by Most readers of this blog are aware that that the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department postponed the compliance deadline under the ACA’s employer shared responsibility rules from January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2015, via IRS Notice 2013-45. This was an across-the-board, 1-year extension under which no penalties under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Sections 4980H(a) or (b) would be imposed during 2014 on applicable large employers (“ALEs”) who failed to offer affordable, minimum value or higher group health coverage to its full-time employees, meaning those working 30 or more hours per week.
Many of you are also aware that the final employer shared responsibility regulations published in February of this year included an additional one-year extension – to 2016 – for ALEs with between 50 and 99 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents (referred to herein as the “limited workforce” extension). The limited workforce extension is also described in Questions 34 through 37 of a recently-posted IRS FAQ on employer shared responsibility provisions.
This second 1-year extension is not “across the board” like the earlier one; the limited workforce requirement is just one of several distinct requirements that ALEs must satisfy, before they can qualify for the transition relief. This post breaks down the requirements into their component parts:
Limited Workforce Size
To be eligible for the 1-year extension for 2015 an ALE must employ on average, on business days during the 2014 measurement period, at least 50 full-time employees, but fewer than 100 full-time employees, including, in either instance, full-time equivalents. This headcount must take into account full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees of separate businesses related by ownership to the ALE (controlled group rules). However, the ALE may make use of the seasonal worker exception in the headcount process, such that the additional 1-year extension would apply if the ALE employs more than 99 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, for 120 days or fewer during a calendar year, and the employees over the 99 employee headcount are seasonal workers. Note that the seasonal worker exception is only available if employee hours are averaged over all 12 months of a calendar year. For simply determining employees’ full-time status for the 2015 plan year, transition relief in the final regulations permit the 2014 measurement period to be the entire calendar year, or a period of no less than six consecutive months in 2014, starting no later than July 1, 2014 and ending no earlier than 90 days before the first day of the plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2015. Like the seasonal worker exception, the shortened measurement period may be used in connection with the 1-year extension for limited workforce employers.
Maintenance of Workforce and Aggregate Hours of Service
For the period beginning on February 9, 2014 through December 31, 2014, the ALE must not reduce the size of its workforce, or reduce the overall hours of service of its employees, in order to satisfy the limited workforce criterion. Reductions in workforce or schedules that are for “bona fide business reasons” are permitted, however. Examples given in the preamble to the final regulations include reduction in workforce size or aggregate hours because of business activity such as the sale of a division, changes in the economic marketplace in which the employer operates, terminations of employment for poor performance, or other similar changes unrelated to the extension criteria.
Maintenance of Previously Offered Health Coverage
The third requirement for the extension is that, during the applicable “coverage maintenance period” the ALE does not eliminate or materially reduce group health coverage that was in place as of February 9, 2014, which is the day before the final regulations were released to the public. The restrictions here are similar to those that apply to plans that are grandfathered under the ACA and generally apply to employee-only coverage. Specifically, the ALE must not reduce the dollar amount of the employer contribution towards employee-only coverage by more than 5% , it must maintain or increase the employer percentage towards such coverage in place as of February 9, 2014, it must not allow benefits to drop below “minimum value” or “bronze” level, and it may not narrow or reduce the class or classes of employees (or employees’ dependents) who were offered coverage as of February 9, 2014. The coverage maintenance period or “CMP” over which the ALE must continue to meet these conditions is, for plans following a calendar year cycle, the period from February 9, 2014, through December 31, 2015. For non-calendar year plans, the CMP is the period from February 9, 2014 through the last day of the plan year that begins in 2015.
Certification by Applicable Large Employer
ALEs that qualify for the limited workforce exception do not have pay or play duties in 2015 but must nonetheless comply with ALE reporting duties under Code Section 6056 that go into effect for 2015, with initial reporting due in early 2016. For this initial reporting year ALEs must certify that they met the requirements for the additional 1-year delay. Certification will be made on IRS Form 1094-C (not yet released by the IRS).
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