Gadsden council creates new employee classification

The Gadsden City Council  took action Tuesday changing  employee classifications and hours worked to avoid having to provide part-time employees health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.Insurance for those employees would have cost the city about $1 million a year.  The council created a category of “non-full time,” for employees  hired for a limited time period not to exceed 11 months in a 12-month period. The employee cannot work more than 1,392 hours during the 11-month period, and can work 29 hours a week.  Finance Director Lisa Rosser said the city would have faced a penalty next year of about $1 million if it allowed employees to work as many as 30 hours a week and not provide them insurance.