For purposes of the Affordable Care Act, an employer’s size is determined by
the number of its employees. Employer benefits, opportunities and requirements
are dependent upon the employer’s size and the applicable rules. If an employer
has at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees,
on average during the prior year, the employer is an ALE for the current
calendar year. However, there is an exception for seasonal
workers.
Seasonal workers are taken into account in determining the number of full-time employees. However, if an employer’s workforce exceeds 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalents) for 120 days or fewer during a calendar year, and the employees in excess of 50 who were employed during that period of no more than 120 days were seasonal workers, the employer is not considered an applicable large employer. Seasonal workers are workers who perform labor or services on a seasonal basis as defined by the Secretary of Labor, and retail workers employed exclusively during holiday seasons. For this purpose, employers may apply a reasonable, good faith interpretation of the term “seasonal worker.”
The terms seasonal worker and seasonal employee are both used in the employer shared responsibility provisions, but in two different contexts. Only the term seasonal worker is relevant for determining whether an employer is an applicable large employer subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions.
Source: Internal Revenue Service
