Why it’s important to track employees’ actual hours worked NOW
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not going away (or at least not any time soon), so it is important for employers to continue their compliance and reporting efforts, including tracking employees’ actual hours worked.
Despite regional rulings as recent as this past Spring indicate the ACA has been judged invalid, ACA is still the law of the land. It is estimated that any fundamental changes to ACA may not occur until 2020 or even beyond.
So, except for the individual responsibility portion rescinded in 2017, the law remains the same. This means employers are still expected to abide by the ACA laws and regulations, and this includes tracking employees’ hours worked.
ACA 2019: Reporting Year 4
It’s hard to believe, but we are entering reporting year four for ACA. By now employers should know that ACA compliance is a year-round practice to ensure they are not recipients of unwanted penalties from the IRS.
The IRS has demonstrated how serious it is taking the employer responsibility portion of ACA by sending penalty letters to employees found to be violators (as far back as reporting year 2015). The penalty amounts are staggering, and the stakes remain high. Consequently, adhering to ACA rules should still be of paramount interest to employers.
The Importance of Tracking
Tracking part-time employees is important to determine whether or not they are (or have become) full-time employees (FTEs) as defined by ACA rules at any time in a given year. A part-time employee who works an average of 30 hours per week or 120 hours per month qualifies as a full-time employee and thus should be offered insurance.
The only way to verify hours worked is to track employees’ hours on a regular basis. Manual data entry is an option but is very time-consuming and prone to errors. Many employers have turned to automated tracking and reporting solutions and third-party providers. Regardless of whether tracking is manual or automated, employers are still on the hook for complying with ACA requirements and should continue to take tracking of employees seriously.
Looking for a solution that will automatically track employees’ hours worked and provide alerts when approaching eligibility for a healthcare offer? ACA-Track™ pulls data from payroll, time and attendance, and benefit systems to create confident and accurate ACA compliance and reporting.
https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/employer-shared-responsibility-provisions
