Congressman Cohen Seeks Revision of IRS Policy on Eligibility for Employer-Provided Health Insurance for Variable Hour Employees

MEMPHIS - Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today led 17 Congressional colleagues in a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel seeking revision of a rule regarding employer-provided health insurance. The current rule provides more than a year for employers to assess if new employees are considered full-time, depriving many who would otherwise be eligible for coverage.

"Some companies are scheduling workers for full-time work, but classifying them as 'variable hour employees' to avoid providing them benefits," said Congressman Cohen. "The IRS should update this rule to ensure that workers are not being undervalued and exploited."

The letter reads in part:

"As the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) employer health insurance mandate has been in place for more than ten years, we are writing to express concerns with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Rule 4980H that is allowing employers to avoid providing health insurance for employees that would normally be considered full-time workers for more than a year. We request that you revisit this rule and urge that you implement a system to track the number of employers using Rule 4980H and the number of employees who are subsequently being affected."

See the entire letter here.

The letter was co-signed by Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Yvette Clarke, Donald Davis, Dwight Evans, Raúl Grijalva, Hank Johnson, Barbara Lee, Summer Lee, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Dean Phillips, Terri Sewell, Shri Thanedar, Rashida Tlaib, Nydia Velazquez, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Maxine Waters.