The Obama administration has announced that it is delaying
the employer mandate for implementing certain provisions of the Affordable Care
Act (“ACA”). The ACA requires certain
employers to provide healthcare coverage to their full-time employees. The employer mandate originally was supposed
to take effect in January 2014 but was delayed to January 2015 this past summer. On Monday, February 10, 2014, the administration
made further extensions.
Under these extensions, employers with between 50 and 99
employees now do not need to comply with the coverage requirement until 2016
(formerly 2015), but they face reporting requirements in the meantime. Employers with 100 or more employees must
offer coverage to 70 percent of their full-time employees by 2015, and, by
2016, they must provide 95% of their full-time employees with coverage. Employers who fail to abide by these provisions
face tax penalties.
The Obama administration stated that these delays provide
“transition relief” for employers to adjust to the new requirements. Connell Foley’s employment law attorneys welcome
the opportunity to counsel employers regarding the ACA employer mandates.
