Employer Mandate Delayed For Employers with 50-100 Employees

For those employers with 50-100 full-time employees (who work at least 30 hours per week), the IRS and Treasury Department have postponed the ACA pay or play mandate until 2016.

Large employers (those with 100+ full-time employees) will still need to adhere to the January 2015 deadline.  In addition, the rule requiring that 95% of employees must be covered immediately has been relaxed. Large employers will need to offer coverage to 70% of their full-time employees in 2015 and 95% in 2016 to avoid being fined. For employers with non-calendar year plans, ACA compliance begins at the start of the plan year, rather than on January 1, 2015.

In addition, further clarification of the full-time employee definition has been made. Volunteer firefighters, part-time teachers and adjunct professors who teach less than 15 hours a week will not be considered full-time employees.