NAU uses the 29-hour work rule to manage the hours worked by temporary employees to assure compliance with The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as health care reform.\u00a0 Under the ACA employers should offer affordable health care coverage to fulltime employees, which are defined as an employee who worked 30 hours or more in their previous measurement period.<\/p>\n
The following type of employees, called variable hour employees under the ACA, could become eligible for medical benefits based on the hours that they work:
A measurement period is a period over which the average number of hours a variable hour employee is measured. These are the types of measurement periods:<\/p>\n\n
Initial Measurement Period is a 12-month period starting on the employee’s initial service date.<\/p>\n
A variable hour employee working an average of at least 30 hours per week at the end of their IMP is deemed full-time and will be offered medical benefits during their stability period which is from January 1st through December 31st of the upcoming calendar year.<\/p>\n
If the employee has a break in service that is 26 weeks or longer, the stability period ends at the end of the 26th week.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/body><\/html>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n \n
Standard Measurement Period is 12-month period starting mid-October each year.<\/p>\n
A variable hour employee working an average of at least 30 hours per week at the end of their SMP is deemed full-time and will be offered medical benefits during their stability period which is from January 1st through December 31st of the upcoming calendar year.<\/p>\n
If the employee has a break in service that is 26 weeks or longer, the stability period ends at the end of the 26th week.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/body><\/html>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n \n
The goal is to have all variable hour employees on the SMP. Therefore, variable hour employees who are being measured on the IMP will eventually be measured on the SMP to align them as “existing employees”.<\/p>\n
A break in service is a period of time when a variable hour employee is not working during their standard or initial measurement period and is not credited with any hours of service. The duration of the break in service determines the impact on the applicable measurement period.<\/p>\n
The break in service rules are complicated, because we are an educational institution and even some regular employees do not work year-round. The most important thing to remember is an employee with a break in service greater than 26 weeks is treated as a new hire with a new initial measurement period.<\/p>\n
Rule to remember<\/p>\n
For example, an employee with 18 months of service has a 2-month break in service during the measurement period. When calculating the average hours for the purposes of the ACA, the average hours worked in the 90 days prior to the 2-month break will be used.<\/p>\n
When a regular full-time benefit eligible employee separates from employment (resigns, retires, layoff, etc.) and then is rehired into a variable hour position (part-time temporary or part-time faculty) within six months of the separation, they may be considered full-time definition under the ACA rule if they worked 30 hours or more per week for the during their last measurement period.<\/p>\n
If the employee is eligible for medical coverage human Resources will contact both the employee and the department.<\/p>\n
ASRS implications<\/strong><\/p>\n If the employee terminates their benefit eligible position and they were contributing to ASRS during the fiscal year, then they must continue to contribute to ASRS along with the department in the new part-time temporary position up through the end of the current fiscal year. The ASRS week count will reset on July 1 for the part-time temporary employee.<\/p>\n First, submit a termination ePAR for employees who have not received a paycheck for at least three pay periods to avoid inflating the employees\u2019 weekly average hours.<\/p>\n
\nBest practices to avoid exceeding the 29-hour work rule<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Planning is the key!<\/h4>\n