What is a full-time qualified employee?

Applicable Large Employers are required to offer health coverage that meet certain thresholds to their “full-time” qualified employees. The phrase “full-time” qualified employees refers to those employees who have worked enough hours to qualify for health coverage.

Typically, a “full-time” qualified employee refers to any employee, including employees classified as part-time or temporary, who averages at least 130 hours of service per month over a set period of time or works 30 hours per week, also known as a measurement period.

"Full-time” qualified employee is a term that specifically denotes employees to whom an employer may be required to offer coverage based on hours worked. This term should not be confused with full-time employees (and full-time equivalents) that are used to determine whether a company is an Applicable Large Employer.

In certain situations, an employee could be "full-time" qualified in terms of hours worked, but the employer is still not required to offer coverage for one or more months. This could be because the employee is in a limited non-assessment period, or because transition relief is being applied.