Proposed Reservist Protection Reg Covers Health And 401K Benefits

One major section deals with health benefits rights and another major section deals with rights related to 401(k) plans, defined benefit pension plans and other retirement plans.

The health insurance section of the proposed regulation notes that USERRA cannot help soldiers and their families continue or get back individual health insurance coverage or coverage purchased through associations, clubs or other family members employers.

But USERRA health benefits rules apply to the insurance companies and third-party administrators that help employers supply health coverage to service members as well as to the employers themselves, VETS officials write.

Multiemployer plans must offer USERRA continuation coverage to active-duty military personnel even if the employer that originally sponsored the insureds coverage drops health coverage for all of its employees.

When veterans return to work, employer-sponsored plans may be able to impose exclusions or waiting periods for injuries or illnesses determined by the federal secretary of Veterans Affairs to have been incurred or aggravated during service, according to the analysis of the proposed regulation that appears in the Federal Register.

But, in all other cases, exclusions and waiting periods are prohibited, the VETS officials write.

The proposed regulation also gives rules for determining how and when returning veterans must make up missed 401(k) payments and how employers should calculate compensation rates for veterans who depended mainly on tips and commission income before going on active duty.

A provision in a section on "Furlough or Leave of Absence" says employers must provide for continuation of "non-seniority" benefits such as life insurance as if activated employees were on some other kind of leave. If the employer offers several types of leave, then the employer must base continuation provisions for the non-seniority benefits on the terms governing the "employers most generous form of comparable leave."

Public comments on the proposed regulation are due Nov. 19.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, October 1, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.