Workers Compensation laws vary from state to state. Does anyone know if a New York employer can terminate an individual who is out on workers compensation, and have this qualify as a COBRA triggering event? Individual has been out for extended period of time with no indication of returning to work.

I am not a WC person, so to answer your first question, "Can NY employer terminate someone on WC", I do not know the answer. As for the COBRA part of the question, this is simple. A loss of the group health plan at work, which termination of employement should cause, would allow someone to take COBRA.

Our company policy is that we send COBRA after the employee has been off 12 months for a workers compensation claim. If they are off for a recurrence of the same injury, that time counts toward their total of 12 months of coverage. We then send COBRA and the qualifying event is Reduction in hours of employment. I also do not know about New York.

The question for COBRA is when a qualifying event, such as termination of employment, occurs, and when group health covereage terminates. Employers have different policies, and insurance policies have different provisions, with respect to when termination occurs after some period of absence.