https://www.nrn.com/sites/all/themes/penton_subtheme_nrn/images/logos/footer.png

Nation's Restaurant News is part of the Knowledge & Networking Division of Informa PLC

  • Informa PLC
  • About us
  • Investor relations
  • Talent

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Discover:
  • Subscribe
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • MUFSO
  • More
    Menu
    Log In or Register
    • News
    • Consumer Trends
    • Menu
    • Operations
    • Marketing
    • Finance
    • Data & Research
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • About Us
    • MUFSO
    • Subscribe to our newsletters
    • What’s Hot
    • Dessert Trends
    • Seafood Trends
    • Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Restaurant Hospitality
    • Food Management
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
    • Cookie Policy
    • Ad Choices
    Nation's Restaurant News
    • Search
    • Log In
    • Register
    Recent
    Recent
    Ikinari Steak to close or convert 9 of 11 NYC units
    Feb 21, 2019
    Out damned spot, and odor: Keeping glassware clean
    Feb 20, 2019

    Shake Shack broadens executive team
    Feb 20, 2019
    Captain D’s conserves space with energy-saving fryers
    Feb 19, 2019
    John Schnatter amends Papa John’s lawsuit after Starboard investment
    Feb 19, 2019
    Featured
    Menu specials, off-premise give BJ’s lift in 2018
    Feb 22, 2019
    Former Schlotzsky’s development chief moves to Salata Salad Kitchen
    Feb 22, 2019
    Dine Brands looks to acquire a regional chain
    Feb 21, 2019
    Jack in the Box to downsize menu, overhaul drive-thrus
    Feb 21, 2019
    FsVoice
    brought to you by
    Fourth_5-ways-restaurants-can-prepare-aca
    Sponsored Content
    Sponsored Content

    Five ways restaurants can prepare for ACA

    Whether you call it the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, the U.S. government’s solution to the nation’s healthcare problems has served restaurant operators an unsavory bowl of tough choices and complexity.

    Feb 05, 2018

    Sponsored by Fourth

    Whether you call it the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, the U.S. government’s solution to the nation’s healthcare problems has served restaurant operators an unsavory bowl of tough choices and complexity.

    The federal law defines full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees as those who average 30 hours a week. Any employer with more than 50 FTEs must offer affordable health insurance coverage to those workers and their dependents. To figure out if they’re beholden to this mandate, employers must calculate employment numbers from the previous year. The variables in that equation include FTEs versus part-time and seasonal workers, among other things. Calculate incorrectly, and restaurant operators face a fine from the Internal Revenue Service. Calculate correctly, and the employee-benefit costs spike.

    ACA incentivizes cutting employee hours to avoid increased health-care costs and adds more layers of bookkeeping. In addition, the changing American political landscape means the law changes frequently. More than ever, restaurant operators need as much accurate back-office data as they can get, and they need the ability to access that data quickly and easily to stay on top of ACA guidelines.

    Here are five ways restaurant operators should approach the law now to ensure full compliance and success: 

    1. Calculate FTEs
    The number of FTEs determines the date restaurant operators have to offer healthcare to those who meet the criteria. However, calculating FTEs is more complicated than just tallying up full-time employees. First, managers have to get list of all employees, both full- and part-time. Then, they exclude seasonal employees. Next, they count the hours worked per week for each full-time employee, calculate hours worked per week by non-full-time employees, divide that by 30 and add that to the number of full-time employees. The process is arduous, and the right software and systems make a big difference.

    2. Agree on fundamentals
    Consistency is the key to keep all the ACA variables in check at one restaurant location or several. ACA has specific and complex rules, but it doesn’t tell employers how to handle the law within their individual business operations. Restaurants need to agree on their own set of guidelines and/or governance rules. To create them, they must ask themselves:

    • Who will administrate? Will it be the store manager, regional management, corporate office or someone else?
    • How will they track individual schedules – FTEs versus, part-time and variable-hour employees?
    • What will be the look-back period? How far back will they look?
    • Will the stability, measurement and administrative period be three months, six months or a year?
    • What other processes need to happen to ensure IRS reporting is accurate?

    3. Choose a system and software
    Never before has the restaurant industry had to track so much complex information about its employees and then report it back accurately to the government. This marks a paradigm shift in the way restaurateurs need to think and creates a real challenge.

    Employee ACA status depends entirely on their schedule. If an employee is hired as part-time, the manager must ensure the hours match that status. Then add look-back, measurement, stability or administration periods, new hires, turnover and overtime -- Keeping up with that amount of data will challenge restaurants that don’t have a system in place. It is the equivalent of doing taxes without software or receipts. There’s no trail for the government to follow, but Uncle Sam remains after you.

    Whether restaurant owners and operators oversee one store or 1,000, they must look to technology to solve their ACA issues and prevent overscheduling of part-time employees.

    4. Start collecting the data
    Restaurants should begin tracking their employees’ schedules now to establish an accurate look-back period. While the federal government has enacted a Transition Relief Rule to give employers more time, many operators remain unprepared. They’re too busy running their restaurants and have little time to sit in the back with the books. Still, the ACA mandates employers have three months, six months or a year’s worth of scheduling data to set up the correct full-time and part-time statuses to determine which employees are offered healthcare. 

    5. Schedule according to status
    Under the ACA, a full-time employee is one who works 30 hours a week on average. That’s a change for operators used to the 40-hour workweek. Operators should schedule actively full-time and part-time employees to get them used to working different hours – an adjustment to another paradigm shift courtesy of the ACA. They also should keep a running tally of scheduled hours worked versus actual hours worked. While the ACA cares only about actual hours worked, it’s always good practice to know when people are scheduled compared with when they actually worked.

     

     

    0 comments
    Hide comments

    More information about text formats

    Comments

    • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

    Plain text

    • No HTML tags allowed.
    • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
    • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
    PublishLog in or register to comment
    Related
    MGH_March2019_MGH-2019-NRN-ArticleGraphic-Header-1540x800
    Sponsored Content
    Restaurant marketing on a growing budget
    Feb 22, 2019
    203034_RestaurantsCampaign_Images_Finals_Article_2.jpg
    Sponsored Content
    The personalization game: Keeping up with changing customer expectations
    Feb 22, 2019
    Stonefire_March2019_Stonefire_NRN-Native-Ad-Featured-Image-1540x800_02-12.jpg
    Sponsored Content
    Versatile naan is for more than just indian fare
    Feb 22, 2019
    S&D_BevearageTrends_February2019_FeatuerArticle_770x400
    Sponsored Content
    8 Beverage trends to watch in 2019
    Feb 21, 2019
    • Load More
    Logo
    Powered by Informa
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Subscribe
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Cookie Policy

    Follow us:

    © 2019 Informa USA, Inc., All Rights Reserved