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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    2

    Default Provision of Health Insurance to Full-Time Workers Classified as Part-Time

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Colorado

    I am trying to find out information for a friend. She is working at a large chain of grocery stores in Colorado. She was hired last week as a part-time, and was told that she would be scheduled between 20-35hrs per week. During her first week of work, she has been told by many co-workers that they frequently schedule part-timers to work 40 (or more) hours per week.

    Understanding that FLSA does not define what constitutes full and part time, doesn't the ACA stipulate that anything over 30 hours is considered full time, and therefore insurance has to be provided? If that is not in effect right now, do we know when that goes into effect? I thought that it already had, but apparently not.

    She is currently on medicaid and food stamps, and while she is okay with losing her food stamps, she cannot afford to lose her medicaid as the cost for insurance in the state exchanges is way too high for her to afford (if she also wants to eat). She has been having trouble finding full-time work which is why she went with part-time to begin with, so simply leaving for a full-time job is not the easy solution there.

    Thanks in advance for any answers provided.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Working 40+ Hours at Part-Time (Colorado)

    Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), larger employers will be assessed a “shared responsibility payment” (basically a fine) if they do not provide health care coverage to full-time employees. The IRS has a FAQ page on the shared responsbility payment that should answer most of your basic questions about which employers are subject to this provision and how full-time employees are determined.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Working 40+ Hours at Part-Time (Colorado)

    So basically, they can pay the fine and that's that. And looking more at the FLSA particulars, it won't matter that they are inconsistent in who actually gets classified as full-time for benefits - the number of hours per week that a person work does not determine it, just simply however management wants to classify you.

    I guess it makes it unfair, but not illegal.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Working 40+ Hours at Part-Time (Colorado)

    Keep in mind that neither the ACA nor any other law says that as soon as you cross the line and work 40 hours in a single week, you are automatically full time. The law looks at an average number of hours per week over a period of time. Also, just because her co-workers say they've been scheduled for 40 hours, doesn't mean that she will be, or if she is, that it will be often enough to trigger ACA protections.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Working 40+ Hours at Part-Time (Colorado)

    Quote Quoting tdpwells
    View Post
    So basically, they can pay the fine and that's that. And looking more at the FLSA particulars, it won't matter that they are inconsistent in who actually gets classified as full-time for benefits - the number of hours per week that a person work does not determine it, just simply however management wants to classify you.

    I guess it makes it unfair, but not illegal.
    There are two steps involved. The first is determining whether the employer has enough employees working at full-time or full-time equilvalent to be required to provide coverage to full-time employees. Then the next step is determining which employees would be entitled to the coverage. The rules work off of averaging hours worked over a month, so as cbg noted it’s not the case that as soon an employee works 30+ hours in a week he or she must get covered. Some employers have developed rather sophisticated scheduling systems to keep the hours work just below what is required to trigger coverage and avoid the fine. It may seem unfair, but that’s not illegal. And there are some employers who have decided its cheaper to pay the fine than provide the health coverage. That too, is not illegal.

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