For retail, hospitality, and food service operations, accurately tracking hours worked by variable-hour employees is crucial for Affordable Care Act compliance.

Staff may work fewer hours during slower periods and then take on additional shifts during holidays or busy seasons.

Some employees may also work at more than one location or return to work after time off.

For Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), these fluctuations make it important to maintain accurate employee information throughout the year — not waiting until it is time to prepare forms.

Employee Status

ALEs with variable-hour employees can use the Look-Back Measurement Method to determine whether an employee qualifies as full-time for purposes of an offer of coverage.

This method measures employee hours over a defined measurement period to determine full-time status during the applicable stability period.

Seasonal or temporary employee hours can change significantly during that measurement period.

Without accurate, ongoing tracking, companies can have difficulty identifying changes in employee status and determining which employees require an offer of coverage.

This is crucial for employers with large numbers of variable-hour employees. Reviewing employee data manually becomes increasingly difficult as the workforce grows and schedules change.

Seasonal Employees

Seasonal businesses may also have employees who are hired for a limited period, leave the company, and later return.

Retailers may increase staffing before the holidays. Restaurants and hospitality businesses may hire additional employees during peak tourism season. Employees may take on significantly more hours when demand increases.

These changes need to be reflected in employee records year-round.

Passport Software’s IRS-certified ACA software maintains employee information throughout the year to track changes in employee status. Relying on spreadsheets and year-end reviews may lead to costly errors.

Multi-Location Employees

Employee status can become even more difficult to track when a business operates multiple locations.

A restaurant group or retail chain may have staff that normally work at one location but pick up shifts at another. If employee information is maintained separately at each location, this may not provide a complete picture.

Combining employee information is important when determining employee status.

An employee who appears to be part-time at one location may have accumulated many more hours when work at other locations is included.

ACA software can help employers maintain a more complete view of employee status across locations and entities.

Food Service Operations

Accurate Affordable Care Act reporting requires accurate employee data, including hours worked.

For food service operations, tracking employee hours can involve additional complexities. Staff may work different positions, receive different pay rates, earn tips, or work varying schedules from week to week.

Passport Software’s Food Service Payroll and ACA Management Solution is designed to handle the payroll needs of restaurants and other food service operations, including multiple pay rates and other industry-specific requirements.

Food Service Payroll can also import hours from spreadsheets or time-clock software. This can help reduce manual entry when employee hours are being used for payroll and Affordable Care Act reporting.

When information is maintained in separate systems or spreadsheets, discrepancies and missing information can make it more difficult to determine an employee’s status accurately.

Our Affordable Care Act software and services centralize data and streamline compliance management throughout the year.

Year-Round Tracking

Seasonal employers should not have to wait until the end of the year to determine whether staffing changes have affected Affordable Care Act obligations.

Ongoing monitoring can help ALEs identify employees who are already full-time as well as employees whose hours are trending toward full-time.

This gives employers a better opportunity to address changes as they occur. Rather than discovering the change months later, companies can monitor hours throughout the measurement period and maintain accurate records of employee status.

Passport Software’s ACA Software and Services

Our ACA software and services help employers manage workforce information and Affordable Care Act reporting throughout the year.

The software provides reports to track employee status, identify employees who may be approaching full-time status, and help employers manage required 1094-C and 1095-C reporting.

Passport Software offers a Full Service option for ALEs that prefer to have everything handled for them. Just provide employee information in a simple spreadsheet, and we manage the entire process, including filing.

For employers with seasonal employees, multiple locations, or large numbers of variable-hour workers, having accurate information throughout the year can make Affordable Care Act reporting much easier to manage.

Seasonal staffing changes are part of doing business. Keeping track of how those changes affect employee status should be part of the process, too.

To learn more about how our ACA software and services can ease the burden of compliance, call 800-969-7900. Or, contact us – we are here to help.