30 Employee Benefit Eligibility Beginning in 2015, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes a penalty on applicable large employers (ALEs) that do not offer health insurance coverage to substantially all full - time employees and dependents. F ull - Time employees will be measured using the Monthly Measurement Method - The monthly measurement method involves a month - to - month analysis where full - time employees are identified based on their hours of service for each calendar month. This method is not based on averaging hours of service over a prior measurement period. Month - to - month measuring may cause practical difficulties for employers, particularly if there are employees with varying hours or employment schedules, and it could result in employees moving in and out of health plan coverage on a monthly basis Part - Time or Variable Hour employees will be measured using the Look - back Measurement Method - Under the look - back measurement method, an employer counts an employee's hours of service during one period (called a measurement period) to determine their full - time status for a future period (called the stability period). The compan y’s Look - back Measurement Method is defined below. Look - Back Measurement Method The Employer offers coverage under its medical plan (s) to Full - Time Employees. A Full - Time Employee is an E mployee who is employed, on average, for at least 30 hours of service per week or 130 hours of ser vice in a calendar month. Full - Time E mployees may also elect coverage for their spouse, (or domestic partner if allowed) and dependent children up to age 26. T he Employer will use a Look - Back Measurement Method to dete rmine whether an employee is a Full - Time E mployee for purposes of Medical P lan coverage. The Look - Back Measurement Method is based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) final regulations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Its purpose is to provide greater predictability for Medical Plan coverage determinations. The Look - Back Measurement Method applies to E mployees enrolled in a medical plan offered by the Employer . The Look - Back Measurement Method involves three different periods: o A Measurement Period for counting an E mployee’s hours of service (also called a S tandard Measurement Period or an I nitial Measurement Period ); o A Stability Period when the E mployee is either treated as full - time or non - full - time for Plan eligibility purposes; and o An Administrative Period that allows time for Plan enrollment and disenrollment. The Employer establishes how long these periods will last, subject to specified IRS parameters. An ongoing employee is one who has been employed by the Employer for at least one complete S tandard Measurement Period (SMP). If an ongoing employee was employed, on average, for at least 30 hours of service per week (or 130 hours per month) during the SMP, the employee is