Determining voluntary termination under ARPA

Q         Under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), if an employee willfully and knowingly disregards company policy, is she not voluntarily terminating her employment? Also, in that same vein, when does misconduct move from violating company policy and arrive at "gross misconduct”?

A   A federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) premium assistance program is available under the ARPA to “assistance-eligible individuals” (AEIs) who didn’t previously elect the continued health care benefit coverage under COBRA. AEIs are generally defined as employees who involuntarily terminated or experienced a reduction in hours between November 1, 2019, and September 30, 2021, and including their covered dependents. Others eligible for the COBRA subsidy are those who elected COBRA continuation coverage but are no longer enrolled because they were unable to continue paying the premium.

The agency guidance released the first week of April minimally clarified the scope of beneficiaries who qualify as AEIs and, unfortunately, has yet to provide a clear meaning of “involuntary” for terminated workers. Indications are that additional clarifying guidance may be issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the IRS.