Interns and workers at table interns paid and unpaid seasonal interns

Interns are just employees by another name

Related: Hot summer hiring expected for second year straight

What about seasonal employees?

Are your interns really seasonal?

Proceed with caution

Practical tips

Offer coverage to full-time interns. If you aren't sure your full-time interns are truly seasonal, or you want to be sure you avoid any risk of facing a costly penalty, then offer your interns health insurance coverage. As a practical matter, most of them are likely on their parents' plans and won't take it, so this is a "better safe than sorry" approach. In many cases, internships may not last long enough to complete the waiting period. Additionally, if you decide to hire them full-time out of their internship, you've already made an offer, so you don't have to make a second offer again until the next open enrollment.
Analyze and document your findings. If you want to categorize your interns as seasonal employees, be sure to do a careful analysis and document how you arrived at this determination.
Not all internships are created equal. Even if you are comfortable that some of your intern positions are truly seasonal, others may not be. For that reason, a position-by-position analysis is advised.
Watch out for "season creep." If your interns (or any "seasonal" employees, for that matter) regularly work more than six months, then they really aren't seasonal for ACA purposes. Be on the lookout for requests for extensions of time or jobs that regularly extend their service beyond the six month limited window.
Make interns wait. Some employers who do not have a 90-day waiting period may impose a 90-day waiting period on interns only. This may be permissible, but care should be taken any time a particular employee group is singled out as it may raise discrimination and other concerns.
Make the necessary adjustments. However you ultimately decide to address interns, be sure to adjust payroll, HRIS, and enrollment systems to accommodate your intended treatment of interns.

Carrie Cherveny is the senior vice president of strategic client solutions in Hub International's Risk Services division. Cory Jorbin is the Central Region compliance officer for global insurance brokerage Hub International's employee benefits practice.

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