Job-share and non-discriminatory Benefits

Pinetree

We have employees requesting a job sharing arrangement where the two persons would share a full-time position and split full-time benefits between them. To share the job, they would each work about 20 hours per week which is too little to qualify for most benefits. Under current policy an employee must work 30 hours or more per week to be full-time and thus qualify for benefits. Would it be considered discriminatory if we created a new eligibility class for job-sharers which would allow them to receive health and other benefits? Two specific questions: 1) would it be considered discriminatory if part-time non-job-sharers who also work 20 hours per week were not eligible for those benefits; and would it be considered discriminatory to pass on a greater percentage of our (self-insured) health plan costs to each job-sharer than is passed on to full-time non-job-sharers?

Scott Ruth

Self insured health plans are prohibited from discriminating in favor of highly compensated employees. However, employees who customarily work fewer than 25 hours per week can be excluded from consideration under this testing. So you should be able to set up a job sharer classification without running afoul of these rules. Though not as clearly defined under the life insurance rules, part time employees are also excluded from discrimination testing there. You should make sure that your plan documents and Summary Plan Descriptions accurately reflect the eligibility requirements that you establish.