going around, in 2011 employer provided health insurance would no longer be tax-free. This just shows the power and the danger of the instant information Internet society. This information is wrong.

The truth is that in 2011 the employer must report to the IRS on the W-2 the amount of health insurance, but that amount will NOT be taxed as income in 2011. The e-mail is a hoax. Presumably, the reason Congress required the value to be shown on W-2s is to give workers a better appreciation of the amount spent to cover them or to get information on what it is costing them to allow this tax-free fringe benefit.

HEALTH INSURANCE COST COULD DOUBLE

'Nebraska Farm Bureau: Health Insurance Cost Could Double for Farmers Under Obama Mandate'

(Nebraska Ag Connection) -- Nebraska Ag Connection reports "the Obama Administration's proposal to mandate certain kinds of health care coverage could increase the cost of health insurance for farmers and ranchers and other self-employed individuals in Nebraska and the nation by more than 100%, Nebraska Farm Bureau warned this week." Farm Bureau President Keith Olsen said: "Requiring compulsory health insurance in the form of an individual coverage mandate or forcing insurers to cover everyone will mean higher insurance premiums." Olsen said. See the story at <http://www.nebraskaagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=650&yr=2009>