characteristic of employee benefits such as pension and insurance coverage. Benefits are portable if employees can retain them when they leave to take a job with another employer.
ability of employees to retain benefits from one employer to the next when switching jobs. The term is most frequently used in connection with pension and insurance coverage. Credits earned towards pension benefits in a defined benefit pension plan are rarely portable from one company to another. Conversely, accumulated assets in a defined contribution pension planmay be transferable to the defined contribution plan of another employer through a rollover. Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), employees have the right to carry their group health insurance coverage with them to a new job for up to 18 months. An employee may wish to do so if the new employer's health plan is inferior to the previous employer's plan. Employees choosing to continue coverage with a previous employer's group plan under the COBRA provision pay the full premium, which is subject to change. Generally, this continued coverage costs considerably less than a policy at individual rates.
