Affordable Care Act Transition Rules for 2015 Provide Relief for Some Large Employers

For 2015 plan years, “large employers” with fewer than 100 full-time employees can qualify for a waiver of the employer mandate penalties by filing a certification of eligibility for the waiver with IRS. This means that, if you have between 50 and 99 full-time employees (as defined under the Affordable Care Act), you will not owe penalties for failure to provide essential minimum coverage to your full-time employees during the 2015 plan year.If you have between 50 and 99 employees and wish to qualify for the 2015 waiver, you must meet other conditions. These include maintaining coverage you offered as of February 9, 2014, and not having reduced your workforce or aggregate work hours for purposes of qualifying for this waiver. Further, in order to qualify, an employer must not exceed specified limitations on reducing employer contributions toward the cost of coverage. Beginning in 2016, all large employers are susceptible to the penalties.