How part-timers and seasonal workers count toward full-time equivalents, the 50-FTE employer mandate line, group plan eligibility at 30 hours, and what to offer the staff a group plan leaves out.
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Restaurants, landscapers, retail and event businesses live on part-time and seasonal hours. The counting rules decide whether they are a small employer at all, and the eligibility rules decide who a plan can reach.
A group quote, an ICHRA costing and the owner’s own plan all start from the same census: who is on payroll, their ages and home counties. Enter your ZIP and a licensed agent runs all four routes for your business, free.
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For the employer mandate and the small-group definition, part-time hours are added up and divided into full-time equivalents (a 30-hour week is full time; 120 hours a month). A business with 20 full-timers and 60 part-timers at 15 hours has 50 FTEs and crosses into the large-employer rules. Seasonal workers employed 120 days or fewer in the year are excluded from the mandate count.
Group insurers generally let an employer set eligibility at 30 hours and apply a waiting period of up to 90 days. Part-timers under the threshold are outside the plan and buy on the marketplace, where modest pay usually means a sizeable credit. An ICHRA can create a separate class for part-time staff with its own allowance; a QSEHRA must treat all eligible employees the same.
At 50 or more full-time equivalents the employer mandate applies: coverage must be offered to full-time employees and their children or a penalty can follow. Businesses near the line should count carefully each year; the small-group market and this site cover the 1-50 range.
A licensed agent who helps each part-timer claim the marketplace credit costs the business nothing and is often worth more to the employee than a small QSEHRA allowance that would reduce that credit.