How is full-time ACA calculated?

Asked by: Dr. Estel Bruen  |  Last update: December 17, 2025
Score: 4.4/5 (23 votes)

Under the monthly measurement method, the employer determines if an employee is a full-time employee on a month-by-month basis by looking at whether the employee has at least 130 hours of service for each month.

How is full-time status calculated for ACA?

If the employee's average hours per week are 30 or higher, that employee is considered full-time for purposes of the ACA (regardless of HR full- or part-time status). The "earned status" that is determined from the ACA lookback measurement method is then valid for the duration of a corresponding "stability period."

How to calculate full time equivalent employees for ACA?

An employer determines its number of full-time-equivalent employees for a month in the two steps that follow:
  1. Combine the number of hours of service of all non-full-time employees for the month but do not include more than 120 hours of service per employee, and.
  2. Divide the total by 120.

What does the ACA consider a full-time employee?

What is considered a “full-time” employee under California Law? With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act came along the new “full-time” employee—or one who works at least 30 hours a week or at least 130 hours a month.

How are ACA work hours calculated?

Under the 'monthly' measurement approach, the employer can calculate an employee's hours on a month-by-month basis. If an employee works at least 130 hours each month or at least 30 hours per week in a calendar month, they are a full-time employee.

Measuring FTEs for ACA: What if we don't know how many hours an employee will work?

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How is ACA calculated?

Take the employee's lowest hourly rate for the month and multiply the number by 130, the minimum total of hours a worker must provide to be classified as a full-time employee under the ACA. Take the product of that calculation and multiply it by 9.02% for 2025.

How do you calculate full-time employees for health insurance?

Full-time employees that work at least 30 hours per week in any month are counted as one full-time employee. This amount is added to the number of part-time employees. Part-time employees are calculated by taking the hours worked by all part-time employees in a week and dividing that amount by 30.

What is the ACA 50 employee rule?

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent (FTE) employees that do not offer health coverage, or that offer health coverage that does not meet certain minimum standards, may be subject to a financial penalty, referred to as the Employer Shared Responsibility payment.

How many hours is full-time per year?

Generally speaking, a work year is usually 8 hours a day for 5 days a week – that means 40 hours of work per week. Multiply this by the number of weeks in a year and you get 2080 work hours in one work year.

What income is counted for ACA?

If your pay stub lists “federal taxable wages,” use that. If not, use “gross income” and subtract the amount(s) your employer takes out of your pay for child care, health coverage, and retirement plans. Include expected interest and dividends earned on investments, including tax-exempt interest.

How to calculate full time equivalent?

The calculation of full-time equivalent (FTE) is an employee's scheduled hours divided by the employer's hours for a full-time workweek. When an employer has a 40-hour workweek, employees who are scheduled to work 40 hours per week are 1.0 FTEs.

What are the ACA requirements for employers in 2024?

Employers must report employee insurance information with the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) once per year. Information should be submitted to the state using federal Forms 1094-C, 1095-C, and 1095-B. Organizations must also distribute copies to employees.

How do you calculate full time equivalent enrollment?

Full Time Equivalent Students, FTES, is an important measure used as the basis for the resource allocation. FTES is calculated by dividing attempted units by 15 for undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students and by 12 for graduate students (seeking a master's or doctoral degree).

What is the 3 month rule for ACA?

The ACA employer mandate rules permit a “limited non-assessment period” as a sort of grace period before which employers will be penalized for failure to offer coverage to a new hire. For new full-time hires, the duration of this period is relatively short (the first three full calendar months of employment).

How do you calculate full-time status?

Calculate your total FTE

To calculate the FTE value for a specific position, simply divide the number of hours worked by the number of hours considered to be full-time. If you use 40 hours as full time, someone who works 35 hours has a 0.875 FTE. Someone who works 30 hours has a 0.75 FTE.

What is the 80 20 rule for ACA?

The 80/20 Rule generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money they take in from premiums on health care costs and quality improvement activities. The other 20% can go to administrative, overhead, and marketing costs.

What is the ACA hours threshold?

Now, to determine ALE status you must calculate your full-time employees. An ACA full-time employee is someone who works 30 hours a week or 130 hours a month.

Is 2080 hours a year full-time?

Based on a standard work week of 40 hours, a full-time employee works 2,080 hours per year (40 hours a week x 52 weeks a year).

Why is 40 hours a week full-time?

Ford wanted his workers to be well-paid and well-rested so they would use their leisure time to buy more things, including his cars. Ford officially adopted a five-day, 40-hour workweek in 1926. Since Ford was the most influential industrialist of his day, other large companies followed his lead.

What is the full-time equivalent for ACA?

Under the MMM, an employee is considered “full-time” for any given month if he or she works an average of 30 hours of service per week for the month, or a total of 130 hours of service for the month, which the IRS considers to be equivalent standards.

What is the 9.5% rule for ACA?

The federal poverty line safe harbor generally treats coverage as affordable for a month if the employee required contribution for the month does not exceed 9.5 percent, adjusted annually, of the federal poverty line for a single individual for the applicable calendar year, divided by 12.

How do I calculate ACA affordability?

The W-2 Safe Harbor is a method for proving ACA affordability that involves using an employee's W-2 Box 1, gross income. To calculate ACA affordability using the W-2 Safe Harbor, use the following formula: W-2 Box 1 Wages multiplied by 8.39% with an adjustment for partial-year coverage.

What is the 12 month lookback period for ACA?

Under the look-back/stability period safe harbor method, an employer would determine each employee's full-time status by looking back at a defined period of not less than three but not more than 12 consecutive calendar months, as chosen by the employer (the measurement period), to determine whether during the ...

What is the 2080 rule for salary?

Until 1984, an hourly rate of basic pay was computed by dividing the employee's annual rate of basic pay by 2,080 hours (the number of hours in 52 workweeks of 40 hours) and rounding to the nearest cent. For a regular full-time employee, the hourly rate was then multiplied by 80 to determine the biweekly gross pay.

How is ACA eligibility determined?

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid coverage is extended to nearly all nonelderly adults with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) (about $23,556 for a family of three in 2022) in the 42 states (including DC) that opted to expand as of March 2023.