The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has drafted guidelines that could render part-time employees to full-time status, affecting businesses nationwide, as it opens up personnel to health care coverage.
Contained within the new guidelines released in Notice 2015-87 is a proposal that excludes employment gaps, such as summer breaks, from the calculation of employment by school transportation contractors.
The application would reclassify part-time employees as full-time employees, making them eligible for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare.
The National School Transportation Association (NSTA), which is already against the ACA, has come out against this new provision, encouraging its members to send in comments on the issue to the IRS by Feb. 18, when this phase closes to the public.
While the NSTA plans to respond in opposition to the proposed guidelines, the group that represents private contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers in Washington, D.C. will not release their comments until closer to the deadline, according to Ronna Weber, executive director of the NSTA.
