Human Resources: Frequently Asked Questions - 1500-Hour Part-time Limit
1500-Hour Limit for Part-time Employees
Under the Affordable Care Act, employers must identify a retroactive measurement, or “look back” period, in order to determine which employees will meet the Act’s definition of “full-time” employee, and must be offered healthcare coverage in order to avoid significant tax penalties. The Commonwealth of Virginia has determined the time period to be May 1 through April 30 of the following year.
The amendment is necessary to ensure compliance with the Affordable Care Act. Providing health insurance to part-time employees would require a significant expenditure of state funds that are not budgeted.
The state health plan does not permit participation by part-time employees.
The supervisor and the employee are responsible for planning, scheduling and tracking part-time hours.
No, JMU is not authorized to grant exemptions to this amendment.
Yes, but your part-time employee must maintain an average of 29 hours per week over the 52 week period. Part-time employee schedules may vary from week to week provided that the average number of hours worked over the course of twelve months does not exceed 29 hours per week.
The supervisor must decrease hours immediately to reduce the weekly average over the remainder of the Standard Measurement Period.
Yes. Each hour worked over 40 hours during overtime will be counted toward the 29 average per week. For example, a part-time employee works 44 hours during the workweek. While the employee gets paid time-and-a-half for the extra 4 hours, all 44 hours will be counted towards the 29 per week average.
Yes, all part-time positions are subject to this restriction.
Yes, however all concurrent part-time position hours count towards the 29 hour per week average as well as the 1500-hour limit. Careful planning and scheduling should be a priority to avoid exceeding the limit.
Human Resources
