Employment Law Chronicle for Virginia & the District of Columbia

Click here for the Department of Labor's Model COBRA notices for compliance with the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvesment Act (the stimulus bill).

In addition to provisions expanding unemployment compensation benefits and limiting executive pay, another key employment-law provision of the stimulus bill signed by President Obama this week provides a 65% COBRA premium subsidy for certain laid-off workers for up to 9 months.

The Department of Labor has a useful summary of the COBRA subsidy with links to the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus bill). This provision needs to be read and understood by employers and employees alike.

In another sign of the economic times, today's Washington Post has an article about the increase in the number of employers challenging employees' requests for unemployment compensation.

In two recent decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit focused on relevant standards of review for two issues of interest to Virginia immigration and employment lawyers:

In Woods v. Prudential Ins. Co., No. 07-1580 (June 11, 2008), the Fourth Circuit concluded that the trial court erroneously applied the "abuse-of-discretion" standard of review to plaintiff's ERISA claim instead of the more rigorous "de novo" standard of review to determine whether the plan administrator properly denied plaintiff's benefit claim.

In Teshome-Gebreegziabher v. Mukasey, No. 08-1060 (June 16, 2008), the Fourth Circuit clarified that the "clear and convincing" standard of review applies to an immigrant's motion to stay deportation.