Under PPACA, a full-time employee equivalent is either one full-time employee or an aggregation of part-time-employee and seasonal-employee hours averaging 30 hours a week in a given time period.
Here is the formula for determining the full-time employee equivalency:
Number of full-time employees + [(Number of average part-time employee and seasonal employee hours worked in a 4-week period) / 120]
Under PPACA, a full-time employee is defined as an employee who averages 30 hours of work a week or more. Part-time employees work less than 30 hours of work a week on average. Finally, seasonal employees work 120 days or less in a year.
The full-time employee equivalency is always rounded down to the nearest whole number. Thirty hours is the maximum amount of hours an employee can work for the purposes of this formula.
The full-time employee equivalency determines whether an employer is an applicable large employer, subject to the employer mandates, or a small employer. A full-time employee equivalency of 50 or more denotes an applicable large employer. A full-time employee equivalency of less than 50 denotes a small employer.
Example 1.
In January, Employer A employs 10 employees who average more than 30 hours of work per week and 20 employees who average 15 hours of work per week. The full-time employee equivalency for Employer A in January is:
10 + [(20 * 15 * 4) / 120] =
10 + (1,200 / 120) =
10 + 10 = 20 Full-time employee equivalents
Example 2.
In February, Employer B employs 10 employees who average more than 30 hours of work per week and 25 employees who average 15 hours of work per week. The full-time employee equivalency for Employer B in February is:
10 + [(25 * 15 * 4) / 120] =
10 + (1,500 / 120) =
10 + 12.5 = 22.5 Full-time employee equivalents. The full-time employee equivalency is 22.
Example 3.
In March, Employer C employs 5 employees who average more than 30 hours of work per week, 20 employees who average 15 hours of work per week, and 10 seasonal workers who average more than 30 hours of work per week. The full-time employee equivalency for Employer C in March is:
5 + {[(20 * 15 * 4) + (10 * 30 * 4)] / 120} =
5 + [(1,200 + 1,200) / 120] =
5 + (2,400 / 120) =
5 + 20 = 25 Full-time employee equivalents
LBMC can help you navigate through the extensive ACA requirements, determine any penalty exposure, and develop strategies to eliminate or reduce future penalty exposure.
Relevant Citations:
LBMC can help you navigate through the extensive ACA requirements, determine any penalty exposure, and develop strategies to eliminate or reduce future penalty exposure.
External PPACA Resources:
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