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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Steps: Set Up COBRA Automation

Steps: Set Up COBRA Automation

Define how Workday designates COBRA eligibility.
Workday enables you to track who is eligible for COBRA and provide the information for the integration with a third-party COBRA administrator. Workday isn’t a COBRA administrator.
COBRA events result when Workday determines that an employee or dependent has lost benefit eligibility. Loss of eligibility can result from a:
  • Passive event, such as a child turning 26 years old.
  • Staffing event, such as a termination or reduction in hours.
  • Life event, such as divorce.
You can create an employee or dependent COBRA record in 2 ways:
  • Automatically, set up Workday to detect when an employee or dependent loses eligibility and create the COBRA records. You can optionally have an administrator review and update the COBRA records.
  • Manually, by entering the COBRA information yourself selecting the
    Grant COBRA
     as a related action off the employee or dependent.
  1. Set up your integration with a third-party COBRA administrator.
  2. Configure the security policy for the
    Set Up: Benefits
     domain in the Benefits functional area.
  3. Set up COBRA eligible benefit coverage types.
    Set up the benefit coverage types that are eligible for COBRA by using the
    Maintain Benefit Coverage Types
     task. These types include:
    • Health care.
    • Insurance.
    • Spending accounts.
    • Additional benefit plans.
    If you want Workday to perform a COBRA eligibility check automatically, you must complete this step.
  4. Set up COBRA eligibility reasons.
    Map specific benefit event types to COBRA eligibility reasons. If you want Workday to perform a COBRA eligibility check automatically, you must complete this step.
  5. As you complete the
    Maintain COBRA Eligibility Reasons
     task, consider:
    Option Description
    Benefit Event Type
    Links the benefit event type to the COBRA eligibility reason.
    Months of COBRA Coverage
    If this field is blank, Workday automatically uses 18 months to calculate the COBRA coverage end date.
  6. Add
    Ex-Spouse
     as a dependent relationship.
    Use the
    Maintain Related Person Relationships
     task.
    For a divorce, you might need to create a relationship for ex-spouse that isn’t eligible for benefit coverage. Change the spouse's relationship to this relationship before you enter the divorce using the
    Change Benefits
     task.
  7. Set up reasons for removing dependents.
    This step is specific to granting COBRA to dependents automatically. Add a
    Reason Category
     for removing dependents for the
    Dependent Event
     by using the
    Maintain Event Categories and Reasons
     task. Reasons could be
    Dependent Over Age
    ,
    Death
    , or
    Divorce
    .
  8. If a benefit event can result with different months of eligible COBRA coverage, create a benefit event for each outcome. Example: a benefit event for Termination - 18 months COBRA and another for Termination - 36 months COBRA.
    Make sure that you create COBRA eligibility reasons for each event.
  9. Define the coverage end date for the various benefit enrollment events. Workday uses this date to determine when the employee or dependent becomes eligible for COBRA coverage.
  10. If you want Workday to perform an eligibility check automatically, you must complete this step. Add the
    Change Benefit Elections
     business process as a step to an eligible business process.
    Automate COBRA eligibility fully by removing the
    Review COBRA Eligibility
     steps from all business processes including the
    Change Benefits for Life Events
     business process.
  11. To skip the review of COBRA records, remove the
    Review COBRA Eligibility
     business process as a step in the
    Change Benefits for Life Events
     business process.
In business processes that include the
Change Benefit Elections
 subprocess, Workday creates a COBRA record for each benefit plan that the new COBRA participant is eligible for. These records are available to any established third-party COBRA integrations.
After the participant receives COBRA, you can use the:
  • COBRA Report
     to see a list of all COBRA participants for a specific date range.
  • Correct COBRA Eligibility
     related action off the employee or dependent, to edit existing COBRA records.
  • View COBRA Eligibility
     related action off the employee or dependent, to see detailed information about the COBRA participant.