Bipartisan Legislation to Simplify Compliance with the ACA Introduced

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has different definitions of what constitutes a seasonal employee or worker when determining the size of an employer and whether an employer must offer insurance to those employees. This week, the House introduced bipartisan legislation, the Simplifying Technical Aspects Regarding Seasonality (STARS) Act, that will eliminate the seasonal worker exemption from the ACA regulations, and instead marry the “seasonal worker” and “seasonal employee” definitions into one, clear definition. It would also exclude workers from the “applicable large employer” calculation who work for less than six months, while also excluding them from the requirement to offer coverage. The bill would be helpful to certain construction employers that utilize seasonal workforces. AGC joined employer associations in a letter to Congress supporting the legislation and will continue to monitor its progress. For more information, please contact Jim Young at youngj@agc.org or (202) 547-0133.