Chains Welcome Delay In Health Care Mandate

While menu labeling remains on track—albeit still a bit confusing for many chains—another component of the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act has been delayed. On July 2, the Treasury Dept. announce a yearlong delay for the law’s mandate that requires “large employers” to report to the IRS whether they offered their full-time employees and their dependents health care coverage in 2014.The department says the delay will give government more time to figure out how to streamline the reporting requirements and give large employers more time to understand and implement the law.

The reporting requirement was originally due to take effect Jan. 31, 2015, and requires large employers—defined as those with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees—to provide the IRS with details on whether they offered health care coverage to full-time employees and their dependents in 2014.

Instead, the IRS will use 2014 as a year of transition and voluntary reporting, and has pushed mandatory reporting for large employers and insurers to Jan. 31, 2016, to track data on health care coverage employers offered in 2015.

The delay means large employers will not face penalties under the law for failing to offer health care coverage to their full-time employees in 2014.

The National Restaurant Association’s updated Health Care Law Primer helps operators calculate who the law considers a “large employer,” and provides clarification on potential penalties.