The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires all employers to provide notices to current employees (and new hires) about the coming exchanges (now being called Marketplaces). As of May 2013, the Department of Labor has provided guidance indicating that employers are to provide these notices to employees by October 1, 2013. The law only applies to employers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which includes schools, non-profits and most privately owned, commercial businesses.
The notice should be provided to each employee, regardless of whether or not they participate (or are eligible to participate) in your group health plan. You are NOT required to provide notices to dependents, former employees or COBRA continuants.
The notice must be provided in writing in a manner such as attached to paychecks or personally handed out. You cannot, however, simply leave a stack of them in a break room because it doesn’t insure that each employee receives it. You can also distribute it electronically. The key to distribution, whether by hard copy or electronically, is to have a copy of what you distributed and be able to state how the notice was distributed, a list of the individuals and date when it was provided.
The law does not specifically address a penalty for failure to comply with the notice requirements and it is not clear if the FLSA provisions actually allow for the DOL to impose actions for violation, however, non-compliance is not a good option!
The model notice is attached. The first page is boiler plate, the second page (Part B) needs to be completed with basic information (e.g. name, address, HR contact at your office). Most employers will check the “some employees” box in response to the question of who you offer your plan to and include the wording of your definition of eligibility (e.g. 25 hours, 30 hours). The box ‘with respect to dependents’ is checked that you do offer. Eligible dependents are:spouse and children to age 26. You can also check the box that your coverage meets the minimum value standard.
The third page is optional. You are under no obligation to provide that information.
Once completed and once distributed to all current employees, it should also be included for employees hired after October 1st. If you need assistance completing the form or have any questions, please contact us. See the attached document for additional information.