I am from california but im sure every state has cobra...i do know that your medical benefits are not terminated immediately. cobra is for things such as job loss. it continues your coverage for the next 6 mos after your benefits have ended. the downside to cobra is that you still have to pay for it, and its generally more expensive than what you were paying through your employer.

when i separated from my company i was still able to use my health benefits until the next enrollment period. which im sure differs state to state.

Google COBRA.

Health insurance is covered under COBRA, go to this site for the information you need.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plan¦

When they fired you and you immediately tried to call your attorney and they pulled the phone from your hands is no surprise at all. The fact that you then tried to call 911 is even more surprising, since at that point they probably thought you were nuts. They want you out asap and they also want to protect "their property" and verify you don't take anything that does not belong to them.

You should get a final letter from them outlining your final paycheck and any benefits you have or may have to pay to continue.

ie; cobra; most likely canceled the date of firing, so will have up to 60 days to continue and will have to pay the full 102% of the premium.

Considering your prior behavior at firing, don't expect them to answer any phone calls from them, or they will have you go thu their legal department. Either way, should get a letter detailing all and at that point I suggest you talk to the lawyer you hired for legal advice, since none of us are lawyers, nor can we give you legal advice.

good luck

The woman or person, Lucy? is off her rocker and most likely doesn't read questions before piping in two cents. Seeing as this has been answered CoBrA, I have questions though if you don't mind regarding what happened. How many people were in the meeting? Do you have witnesses? Did the police come? Did you file a report? My sisters ex company just settled with her on a case which is very similar after trying to fight it for two years. She was fired without cause and when she tried to call my brother in law who is a lawyer they grabbed the phone away then the meeting got heated and she demanded the police be called but they told her they did not need to do that. lucky for her one of the HR Assistants who was later retaliated against is the daughter of one of my sisters friends, and she called her mother who called the police. To many times people are intimidated at these meetings, and just do what they are asked instead of sticking to their rights. My sister wound up getting a police excort and walking out with papers that later really helped her in the suit. She would not have if she had simply given in to what they wanted.

I agree with most of what Lucy has to say. However, depending on the true reason for their terminating your employment, you may or may NOT be eligible for Cobra. You are not eligible for Cobra if you are terminated for gross misconduct. Many people do not know this. However, if you ARE eligible for Cobra, you have 60 days to choose it. The cost for Cobra is 102% of the premiums for your coverage. Most company plans terminate coverage at the end of the month following termination. Therefore, if you were terminated today, most plans would cover you until the 30th of this month and then you would be responsible to choose Cobra for any coverage after that point. Keep in mind, that some companies do terminate coverage immediately, so like it or not, you are going to have to call your previous employer to find out!

There is nowhere online you can go to find out because each company handles this differently. However, if you have a handbook from your old employer, you might find information about benefits there.

Good luck to you.