COBRA Violation by Employer

When the plan was written it was explained (I was part of the admin at that time) after we distribute the cards the company was out for the amount signed up by the employee. Also one can use up the entire signed up amount in one month and still the payroll deductions would have to be equated over the year. if they employee was fired or left the company in between, it would be company's loss since they would not have a recourse to get the money back. But now the problem is the company hasn't still sent out my card nor are they going to send it anymore. Is there a way or a law under which I can compell them to send it to me?

Before I answer that, let me ask you a question. Have you incurred expenses up to this point that would be coverable under the plan? There's a reason I'm going about it this way.

Yes, I have incurred expenses within the country as well as outside the country. I was traveling from 1-23-10 to 2-7-10 ( and my family were already overseas from Dec 25th to Feb 7th). I incurred medical expenses for my kids overseas as well as after we all came back.

You will definitely be able to be reimbursed for any expenses incurred within the US prior to 1/21/10. Whether or not you will be able to be reimbursed for any expenses incurred after that date, or incurred on any date outside the US, will depend on the wording of the plan document. Many plans will allow you to be reimbursed for expenses for a period of time after termination, but whether that is the case for you, or whether that period, if one exists, is 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or something else altogether, is up to your specific plan. The same goes for expenses incurred outside the US - I'm not certain if they legally even can allow expenses incurred outside the US to be reimbursed. (Federal law has very strict regulations on what can and cannot be considered an eligible expense.) You should not be limited in terms of dollars up to the amount you elected (in other words, if you elected $1200 you can still be reimbursed for eligible expenses up to that amount, even if you only put $100 in) but you are very likely limited in terms of what timeframe you can expect reimbursement for. That is something that only your HR department can tell you. Because of this, they may or may not be required to send you the FSA card; they may simply tell you to send in receipts for your expenses. You'll have to get the specifics directly from them.

Can a company pay different severances or no severance to laid off employees? for example I was laid off with no severance as per termination letter, then I was told company paid me for 2 vacation days and 6 days of severance, later the continuing controller sent me an email stating the additional severance of 9 days will be paid on the next check, then she said it was a mistake and she did not know that there wasn't supposed to be any severance to me.
whereas other employees got laid of before me got as good as 1 years salary as severance under the severance agreement, later another employee was paid 3 weeks of severance and some laid off along with me might have gotten atleast 2 to 6 weeks of severance. If the company paid X amount to earlier employee, havent they formed a pattern or on the basis of precedent can i claim for severance to the equivalent of other employees severance?
This is also one reason i feel i was a victim of discrimination. someone please help

With limited exceptions in only three states (and your situation would not fall under any of them; nor is your state any of the three), severance is not required by law. A severance agreement *can* be binding; it is not always.

It is legal for different packages to be distributed to different employees. It always has, and it most likely always will. Unless you have a legally binding and enforceable agreement for a particular amount of severance, or a valid and supportable reason to believe that your severance was not the same as someone else's BECAUSE OF your race, religion, national origin, or other characteristic protected by law, it is quite legal for your severance to be less than someone else got.

The matter of the fact that other employees all Americans got sevrances & I am a non-American did not get severance and all other points I stated earlier, aren't enough to prove the discrimination?

Not on the surface; not enough for proof. There are other factors that would have to be looked at; individual agreements signed at hire, length of tenure, reason for termination; and a host of other variable factors. Then, after all the other factors have been looked at, if the ONLY consistant difference is your national origin, THEN we're looking at illegal discrimination.

You are free to complain to the EEOC if you believe that to be the case, but you do not at the present time have sufficient PROOF of discrimination.

Let me give you an example. A few years ago I was laid off. I was the only female employee; I was the only employee laid off. But we had reached the slow time of the year; my major job duty would not be needed for another six to eight months; my other duties could easily be picked up by other employees. No one else's major job duty was going away; therefore no one else was being laid off. I was being laid off IN SPITE of being female, not BECAUSE of it.

For a claim of illegal discrimination to hold up, you need proof that you are not getting severance BECAUSE of your national origin, not IN SPITE of it.

cbg, thank you very much for all the help and guidance extended by you.