Bradley & Riley PC

The Obama Administration partially delayed, for a second time, the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate.

The Obama Administration said on Monday February 10, 2014, that businesses with between 50 and 99 employees will get "an extra year to comply" with the ACA's requirement to offer coverage to full-time workers and dependents.  Businesses with over 100 employees will have to cover just 70 percent of their full-time employees in 2015 instead of the 95 percent previously required. The full employer mandate is not scheduled to kick in until 2016.

The Treasury Department designed a three-tier approach to the delay. Larger employers with 100 or more employees must offer coverage to seventy percent of full-time employees in 2015.  In later years at least 95 percent of full-time employees must be offered coverage.

Employers with 50 to 99 employees will have an extra year before they must comply.  Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not required to provide coverage or fill out any forms in any year.

Under the front-page headline, "Health-Law Mandate Put Off Again: No Fines for Most Employers Until 2016 as Firms Pressure White House in Wake of Troubled Rollout," the Wall Street Journal (2/11/14) reports that Administration officials insist that the decision to delay the employer mandate once again was made in response to the concerns of the business community, rather than as a result of political considerations.

More on this development in the Play or Pay mandate will be provided at the Bradley & Riley Labor and Employment Seminar on February 20, 2014.  The Affordable Care Act will be the topic of Dean Spina's presentation, ACA – Who is "Takin' Care of Business"?

For questions about this delay or other aspects of the Affordable Care Act, please contact Dean A. Spina.

Categories: Employment Law

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