Employee Benefits & Executive
Compensation
The Government has issued significant guidance that employers
must consider as they prepare to manage their potential liabilities
under the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"). The pay or play
rules under ACA are generally effective for employers January 1,
2014 and the guidance makes it abundantly clear that employers
should not wait until late in 2013 to make plans for
2014.
Background
Effective 2014, employers with more than 50 full time equivalent
employees may have to pay significant excise taxes (euphemistically
called and referred to herein as "shared responsibility
payments") if any full-time employee uses a tax credit or a
"cost sharing reduction" to purchase health care coverage
in a state exchange. There are several ways an employer may manage
or ameliorate this liability. Chief among them is to offer all
full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in health care
coverage that is both "affordable" and
