If you mail COBRA packets, SPDs, or claims notices today, you are still on solid ground. The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has not finalized a new way to deliver those documents electronically. What is on the clock is the comment period for a proposed additional safe harbor — and it closes September 21, 2026.
We flagged the substance of the proposal when EBSA published it in July. This week is about the deadline: whether your organization should weigh in, and what to line up internally while the rule is still in flux.
What EBSA proposed (in one paragraph)
On July 22–23, 2026, EBSA proposed letting ERISA group health plan administrators use a notice of internet availability model — post required disclosures on a durable website (or similar) and notify participants by email or text, instead of relying solely on the long-standing “wired at work” / affirmative-consent approach or defaulting to paper. Paper delivery and the 2002 electronic safe harbor would remain available. The Federal Register notice describes document types, notice content, and accessibility expectations; DOL’s release frames the savings for plans that choose the path.
This is group health ERISA disclosure — not a free pass to email every welfare plan document, and not a substitute for HIPAA privacy rules or state insurance notice requirements.
Why TPAs and HR should care about September 21
Comments are how DOL hears whether the safe harbor is workable in the real world: bad email data, participants without reliable internet access, COBRA qualified beneficiaries who leave the workforce, and vendors that cannot yet support a consistent “notice of availability” workflow.
If the rule finalizes largely as proposed, many employers will want their TPA, carrier, or benefits platform to automate internet-availability notices for recurring disclosures (SPD/SMM, claims and appeals, some COBRA notices). Silence in the record now can mean surprises in implementation later.
What to do before comments close
- Do not change live delivery yet. Keep paper and your current e-consent process until a final rule publishes with an applicability date.
- Inventory which required group health notices you still print, which you email under today’s safe harbor, and where contact data is weak (especially COBRA and retiree populations).
- Ask vendors whether they would support DOL’s proposed notice-of-availability steps if the rule is finalized — including audit trails and re-notice triggers when documents change.
- Decide whether to comment. Trade associations often file consolidated letters; midsize employers can still submit short, specific examples (for example, seasonal workforces or high COBRA take-up) through Regulations.gov (docket EBSA-2026-0331-0001, per the Federal Register notice).
- Calendar follow-up. After the comment period, watch for a final rule and any phased applicability — plan document and vendor contract updates typically lag publication by months.
What employers should do this week
Treat September 21 as the last day to influence the rule, not the day to go paperless. Pull your COBRA administrator and SPD vendor into a 30-minute review: what would break if internet-availability became your default path, and what would you need from DOL in a final rule to make it safe for your population. If you rely on a TPA for notice fulfillment, ask whether they plan to file comments and whether you can add a concrete operational example.
Modern notice delivery would save real money and time — but only if the final safe harbor matches how Texas employers actually reach participants after a qualifying event.