The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been a hot topic in the news since its inception. Recently, it has been the focus of discussion following President Trump’s announcement that he will “repeal and replace” the act.
Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses that employ 50 or more full-time employees must provide 95 percent of the full-time employees and their dependents with health insurance. Healthcare plans offered to individual and small groups are required to provide coverage for specific types of care, including prescription drugs, laboratory services, mental health services, maternity and newborn care, and chronic disease management. This is known as the Employer Mandate. Companies that fail to meet the Employer Mandate’s requirement must pay a fine. Full-time employees are defined as individuals who work at least 30 hours per week, or 130 hours per month. Part-time employees also factor into whether a company is required to provide health insurance or not through a formula that determines the full-time equivalent of the part-time employees’ work. In an effort to save money, some companies cut employees’ hours to reduce their number of full-time employees. This is a violation of employment law.
Signs your Employer is Attempting to Avoid Paying the Benefits you Deserve
If you do not receive health insurance through your employer, you can face substantial medical bills and a steep yearly penalty for not having the appropriate healthcare insurance. If you are a qualifying employee of an employer mandated to provide health insurance, do not simply allow your employer to continue to refuse to provide you with the benefits you are entitled to receive. A few signs your employer is attempting to avoid providing you and/or others in your workplace with health insurance include:
- Cutting your hours, either to make you into a part-time employee or to reduce the hours it must record for its part-time employees;
- Offering for you to work “off the clock” in order to keep your recorded hours low;
- Terminating employees despite the company remaining stable or even growing; and
- Classifying you as an independent contractor, rather than an employee. Independent contractors are not entitled to many of the benefits and protections employees are entitled to receive, such as the right to file discrimination claims, the right to take unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the right to receive overtime pay.
Work with an Experienced New York Unpaid Wages Attorney
As a working American, you have the right to collect the wages you earn and the benefits you are entitled to receive according to your job. If you do not receive the compensation you were either promised by your employer or guaranteed by law, you have the right to work with an experienced employment lawyer to take legal action to seek the compensation you deserve. Contact our team at Ricotta & Marks, P.C. today to set up your initial consultation with a member of our team.
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