The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has very quietly published a Notice of Coverage Options with an updated expiration date on its website. The new copy of the notice contains an expiration date of January 31, 2017, but it does not appear that the DOL has changed the substance of the notice. All employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act were required to provide this notice to all employees, regardless of status, by October 1, 2013. Although there is no requirement to distribute this notice to all employees on an annual basis, employers must also provide all new employees with a copy of the notice within fourteen days of their start date. There are two separate forms: one for employers who offer a group health plan to some or all employees, and another for employers who do not offer health insurance at all.
Employers should begin using the current version of the notice to distribute to new employees. The prior version of the notice contained an expiration date of November 30, 2013. The new notice templates may be found in both English and Spanish on the DOL website.
