Q.- Should we be offering health coverage to all of our employees?
BAS Blog
After a Department of Labor investigation, two companies based in Philadelphia, PA were fined for minimum wage violations. The fines resulted from the use of staffing agency temporary workers. The staffing agency didn’t pay workers at the proper federal minimum wage rate, didn’t pay overtime at the appropriately calculated rate (or at all in some instances), and paid workers in cash. The companies agreed to pay nearly $763,000 in back wages and other damages.
Each U.S. employer must know its number of full-time employees to determine if it is subject to health care reform. Employer shared responsibility and Affordable Care Act reporting apply to large employers- those employers with 50 or more full-time/full-time equivalent employees.
Q.- Can we allow employees to be reimbursed from their Health Flexible Spending Account Plan for the amount they spend for medical insurance?
Yesterday, the White House released long-awaited changes to the federal overtime rules. The rules become effective December 1, 2016.
Employers may be subject to two types of penalties under the employer shared responsibility (pay or play) requirements of health care reform. The first penalty under section 4980H(a) is a $2,160 penalty (for 2016) for failing to offer appropriate health coverage. The second penalty under section 4980H(b) is a $3,240 penalty (for 2016) if an employee gets subsidized coverage through the Exchange and the employer did not offer affordable health coverage.
Q.- An employee wants to cancel his dependent care FSA election. He didn’t realize that the dependent care FSA worked differently from the health care FSA and he could only get out the amount he contributed. Can we allow him to cancel his account?
Employers subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will soon have to update their FMLA posting.
In Notice 2016-24, the IRS announced the updated required contribution percentage used to determine whether an individual is eligible for affordable employer sponsored minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Q. An employee is retiring July 1, 2016. He becomes eligible for Medicare August 1, 2016. What is the length of COBRA for the employee and his spouse?
SunTrust Bank was subject to a class action lawsuit over their COBRA notice. The plaintiffs allege that SunTrust provided them with a deficient COBRA notice that did not adequately inform them how to exercise their right to elect COBRA coverage. The qualifying event letter directed individuals to a general human resources website and telephone number.
Employers with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees are subject to the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions under health care reform. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not considered large employers for health care reform and do not have to comply with employer shared responsibility provisions or reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
