Under the 2006 law, employers with 100 or more employees are required to spend $2.20 per hour per covered employee on health care, while employers with between 20 and 99 employees must spend $1.46 per hour. Employers with fewer than 20 employees are exempt.
Elements of the controversial spending law had been feverishly debated among city legislators until late last year, when the city’s Board of Supervisors approved a measure requiring money contributed to health reimbursement arrangements to be made available to active employees up to 24 months after the contribution.
Most employers, though, meet the spending requirement by paying group health insurance premiums. The November 2011 change to the law was a reaction to a Labor Standards Enforcement report that indicated only 20% of the $62 million employers contributed to HRAs actually found its way to employees.