On Monday, February 10, 2014, the Obama administration announced a delay in the Affordable Care Act employer mandate for firms with 50 to 99 full time employees. These firms will not be required to provide health insurance coverage to full time employees until 2016.
In the same notice, larger firms (i.e. those with 100 or more employees) were also given more time to fully meet the health insurance mandate. Specifically, those larger firms that cover 70 percent of their workers in 2015 - and 95 percent in 2016 - will avoid ACA penalties for failure to offer coverage to all full-time employees. It was reported that the shift is meant to “ease the transition to a 30-hour week.”For purposes of the ACA, full time employment is defined as 30 hours per week.
Treasury Press Release
Treasury FAQpdf