29 U.S.C. § 1161
Section 1161 · Plans must provide continuation coverage to certain individuals
This is § 601 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 354 court decisions — leading case Hozier v. Midwest Fasteners, Inc. (1990)
Most recently applied in Jennifer Akridge v. Alfa Mutual Insurance Company (February 2024)
Applied most in the First Circuit Circuit (32 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 29 U.S.C. § 1132 · 29 U.S.C. § 1166 · 29 U.S.C. § 1163
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The plan sponsor of each group health plan shall provide, in accordance with this part, that each qualified beneficiary who would lose coverage under the plan as a result of a qualifying event is entitled, under the plan, to elect, within the election period, continuation coverage under the plan.
Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to any group health plan for any calendar year if all employers maintaining such plan normally employed fewer than 20 employees on a typical business day during the preceding calendar year.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1989—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 101–239 struck out at end “Under regulations, rules similar to the rules of subsections (a) and (b) of section 52 of title 26 (relating to employers under common control) shall apply for purposes of this subsection.”
Pub. L. 101–239, §7891(a)(1), substituted “Internal Revenue Code of 1986” for “Internal Revenue Code of 1954”, which for purposes of codification was translated as “title 26” thus requiring no change in text.
Effective Date of 1989 Amendment
Amendment by section 7862(c)(1)(B) of Pub. L. 101–239 applicable to years beginning after Dec. 31, 1986, see section 7862(c)(1)(C) of Pub. L. 101–239, set out as a note under section 106 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Amendment by section 7891(a)(1) of Pub. L. 101–239 effective, except as otherwise provided, as if included in the provision of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99–514, to which such amendment relates, see section 7891(f) of Pub. L. 101–239, set out as a note under section 1002 of this title.
Effective Date
Section 10002(d) of Pub. L. 99–272 provided that:
“(1) General rule.—The amendments made by this section [enacting this part and amending section 1132 of this title] shall apply to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 1986.
“(2) Special rule for collective bargaining agreements.—In the case of a group health plan maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between employee representatives and one or more employers ratified before the date of the enactment of this Act [Apr. 7, 1986], the amendments made by this section shall not apply to plan years beginning before the later of—
“(A) the date on which the last of the collective bargaining agreements relating to the plan terminates (determined without regard to any extension thereof agreed to after the date of the enactment of this Act), or
“(B) January 1, 1987.
For purposes of subparagraph (A), any plan amendment made pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement relating to the plan which amends the plan solely to conform to any requirement added by this section shall not be treated as a termination of such collective bargaining agreement.”