As many of you have heard, employers that have over 50 employees may be fined under the Affordable Care Act if any employee goes to the exchange and is subsidised for premiums. But the practicality of this is very different than the simple statement. For starters 50 employees is not what most employers believe it is. The law states that it is 50 full time equivalent employees that trigger the fines. What is an equivalent employee? Part-time and seasonal employees are counted toward the 50 mark and the mathematics behind it is confusing to say the least. Employers will need to be aware that even though they may only have 20 full-time employees at any given time that they will need to figure out the equivalents for part-time and seasonal employees. Seasonal employees are not simply employees that come in and work a season or two and move on. Seasonal employees can be any employee that works full time hours but not necessarily every day. An example of this would be an employee that works an 8 hour shift one day a week for most of the year. If you simply added up their hours they would appear to be part-time, but because they always work a full day they would be considered seasonal.
What does this mean for your business? It means that as we move closer to 2014 you need to be in constant communication with your insurance broker and carrier. They will be the ones making sure you are compliant with the law. There will be much to consider at any given time and a good broker will help you sort through all this. If you are not working with a broker and would like us to preform a market analysis, please contact us at (714)680-5900 or you can email us at info@ansainsuranceservices.com . As always you can find out more about us and what we offer on the web at www.ansainsuranceservices.com .
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