ICHRA employee classes

Permitted categories

• Full-time and part-time employees.
• Seasonal employees.
• Salaried and non-salaried employees.
• Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
• Employees who have not satisfied a waiting period.
• Nonresident aliens with no U.S.-based earned income.
• Employees whose primary site of employment is in the same insurance rating area.
• Certain temporary employees of staffing firms.
• Permitted combinations of these categories.

Same terms within a class

The ICHRA generally must be offered on the same terms to participants in a class, subject to permitted variations and specified exceptions. Age and family-size adjustments require consistent rules. A job title such as “executive” or “field supervisor” is not, by itself, a new permitted class.

When minimum class sizes matter

Minimum-size rules are conditional. They can apply when an employer offers a traditional group plan to one class and ICHRA to another class based on specified categories, such as full-time, part-time, salaried, non-salaried, or certain geographic distinctions and combinations. They are not a universal requirement that every ICHRA have ten participants.

Count offers, not just enrollments

The relevant minimum relates to employees offered the ICHRA in the applicable class, using the regulation’s employer-size and timing rules. Geographic exceptions, combinations, and the special new-hire rule need specific review. An enrollment forecast is not a substitute for the class-size test.

Illustrative design question

A contractor wants different benefits for hourly field employees and salaried office employees. Salaried versus non-salaried status can be relevant, but the employer still needs to evaluate the actual classifications, same-terms rules, group-plan interaction, and applicable minimums. Simply naming the groups “field” and “office” does not complete the analysis.