On February 10, 2014, the Treasury Department issued rules that will allow mid-sized businesses to delay for one year the requirement to provide health insurance for their workers. The rules also offered some relief for larger companies.
Businesses with 50 to 99 employees will now have until January 1, 2016, to provide minimum, affordable health insurance to their employees, or face penalties. Previously, the deadline for meeting this requirement was January 1, 2015.
In order to qualify for this extension, employers must certify that they have not laid off employees in order to come under the 100 employee threshold.
Larger employers – those with 100 or more full-time employees – will be allowed to phase in the required health insurance coverage. These companies won’t owe a penalty under the insurance mandate so long as they offer coverage to at least 70% of their full-time employees by January 1, 2015, and at least 95% by 2016.
