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Haslinger's warning stems from the following: starting January 1, 2015, your company may incur penalties if it doesn't offer qualifying health coverage to most full-time employees. These are defined as employees who are credited with at least:
- 30 hours of service a week, on average, or …
- 130 hours a month
An employer using a 12-month measurement period may need to look back as far as October, 2013 to determine whether an employee is full-time in 2015.
While these criteria may seem fairly straightforward, employers must have processes in place to properly identify eligible employees and offer them coverage – as well as help manage the number of part-time employees who may become eligible. The required processes fall into five categories, Haslinger says. ADP solutions can help employers with each one.
1. Workforce Planning
Your first challenge is to identify which employees are considered full-time under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As part-time employees approach that threshold, you may want to identify them and adjust their schedules, where appropriate. "You really can't do this manually anymore," says Will Giaconia, Vice President of Product Management at ADP. "You have to be systematic about tracking hours of service." He notes that ADP time and attendance solutions make it easier to proactively monitor the hours of part-time employees. ADP's automated scheduling solution helps make it easy to reschedule those who are approaching the ACA full-time employee threshold in order to better align staffing with the demands of your business.
2. Eligibility Management
Complying with the ACA will require you to identify employees who are considered full-time and part-time by calculating their average weekly or monthly hours of service. ADP provides solutions for tracking multiple employee categories over different measurement periods, making it easier for you to generate reports that help determine compliance.
3. Evaluating Affordability
The health plan you offer will be considered "unaffordable" if an employee's contribution for employee-only coverage exceeds 9.5% of the employee's household income for the taxable year. (For these purposes, household income is only what you pay your employee.) Several affordability safe harbors are available for employers. ADP is developing solutions to help you evaluate your plan's affordability and minimize penalties to your company.
4. Enrollment
As employees become eligible for insurance coverage, your company must be sure to offer them opportunities to enroll. You may not impose waiting periods longer than 90 days and you should consider tracking employee decisions to opt out of the coverage you offer. ADP Eligibility and Enrollment Systems help you manage this process and keep your company in compliance.
5. Auditing & Reporting
The ACA requires you to notify new hires of their health insurance coverage options and verify employment and benefits for those who choose to participate in Health Insurance Marketplaces (aka "Exchanges"). You must also remit penalty payments when you don't offer qualifying health insurance to eligible employees and you have full-time employees who receive premium subsidies for coverage obtained through a Marketplace/Exchange. ADP reports and services can help you with these requirements. ADP is developing solutions to provide post-enrollment verification information to Marketplaces/Exchanges, generate annual health coverage reports for your workforce, and help manage and reconcile penalty assessments.
"As one of the world's largest providers of integrated human capital management solutions, ADP is uniquely positioned to help guide its clients through this complex change," Haslinger states, "Not only to help them comply with the ACA, but also to see opportunities to better manage their people."
Contact your ADP representative for more on the above solutions. For more on Health Care Reform's impact on your company, visit adp.com/health-care-reform. | 
