Need Help With the Affordable Care Act? The Contractors Plan is Here to Help!

---

Most employers with fewer than 100 FTEs probably drew a huge sigh of relief when they got a year’s reprieve from complying with ACA. But now the deadline is fast approaching and many are looking for help and guidance.

The Contractors Plan has focused exclusively on prevailing wage benefits for more than 30 years, and we’ve been following the evolution of ACA since it was just an idea. We’re ready to help Davis-Bacon contractors get into compliance with the law – and we have a proven benefits platform to make everyone’s lives easier.

We Are the Easy Button

We get it. You’re looking at yet another layer of government regulations and wondering how you’ll stay on top of everything. Take a deep breath – we’ve got the “Easy Button” for prevailing wage benefits.

1. Track Hours to Determine Number of FTEs.

The first step in ACA compliance is tracking the number of hours each employee works to determine if you even have to comply. The Contractors Plan has a tool that makes it easy.

It’s called Hour Banking. Hour banking makes it possible for employees to “bank” extra hours worked during peak periods, then draw from this excess to continue health insurance coverage during slow times. With employer provisions of ACA set to begin taking effect January 1, 2015, hour banking is a simple tool for tracking hours worked during your safe harbor period.

When you partner with a benefits provider that specializes in Davis-Bacon contracts, administration of the program is done for you. Hour banking can be done for companies working on projects in several states, across multiple job sites and employees who perform work in different job classifications.

From the standpoint of tracking premiums, hour banking helps contractors who work varied hours and types of projects by distilling rates paid on both types of contracts into one rate. Multiple benefits can be tracked – meaning health insurance, dental and vision insurance, and more can easily be tracked and hour banked.

2. Use the Fringe to Save Money and Comply with ACA.

When you use fringe dollars to pay for bona fide benefits with health insurance, you can avoid the penalty taxes in ACA. You can round out the benefits with specialty insurance and retirement plans for your employees, and all of those dollars are removed from payroll. That means you don’t pay FICA, FUTA, SUTA, and – in most states – workers compensation on those funds.

Those assessments can add up to as much as 30 cents on each dollar per employee per hour. Over the life of a contract, that creates significant savings that you can use to submit leaner bids or increase your profitability.

When you work on prevailing wage jobs, the money to pay for benefits is right there, spelled out in the wage determination.

3. One-stop Shopping.

Working with The Contractors Plan simplifies and streamlines offering benefits for your workers. Here’s how:
•Use fringe dollars to pay all or part of your workers’ health insurance premiums.
•Maximize your payroll savings by using any remaining fringe dollars to offer supplemental benefits like vision, dental, disability and life insurance. Or,
•Funnel excess fringe dollars into a retirement plan. This benefits you as a company owner, as well, by increasing the amount you can put away for retirement.

Now here’s the simple part. All you have to do is upload your file and submit a single check.

We take care of everything.

We track eligibility, pay the carriers, and make sure everything runs smoothly. And if you decide to offer a loan program as part of your retirement plan, we can do that, too. All of it.

When you work with a partner that understands the government contractor niche, offering and administering benefits – and complying with the laws – is pretty painless. And it saves you money, too.

The clock is ticking for ACA compliance. Give us a call and let’s discuss how we can help you.