(a) Whenever a relocation or closing of a covered establishment occurs, the employer of the covered establishment shall pay in full for the continuation of existing group health insurance, no matter where the group policy was written, issued or delivered, for each affected employee and his dependents, if covered under the group policy, from the date of relocation or closing for a period of one hundred twenty days or until such time as the employee becomes eligible for other group coverage, whichever is the lesser, provided any right of such employee and his dependents to a continuation of coverage, as required by section 38a-512a, shall not be affected by the provisions of this section, and provided further the period of continued coverage required by said sections shall not commence until the period of continued coverage established by this section has terminated.

(b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to those employees who, upon the relocation or closing of a covered establishment, choose to continue their employment with the employer at the new location of the facility.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, any contractual agreement arrived at through a collective bargaining process that contains provisions requiring the employer to pay for the continuation of existing group health insurance for his affected employees in the event of a relocation or closing of a covered establishment shall supersede the requirements of this section and, in the event of a conflict, the contractual provisions shall be deemed to be controlling.

(P.A. 83-451, S. 2, 4; P.A. 85-362, S. 2; P.A. 87-274, S. 3; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1, S. 22, 121; P.A. 10-13, S. 3; P.A. 15-247, S. 34.)

History: P.A. 85-362 amended Subsec. (a) to increase from 90 to 120 days the maximum period of continuation of group health insurance coverage to be paid by employers of employees and dependents affected by a relocation or closing; P.A. 87-274 amended Subsec. (a) to change the reference to coverage continuation periods required in Secs. 38-262d and 38-374 to 78 and 156 weeks in recognition of the changes made to those sections in the same public act; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1 amended Subsec. (c) to change the reference to “plant” to a “covered establishment”, effective June 24, 1998; P.A. 10-13 amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision re continuation of coverage for up to 78 or 156 weeks, effective May 5, 2010; P.A. 15-247 amended Subsec. (a) to replace “38a-538 or 38a-554” with “38a-512a”, effective July 10, 2015.