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.

