Fear and Misunderstanding Grip Many School Districts as Affordable Care Act Goes Into Effect
By John Rosales
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which launches today, includes a provision for “shared responsibility for employers.” This part of the law creates the possibility of financial penalties on employers such as school districts based on the way they offer—or fail to offer—coverage to their full-time employees and, in some cases, their employees’ dependents. These employer penalty provisions have a unique impact on education support professionals (ESPs) who are paid on an hourly basis.“Some employers believe they must cut ESPs’ hours in order to avoid a penalty,” says Carolyn York, director of Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy, National Education Association (NEA). “Employers who seek to do that often act out of fear and misunderstanding about the law and regulations.”
Although the statute established January 1, 2014, as the start date for the penalty, the Obama Administration announced in July that the ACA’s provisions on shared responsibility for employers would be postponed to 2015.
“There’s no need to rush to make decisions about ESPs’ hours,” says York. “Employers now have more time to identify and develop practical approaches to the ACA’s employer penalty provisions that are good for students, good for employees, and good for the school district.”
Although there can be no penalties issued until 2015, the Plattsmouth Board of Education in Nebraska convened last summer to consider a plan that would limit non-certified employees to work weeks of 28 hours or less. The proposal was designed to insulate the district against possible penalties for failing to