WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) welcomed the U.S. Department of Treasury’s issuance on Monday of final regulations that ease the transition for many of the American employers affected by the “shared responsibility” section of the Affordable Care Act. Ninety-six percent of American businesses have 49 or fewer employees and are not affected by the law.
Among the changes announced Monday is a transition period for the 2 percent of American employers that have 50 to 99 employees, giving employers until 2016 to offer quality coverage to their employees. The 2 percent of American employers with 100 or more employees will still have to offer such coverage in 2015, but only to 70 percent of their employees that year. This change will allow companies with seasonal hiring or substantial turnover within employees’ first year of employment (like hotels and restaurants) to plan for and deliver coverage for broader numbers of their employees.
“While the Affordable Care Act is already doing a lot of good for a lot of people, it does need to be updated and implemented responsibly to make sure we minimize the potential harm to small and medium-sized businesses,” Senator Coons said. “It is a complex law whose changes need to be fully understood by employers and implemented responsibly. I have shared with President Obama what I have heard from business owners up and down Delaware: that they will need more time to understand and fulfill their responsibilities under the law. The regulations issued today show a willingness to listen to entrepreneurs and leaders of businesses of all sizes, and to work with them to ensure the law is implemented fairly and responsibly.”
Monday’s regulations also provided clarifications of whether employees of certain types or in certain occupations are considered full-time, including: volunteers, educational employees, seasonal workers, work-study students, and adjunct faculty. The clarification delivers on a commitment made by the Obama administration to Senator Coons last month that volunteer firefighters would not be counted as employees of their volunteer fire companies. More on that here: http://1.usa.gov/1kwHwTy
In December, Senator Coons sent a letter with 12 of his colleagues to President Obama urging clarification of the employer requirements set forth in the Affordable Care Act. The letter can be downloaded as a PDF here: http://1.usa.gov/1faz0SI