The
employer penalty or shared-responsibility payment for employers who have 50 to
99 full-time equivalent employees in 2014 has been delayed until 2016 to offer
health care coverage to their employees or be subject to the
shared-responsibility payments. However, these employers will still be required
to report on their workers and health care coverage in 2015.To be eligible for
the delay, employers must not reduce their workforce or hours of service in
order to qualify and they must maintain their previously offered health
coverage.

For
employers with 100 or more full-time equivalent employees, the new final
regulations phase in the percentage of full-time workers to whom such employers
need to offer minimum essential coverage. The percentage is 70% in 2015 and 95%
in 2016 and beyond. Employers with 100 or more full-time equivalent employees
that do not meet these percentages will be required make an employer
shared-responsibility payment for 2015.

A
large employer is subject to a penalty if its employer-sponsored health
coverage does not provide “minimum essential coverage” or is not affordable
relative to the employee’s household income and at least one full-time employee
has been certified as having enrolled in a qualified health plan with respect
to which an applicable premium tax credit or cost-sharing reduction is allowed
or paid with respect to the employee.