Update for Employers on Affordable Care Act

17 Sep Update for Employers on Affordable Care Act

CheckwritersPayroll has this helpful post for employers about the mandatory issuance of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Health Insurance Marketplace notices  that is coming due on October 1, 2013 about the insurance exchanges.  Here are the key bits:

In general, if you are subject to FLSA, you must provide the notice to all employees.

The FLSA section 18B requirement to provide a notice to employees of coverage options applies to employers to which the FLSA applies. In general, the FLSA applies to employers that employ one or more employees who are engaged in, or produce goods for, interstate commerce. For most firms, a test of not less than $500,000 in annual dollar volume of business applies.⁽⁴⁾ The FLSA also specifically covers the following entities: hospitals; institutions primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged, mentally ill, or disabled who reside on the premises; schools for children who are mentally or physically disabled or gifted; preschools, elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education; and federal, state and local government agencies.

For employees hired on or after October 1, 2013, a notice must be given at the time of hiring or within 14 days.  For current employees, the notice must be given before October 1, 2013.  The notice must contain the following information:

• Services provided by the exchanges.
• Contact information for the exchanges.
• Employee’s eligibility for premium tax credits or cost-sharing reductions in situations where the employer’s share of the employer-sponsored health plan is less than 60% of the total costs and the employee purchases a qualified health plan through an exchange.
• Possibility of losing employer contributions to any employer-sponsored health plans if insurance is purchased through an exchange.
• Possibility that a portion or all of an employer’s contributions to employer-sponsored health plans may be excluded from income for tax purposes.

For employers with an employer sponsored health plan, see this model notice.  For employers without an employer sponsored health plan, see this model notice.

Employers are encouraged to contact their payroll companies as many payroll companies are providing these notices to their clients’ employees.