The recent mandate enforcement delay is no excuse to ignore the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
That was the warning from benefits compliance specialists at Ernst & Young, who explained during a PPACA compliance webinar Thursday that many important provisions of the law are still in effect.
One example is a notice law that PPACA created: Section 18B of the Fair Labor Standards Act. FLSA Section 18B requires employers to send workes a notice about the existence of the PPACA health insurance exchanges by Oct. 1.
Employers must choose whether to send only part A of the section, which must give general information about the exchange program, or whether to include a second part, part B, that would provide the information that employees need to fill out the exchange enrollment form.
Another PPACA provision that remains in effect, Section 6051 of the Internal Revenue Code, requires employers with group health plans to report total health plan cost information on each employee’s Form W-2 by Jan. 31, 2014.
Ali Master, a national tax credits specialists at the firm, said the “transitional relief” notice will simply give employers more time to get ready to comply with the PPACA employer reporting and coverage provisions.
“It’s clear,” Master said. “Not all of the ACA is on hold. Many pieces are running forward.”
Anne Phelps, an Ernst & Young principal who works in Washington, agreed on the need for employers and their benefits advisors to take PPACA compliance seriously.