failboat
Patron with Honors
Hello ESMB
I normally reside at WWP. I am crossposting this OP and some posts from a thread I started over on WWP a few weeks ago. If I get enough interest and requests, I will reproduce all of the important dox/links/quotes from there over here in this thread, in subsequent posts. Provisions of Obamacare begin on October 1, in less than 1 week.
WWP Thread - https://whyweprotest.net/community/...h-insurance-for-sea-org-workers-staff.112821/
http://rockstargop.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/christian-law-association-how-will-obamacare-affect-your-business-or-ministry/
Regarding Volunteers vs. Employees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_Protection_Act
Regarding Religious Exemption:
Regarding October 1 Notifications:
I've been especially looking for a US lawyer's opinion on this, but everyone's opinions and input are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
EDIT: This thread isn't meant to devolve into a constitutional debate or a political debate, so please don't derail it with either subject.
It's about fleshing out the law, AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS, and its effects on Sea Org, Staff, and Scientologists.
I normally reside at WWP. I am crossposting this OP and some posts from a thread I started over on WWP a few weeks ago. If I get enough interest and requests, I will reproduce all of the important dox/links/quotes from there over here in this thread, in subsequent posts. Provisions of Obamacare begin on October 1, in less than 1 week.
WWP Thread - https://whyweprotest.net/community/...h-insurance-for-sea-org-workers-staff.112821/
http://rockstargop.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/christian-law-association-how-will-obamacare-affect-your-business-or-ministry/
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as “Obamacare,” has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court and will affect all Americans as it is implemented. The leadership of churches and ministries across the country need to understand how the provisions of PPACA will affect them.
Employer Requirements
PPACA requires employers who employ an average of 50 full-time employees during the previous year to provide health insurance coverage for all of its employees. Churches and other tax-exempt organizations are not exempt from this provision. A full-time employee is defined as an employee who works an average of 30 or more hours per week. Thus, any church, including any ministries which are not separately organized, employing 50 or more full-time employees must provide health insurance to all of its employees.
If an employer has 50 or more employees, then it has the option of providing coverage or paying a penalty. If the employer wants to avoid the penalty, then the employer must provide at least 60% of the premium cost of insurance coverage that is at least “minimum essential coverage” for employees.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not subject to PPACA and are NOT required to provide health insurance to its employees...
<snip>
Regarding Volunteers vs. Employees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_Protection_Act
Staff and Sea Org make more money than that. Any lodging or food received in lieu of pay would also count toward this $500 limit.Who is a "volunteer"?
A volunteer (subsection 6 of 14505) is an individual who provides services to the eligible organization and whose "compensation" is at most $500.00 per year.
Here is a tax/HR guy's take on the issue:
http://www.justanswer.com/tax/09j0g-volunteer-compensation-501c3-organization.html
Here's the profile of the guy who made the above comment:There are two laws that apply:
- The Charitable Immunity and Liability Act of 1987, as amended and
- The Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, as amended.
Under these acts the definition of a volunteer is:
Charitable Immunity and Liability Act of 1987: "A volunteer is a person rendering services for a charitable organization who does not receive compensation in excess of reimbursement for expenses incurred. This includes a person serving as a director, officer, trustee, or direct service volunteer, including a volunteer health care provider."
The Volunteer Protection Act of 1997: "a volunteer is an individual performing services for a nonprofit organization or a governmental entity who does not receive compensation (other than reasonable reimbursement for expenses) or any other thing of value in lieu of compensation in excess of $500 per year. This term includes those serving as director, officer, trustee, or direct service volunteer."
[A] volunteer starts becoming an employee when they are reimbursed for their services beyond expense or any thing of value in lieu of compensation in excess of 500 dollars per year.
http://www.justanswer.com/profile.aspx?PF=586644&FID=20
Regarding Religious Exemption:
So I am spending my morning doing some research on this.
PPACA has two major "mandates," the employer mandate and the individual mandate.
