domestic partner benefits offered then taken away.

[Guest cherwheel]

Say if you are living with your domestic partner (male/female relationship Texas) and he was laid off. We recvd the info and papers on Cobra and filled them out, submitted payment and then they called and said they made a mistake and there is no Cobra benefits to the domestic partner. Notification came around the 50th day.I called Dept of Labor Dallas and they said that last week there was a a descion made for this exact problem, stating the domestic partner can not elect benefits for herself but he(ex-employee) can elect them for me. "No independent right to elect coverage but a dependent right".Does anyone know anything about this?Also, any rule to notifying us of the no Cobra when all forms that were filled out and they stated "subscriber plus one"?

FYI there was domestic partner benefits before lay off. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[mroberts]

As far as I understand it, it's company discretion as to whether or not they want to offer COBRA to domestic partners previously covered under their medical plan. Therefore, even though you were allowed to have your domestic partner on the plan while you were an active employee, you may not have that same right.

Do you know if they have offered COBRA to other domestic partners of ex-employees? If they have, then they would have set a precedent and you could pursue this further. Otherwise, you're unfortunately SOL.

[david rigby]

You could get married.