Kelley Baker kbaker@hslegalfirm.com
Karen Haase khaase@hslegalfirm.com @KarenHaase
Steve Williams
Bobby Truhe
swilliams@hslegalfirm.com @SteveisEsteban
btruhe@hslegalfirm.com @btruhe
Obamacare Update: Most of you know that the Educators Health Alliance (EHA) announced that it will create a lower-premium minimum essential plan that is designed for school districts to offer to their classified staff. We think this is a great step toward providing school districts with a variety of options for complying with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, note that the lower level plan that EHA developed for the 2013-14 school year is not the plan that will actually be in place when most school districts in Nebraska need to comply with the ACA. The plan that will be in place beginning the 2014-15 school year will be slightly more expensive than the plan EHA just released. For this and many other reasons, we have been telling districts to consider their options but to remain patient and not to make any hasty decisions. Schools should take steps now to establish their "look back period" -- the segment of time school districts will use to determine who is "full time" under the ACA. Our advice at this point is to begin tracking the hours of every school district employee as of July 1, 2013, a little over one month from now. Keep in mind that "hours of service" under the ACA include any time paid and any paid leave such as paid holidays, vacation, or sick leave provided to the employee. If you begin tracking hours July 1st and track them all the way through June 30th of 2014, you will be able to use a full 12-month look-back period or any segment of that look-back period as long as it is 3 months or more. Having information for the entire year from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014 will provide districts with the flexibility needed to consider options like reducing hours, adjusting hours, and taking advantage of all normal break periods that occur on a school calendar. It is crucial that you require all employees who are not exempt from the wage and hour laws to track their hours. Remember that paying someone a salary or a stipend does not make them exempt from the wage and hour laws. This means that, beginning July 1, 2013 and continuing into the 2013-14 school year you must make all classified employees including coaches, para-educators,