OPINION ISSUED APRIL 2, 1992

LAURA E. WOLFE
VS.
DIVISION OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
(CC-91-258)

Claimant represents self.
John E. Shank, Deputy Attorney General, for respondent.

PER CURIAM:

Claimant brought this action to recover the amount of the proceeds from
a life insurance policy
which she alleges was wrongfully terminated by the respondent when she
resigned from her
position at Barboursville Veterans Hospital, a facility of the
respondent. claimant alleged that the
respondent misled her when she was not informed that she had the right
to continue a life
insurance policy on her husband in the amount of $5,000.00 for which she
had paid premiums as
a State employee. The policy terminated ta the time claimant left her
employment with the State
agency.

Respondent denies any responsibility for claimant's failure to continue
the life insurance policy
after her termination.

Claimant testified that she paid the premiums for the $5,000.00 life
insurance policy on her
husband while she was a State employee. She terminated her employment on
January 31, 1990.
Her husband died in June 1991. She later determined that she could have
paid the premiums and
maintained the policy after leaving her employment with the State, but
she was unaware of her
right to do so.

Deborah Thacker, a Clerk III at the Barboursville Veterans Hospital,
testified that she handled
personnel matters for the respondent at the hospital. She did not have
an exit interview with the
claimant when she terminated from her employment. She was aware that
employees are able to
continue spousal life insurance under the Cobra Plan when employees
terminate their
employment at a State agency. She stated that she advised employees of
this option at an exit
interview.

The record in the claim is not clear. However, the evidence established
that the claimant did
not have an exit interview due to the circumstances of her termination.

The Court is of the opinion that the claimant has failed to establish by
a preponderance of the
evidence that she was misled by the respondent. It appears that she
terminated her employment
and life policies for herself and her husband when she left the
employment of the respondent.

In accordance with the findings of fact in this claim, the Court is of
the opinion to and does
deny this claim.

Claim disallowed.

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