Q: As I start new employee packages, what documents does the Affordable Care Act require that I include?
A: The Affordable Care Act has added one required notice to your onboarding requirements and a separate notice for new employees eligible for your health insurance.
You need to give all new employees a Notice of Availability of the Exchange within 14 days of employment. (This is the same notice that you gave to all employees back in 2013.)
For employers with a health plan, you can find the appropriate notice here. For employers without a health plan, you can find the notice here.
Newly hired employees who are eligible for your health insurance must be given the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) for your health insurance plans. This document will help them decide which plan fits their needs.
The Affordable Care Act requires that, if an employee is hired as full-time, you must offer health insurance within 90 days of employment. If you have 50 or more Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employees, the health insurance must be the minimum essential coverage that has minimum value and is deemed “affordable."
For new employees who are not considered full-time, you must track their hours. After their initial measurement period, they will either be full-time employees (to whom you will then offer health insurance), or they are part-time through the ongoing measurement period.
When you're making your welcome packages, don't forget to include the already required COBRA notice and Summary Plan Description for benefit plans they can sign up for. These documents—along with your employee handbook, other employment specific paperwork (like a W-4 or I-9), and specific material for the job classification—should make up the onboarding paperwork.
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