Maine Employment Lawyer Blog

In Maine, unlike most states, state employees do not pay into the federal Social Security system. Some Maine legislators are seeking to change that. Under the current system, only 1 in 5 employees receives a full pension because most employees do not work for the State long enough to get the full pension. For most State employees, when they move to a new employer, they take no pension and no Social Security credit with them. The legislators looking to change the system want State employees to be able to get credit under the Social Security system that they can take with them if they leave State employment. They believe that this change would also help fill a hole in the funding of the Maine State Retirement System.

When an employer involuntarily terminates an employee, the employee is eligible for COBRA benefits. Under COBRA, a federal law, an employee who faces involuntary termination can pay out of his own pocket to continue his or her health insurance. This is usually too expensive for employees who just lost a job. That is why, in response to the recession, Congress previously enacted legislation that provided subsidies to people eligible for COBRA benefits so that they could buy COBRA coverage. Those subsidies were set to expire on December 31, 2009. However, on December 21, 2009, the President signed legislation that extended the eligibility for the subsidy to those individuals who are involuntarily terminated and become eligible for COBRA coverage before February 28, 2010.