Definition of FTE

JM in ATL

I have completely lost total use of my brain today.

Can someone please confirm for me that there is no Federal definition of Full Time Employee and that it is defined by the company.

Also that the Fed Gov't doesn't require an employee to work a certain amount of hours to be considered full time.

Which leaves me to ask, then what is the difference between PT and FT?

Why can I not think for myself today would probably be the more appropriate question to ask, but the answer is not quite as important. Ya know?

HRQ

I don't believe there is a federal definition of FT vs. PT, but I'd rely on one of our other Forum experts for the final answer.

Unless you have a different internal definition, FTE does not stand for Full Time Employee. It has meant "full time equivalent" in every case I've come across, usually for budgeting purposes or to compare apples to apples when quantifying our enrolled children, for example.

That can mean several things: generally, exempt employees are referred to as FTE's because they are paid based on a week's work, whether they work 30 hours or 60 hours that week. The pay is the equivalent of one full week's work.

It's also used to calculate the net of a combination of less-than full time individuals. For example, we quantify our enrolled children based on FTE's. One FTE can be defined as; one child who attends 5 full days/week, three children who, combined, attend the equivalent of one full time child, or any other combination that results in the equivalent of one full time child.

x:D

jrzgrl

Our FTE is used to determine whether an employee is eligible for benefits or not. 30 hours or more a week entitles them to full benefits.

Kent

Is there no legal threshold that requires a company to offer benefits to an employee after working a certain number of hours per year? Can a company just declare an employee as temporary and not offer them benefits even though they are working 40 hours per week?

Brad Forrister

Well, the answer may depend on the purpose for which you're trying to determine full-time or part-time status. There's not a single, comprehensive definition of full-time or part-time. But some laws do include the concept.

The full-time, part-time distinction most frequently comes up in the benefits context. There, the rule is generally that you must work at least 30 hours a week to qualify. But that rule is typically set by the benefits provider (health insurance company, for instance), not by law. And for some policies, it's 20 hours.

For WARN Act purposes, part-time workers don't count toward the 100-worker test for coverage under the law. For this purpose, part-time means "An employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required."

COBRA has a different rule for counting part-timers toward the 20-employee minimum for coverage. Under the regs, part-timers are counted proportionally - so an EE who works 20 hours counts as 50% of a full-time equivalent, if 40 hours is considered full-time for the employer. Note, though, that the employer still determines what full-time is.

Brad Forrister
Director of Publishing
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Don D

I was about to say that the federal govt does not rule in this area, until Brad reminded me of WARN and COBRA. So, I wasn't wrong. I was 'almost' wrong.