Getting ready to comply with the COBRA changes included in the stimulus package passed last month? Here’s one online resource you’ll need.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), employees involuntarily terminated from September 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009 must pay only 35% of COBRA premiums. The federal government will pay the rest (by asking employers to pay 65% and refunding them with a payroll tax credit).

The subsidies are available for nine months, or until the ex-employee is eligible for coverage from another employer or Medicare.

The ARRA also requires employers to notify current and former plan participates about the subsidy. To help companies comply, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued four model notices, each tailored to a specific situation:

1. General notice – Must be sent to all qualified beneficiaries who experience a qualifying event during the period from September 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009.
2. Abbreviated general notice – Goes to individuals who experienced a qualifying event on or after September 1, 2008 and currently have COBRA coverage.
3. Alternative notice – For individuals who become eligible for continuation coverage under a state law. This notice is meant to be modified to conform to different states’ requirements.
   
4. Notice in connection with extended election periods – Must be sent to employees who lost their jobs before the ARRA was signed into law and turned down COBRA coverage.

You can download the notices from the DOL’s Web site here.

A recent Department of Labor (DOL) opinion letter tackled the question of how to track time when nonexempt employees take mandatory online training on their home computers. A company asked if that time can simply be added to employees’ time sheets.

The answer: Paper time sheets are fine. The Fair Labor Standards Act mentions that all time spent working must be paid for, including hours worked at home, as long as the employer “knows or has reason to believe” the work is being done.

But it doesn’t tell companies how that time needs to be tracked, as long as the information is collected and can be preserved. Therefore, the DOL said, old-fashioned paper time sheets still get a passing grade.

Read the opinion letter here.