Employer Shared Responsibility Relief under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Employers with less than 100 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) but more than 50 FTEs will not subject to Employer Shared Responsibility until January 1, 2016 if they can complete a certification process to demonstrate that, during the period between February 9, 2014 and December 31, 2014, the employer did not:

• Reduce the size of its workforce or the hours of service for employees in order to satisfy the workforce size condition
• Change the renewal date
• Reduce employer contribution by more than 5% for employee only coverage that was in place on February 9, 2014 through December 31, 2015 for calendar year plans and February 9, 2014 until the 2015 renewal date for non-calendar year plans
• Eliminate a class being offered coverage
• Reduce coverage since February 9, 2014 that results in less than minimum value being offered

Note: Employers may establish a six consecutive month period in 2014 to count employees to determine if the mandate applies for the subsequent year. 

Employers in their first year as a large employer will not need to have a compliant plan in place for all employees by January 1. The employer will not be subject to penalties for the first three months of the year if such an employer establishes a compliant plan and offers it to all eligible employees by April 1^st.

For more information, see the US Treasury Department Fact Sheet summarizing recent updates to the Employer Shared Responsibility Payment under the ACA.