Many large and mid-size companies are extending health insurance 
coverage beyond their full-time workers to include part-timers in their plans, according to a study by the
About three out of five companies with 1,000 or more employees are offering coverage to part-time workers, even though the Affordable Care Act only requires them to cover those working 30 hours per week or more, while about half of mid-sized companies are doing so, the study found.
“This decision to extend coverage seems to be driven by core business reasons,” according to the report. “Employers say they are doing this in order to attract the talent that they need.”
The majority of employers are not planning to reduce employee hours to avoid having to provide health insurance to workers. Only about a quarter of mid-size companies and 40% of large employers have either limited employee hours or plan to do so.
Compliance with the ACA, including record-keeping, is “a clear point of concern for most emplyers,” ADP found. “A majority of both mid-sized and large employers do not feel that they are fully prepared” to handle compliance issues.
One reason, according to ADP, is that many companies don’t have a way to accurately track unpaid leave hours for such reasons as military service, family and medical leave and jury duty.
