ACA stability period length for new hires

plancor

Hello

We will be setting our...

Measurement Period to 12 months,
Administrative Period to 2 months, and
Stability Period to 12 months.

For the Standard measurement assessment (existing employees), the 2 month administrative period will align with our open enrollment period, and the stability period will align with our fiscal year.

My question….if we use the same 12/2/12 lengths for new hires, new hires’ stability period will not match the other employees' stability period and our fiscal year. Does this cause any problems? Should we adjust the stability period length each month so that the end of the stability period for new hires aligns with the existing employees’ stability period? Am I over thinking this?

I would appreciate any comments. Thank you

robert-canham

I think the regulations are that the stability period has to be at least as long as your measurement period, so shortening it isn't valid. From what we've been able to tell, this will cause the stability periods to not match up.

For example, if you had a new hire come on in February of 2014, 12 months later in February 2015 they have more than 130 monthly hours so you offer benefits. That would start in April 2015 and last through March 2016.

When you do your open enrollment validation in November (assumption) the employee only has 110 monthly hours, so they are no longer benefit eligible. They would keep their benefits through March 2016 and then lose them. If they had more than 130 monthly hours, they could keep their benefits through all of 2016.

This is my understanding from our work with our HR team and legal (I'm an IT person). Please confirm this with your legal advisors.