WASHINGTON – As the IRS
attempts to interpret the employer mandate, more questions are being raised,
including how the requirement will impact small businesses, The New York Times
reports. The Obama administration says it will push back
enforcement for a year, in part to give the agency more time to decipher
the regulations.
One of the biggest issues
is how a business would figure out if workers with fluctuating hours need to be
offered health insurance. While the Act says any employee working 30 hours a
week must be offered insurance, some businesses have scheduling that gives an
employee 25 hours one week but 35 the next. The IRS is approaching this
scenario with a “look-back measurement method,” in which the company would pick
between three months to a year and average the worker’s weekly hours.
“I think they understood
clearly that in the retail and chain restaurant industries, employees will
often not fall into neat full- and part-time categories,” said Neil Trautwein,
employee benefits policy counsel at the National Retail Federation, which
worked with the agency on developing the method. “Once you get away from
manufacturing, it’s not an uncommon problem in the business world.”
The rules are murkier
still as to what happens when a worker moves from full time to part time. “Do
you get to keep your coverage?” said J.D. Piro, senior vice president at Aon
Hewitt. “Or do you follow the Cobra rules? … “That’s what employers need
guidance on — which rules take precedence.”