One is for institutions employing more than 50 people, requiring them to provide health insurance (or something like 60% of the cost of minimum required coverage) for their employees. It would help this project to further flesh out the definition of "employee," vs. "volunteer," and to what extent the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to CoS and its employees. I think it's pretty definitive that they are not "volunteers," given the use of employment tax forms and the strict $500 per annum compensation limit for volunteers mentioned earlier in this thread. However, there are definitely exemptions from certain provisions of FLSA that apply to CoS, and I wonder whether these can be explained and examined fully to see whether they will affect CoS under Obamacare or perhaps shield it from the employer mandate.
The other mandate of PPACA is the individual mandate, which requires individuals to purchase minimum required coverage. This mandate has exemption which an applicant may seek (on an individual basis) if that applicant meets requirements of section 1402(g)(1). According to the snopes link posted earlier,
The text of section 1402(g)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code :For members of religious groups to qualify for this exemption, they would have to be adherents of a religion or sect "described in section 1402(g)(1)" ...
In general, persons seeking a health insurance exemption must belong to a religion (or sect thereof) which has been in existence since 1951 and has an established history of spurning participation in insurance programs
The text of 1402(g)(1):(g) Members of certain religious faiths(1) Exemption
Any individual may file an application (in such form and manner, and with such official, as may be prescribed by regulations under this chapter) for an exemption from the tax imposed by this chapter if he is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof and is an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division by reason of which he is conscientiously opposed to acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance which makes payments in the event of death, disability, old-age, or retirement or makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care (including the benefits of any insurance system established by the Social Security Act). Such exemption may be granted only if the application contains or is accompanied by -
(A) such evidence of such individual's membership in, and adherence to the tenets or teachings of, the sect or division thereof as the Secretary may require for purposes of determining such individual's compliance with the preceding sentence, and
(B) his waiver of all benefits and other payments under titles II and XVIII of the Social Security Act on the basis of his wages and self-employment income as well as all such benefits and other payments to him on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any other person, and only if the Commissioner of Social Security finds that -
(C) such sect or division thereof has the established tenets or teachings referred to in the preceding sentence,
(D) it is the practice, and has been for a period of time which he deems to be substantial, for members of such sect or division thereof to make provision for their dependent members which in his judgment is reasonable in view of their general level of living, and
(E) such sect or division thereof has been in existence at all times since December 31, 1950.
An exemption may not be granted to any individual if any benefit or other payment referred to in subparagraph (B) became payable (or, but for section 203 or 222(b) of the Social Security Act, would have become payable) at or before the time of the filing of such waiver.
From http://www.taxalmanac.org/index.php/Sec._1402._Definitions
Scientology was founded in 1952, its members do not make provision for aged/dependent members, and they do accept Social Security benefits. It would be my conclusion that Scientologists (employed by CoS or otherwise) could not apply for exemption from the individual mandate.
This is regardless of whether the CoS is mandated to provide its workers with health insurance (subsidy) or not.
Regarding October 1 Notifications:
Business Owners May Face $100-Per-Day Penalty Under ObamaCare
Fox Business-by Kate Rogers-Sep 9, 2013
More at - http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.co...bamacare-penalty-that-biz-may-not-know-about/Small business owners who thought they were off the hook for ObamaCare regulations until 2015 may be in for an expensive wake-up call next month.
Beginning Oct. 1, any business with at least one employee and $500,000 in annual revenue must notify all employees by letter about the Affordable Care Act’s health-care exchanges, or face up to a $100-per-day fine. The requirement applies to any business regulated under the Fair Labor Standards Act, regardless of size. Going forward, letters are to be distributed to any new hires within 14 days of their starting date, according to the Department of Labor.
Earlier this summer, the employer mandate, which states that every business with at least 50 or more full-time employees must offer workers acceptable coverage or face a $2,000 penalty per-worker, per-year, was pushed back until 2015. But the Oct. 1 employee-notification deadline stands. Keith McMurdy, partner at FOX Rothschild LLP, says the $100 per-day fine has been “unfortunately overlooked” by many small businesses, and the dollar amount on the penalty comes from the general per-day penalty under the ACA.
I've been especially looking for a US lawyer's opinion on this, but everyone's opinions and input are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
EDIT: This thread isn't meant to devolve into a constitutional debate or a political debate, so please don't derail it with either subject.
It's about fleshing out the law, AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS, and its effects on Sea Org, Staff, and Scientologists.
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