Also note that increases in the amount you must pay per employee increases in 2015. For larger employers (100 or more employees) the amount is $2.48 per hour and for smaller employers (20–99 employees) will be $1.65 per hour.
What is the Waiting Period Exactly? Different Interpretations and Now a Final Federal Rule
The maximum waiting period allowed before offering coverage to a full time employee was established as 90 days by the federal Affordable Care Act. Then California said it was 60 days, but the restriction was imposed on carriers and not employers. Some carriers have said it does not apply, certifying that federal law overrides the California statute, and are not enforcing this law. Other carriers took it seriously but said their systems couldn’t handle it, so they gave their employer groups the option of “first of the month following date of hire” or “first of the month following 30 days” And now the federal government has come up with final regulations concerning their original 90 day waiting period, allowing a “one month orientation period” before the 90 day count begins. Of course, the caveat is that the government knows these periods are commonplace but would not be used to “violate the spirit” of the 90 day waiting period. The start date for the new federal rules is January 1, 2015.
Just to confuse matters further (which has now become a hallmark of the ACA), the “pay or play” rules have a different formulation for consideration of a coverage offer, saying that an employer MUST offer coverage to eligible employees no later than the first day of the fourth full calendar month of employment.
