“I have two employees who fluctuate between 20 and 35 hours per week. They are interested in enrolling for our group health insurance but I don’t know how it works for employees with this type of schedule.”
My HR Survival Tip
It is possible for them to become eligible for the insurance but you’ll need to create a policy so you’re consistent.
As you probably know, the insurance companies use 30 hours per week as their definition of a full-time employee. The Affordable Care Act uses that to determine insurance eligibility so it’s one of the components to determine eligibility for employees working less than the usual 40 hours per week.
As a rule, I’d recommend keeping your part-time employees under 25 hours per week if your intent is to have them as part-timers without insurance. If you’re trying to give them sufficient hours to become eligible for certain benefits, then you want to target at least 30-35 hours per week. The reason I advise you to go above 30 hours is because just one sick day means their average hours per week has dropped below the eligibility requirement.
Next, look at your normal eligibility period for full-time employees. If coverage is effective the 1st of the month after 60 days of employment, I use nearly the same eligibility for part-timers. My part-timers are eligible the 1st of the month after working at least 30 hours per week for 60 days (or 8 weeks).
If the hours vary and my part-timers can’t maintain at least 30 hours for any reason, they only have 4 weeks to bring their hours back up and hold onto their insurance. If the hours can’t or aren’t brought back to at least 30 hours within 4 weeks, they are offered COBRA to continue their insurance on their own. If they later start working more hours again, they can become eligible again for the insurance. This is my standard policy, not the law, so develop what works for you.
It is possible for employees to go on and off the insurance throughout the year. It’s a little more work for you to add and remove their coverage based on their hours but it might be worth it if it helps overall retention of those employees.
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