# ACA — US federal employment law thresholds by employee count For ACA, full name is Affordable Care Act; employee threshold is 50; requirement is you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penalties; counting note is at least 50 full-time equivalent employees (not just a head count) during the lookback period, verified against its source on 2026-08-04. - **Law:** ACA - **Full name:** Affordable Care Act - **Employee threshold:** 50 - **Requirement:** you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penalties - **Counting note:** at least 50 full-time equivalent employees (not just a head count) during the lookback period ## What the source says > Affordable Care Act (ACA) According to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penalties. If you had at least 50 ## Sources disagree More than one authority states this, and they do not state the same thing. Both are reproduced with the source each came from. ### Requirement stratus.hr says requirement is **you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penalties**, as of 2026-08-04. > Affordable Care Act (ACA) According to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penalties. If you had at least 50 Source: https://stratus.hr/resources/federal-law-breakdown-how-many-employees namely.com says requirement is **requires employers with more than 50 full-time employees to offer healthcare benefits**, as of 2026-08-04. > The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers with more than 50 full-time employees to offer healthcare benefits. Source: https://namely.com/blog/hr-compliance-50-employees/ ### Counting note stratus.hr says counting note is **at least 50 full-time equivalent employees (not just a head count) during the lookback period**, as of 2026-08-04. > Affordable Care Act (ACA) According to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you must offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to full-time employees (and dependent children) or face potential penalties. If you had at least 50 Source: https://stratus.hr/resources/federal-law-breakdown-how-many-employees namely.com says counting note is **employees who work at least 30 hours a week, or 130 hours a month, are considered full time**, as of 2026-08-04. > The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers with more than 50 full-time employees to offer healthcare benefits. Source: https://namely.com/blog/hr-compliance-50-employees/ ## Source - https://stratus.hr/resources/federal-law-breakdown-how-many-employees - https://namely.com/blog/hr-compliance-50-employees/ Last verified: 2026-08-04. Review by: 2027-08-04. Part of [US federal employment law thresholds by employee count](https://referencesource.org/regulatory-threshold-triggers/).