As part of the new health care law, starting October 1, 2013, employers with 1 employee or more must provide notices about the upcoming Health Insurance Exchanges to their employees or face a fine. Fortunately, the US Department of Labor has created the notice for you to use. You can find it here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/FLSAwithplans.pdf
Your only requirement is to provide this document (either in print or electronic format) to all employees by October 1, 2013 and within 14 days of hire for all future employees. Regardless of your number of employees and regardless of whether you provide health insurance coverage, you are required to provide this notice to all employees (part-time and full-time).
This is only a notification – unless employees ask for information about your existing health coverage, there’s no further obligation at this time. However, your employees are sure to have questions about the new health insurance options and what coverage they will have access to. For all of those questions, please direct your employees to the government’s website: www.healthcare.gov or their toll free number: 1-800-318-2596, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you have any questions or concerns about this requirement, I encourage you to check out www.healthcare.gov or give us a call at 1-877-660-6400.
Claudia St. John, SPHR
President, Affinity HR Group, LLC
