The Affordable Care Act (ACA) amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to include a new employer notice requirement regarding health insurance exchanges. This new requirement was scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2013. However, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced that employers will not be held to the March 1 deadline because the applicable regulation is not yet available, among other reasons.

It is expected that upcoming guidance will reflect a more realistic compliancedate. However, a specific new deadline is yet to be announced.

General Overview
Although the effective date for notifying employees has been delayed, the provisions surrounding the notice itself have remain unchanged since the enactment of the ACA. Employers are required to notify all current and newly hired employees about the specific exchange that is available in their state and how they can access it.

More specifically, the notice must include the following:

• Services covered by the exchange
• Contact information for the exchange
• An employee’s eligibility for premium tax credits or cost-sharing reductions in situations where an employer contributes less than 60% towards the total cost of their group health coverage AND an employee purchases a qualified health plan through the exchange
• The potential loss of the employer’s contributions to health benefits offered by the employer if an employee purchases coverage through the exchange.

Additional Considerations

• Employers must provide the notification regardless of their size.
• ALL employees must be notified even if they are not eligible for benefits through their employer.
• The DOL has yet to release a model notice, FAQs, or updated guidance on this requirement. This leaves employers in a “hold” pattern until additional information becomes available.

For additional information, visit: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-aca11.html.