With the employer-mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) delayed a year, some large employers may be tempted to spend 2014 figuring out how to avoid providing health insurance benefits to their employees, as the law requires. But trimming staff or cutting employee hours solely to dodge the employer mandate could run afoul of another law, according to the Brody and Associates law firm.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)—the federal law that regulates employee benefit plans—prohibits employers from taking action for the specific purpose of preventing employees from receiving or maintaining benefits.
Section 510 of ERISA states it is “unlawful for any person to discharge, fine, suspend, expel, discipline, or discriminate against a participant or beneficiary … for the purpose of interfering with the attainment of any right to which such participant may become entitled under the plan ….”
Advice: Consult your attorney before terminating workers or trimming hours to bring your head count below 50 full-time employees. The ACA defines full-time work as 30 or more hours per workweek.
