Top Ohio University officials asked campus employers last week in a universitywide email to limit the hours students work during summer and winter breaks to exempt them from qualifying for an OU health care plan under a provision of the Affordable Care Act.
The provision goes into place January 2014 and requires all employees who work 30 hours or more per week to receive health benefits from their employers. Students who work during the school year have always been capped at working 20 hours per week so as to not interfere with schoolwork, but students working during breaks have traditionally had the option of working more.
Costs to establish a health care plan for these students and administer the program are too high — so instead the university will limit the hours students can work, said Ann Fidler, executive associate provost and chief of staff to Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit.
“Our ability to manage it is a problem. This would also help us guard against unknowingly violating the act,” Fidler said.
The email, sent by Benoit and Stephen Golding, vice president for finance and administration, limits the number of hours students can work during university breaks to 28 hours per week. If an internship or other position requires more time, the student might sign a waiver agreeing to deny his or her right to an OU health care plan.
The university might not grant the waivers frequently because it creates more room for error, Fidler said. If an audit of the university found a violation of the law, OU could be fined $20,000 for every employed student — regardless of the number of violations.
OU did not calculate how much it would cost to offer student employees health insurance. However, it costs the university $11,321 per employee for group health insurance.
OU has also not decided how it will oversee the changes to the university’s health care program for adjunct instructors and teaching graduate students and assistants who might also work more than 30 hours per week but don’t receive health care benefits.
