Faculty workload unit (WLU): A unit of measurement used to quantify the faculty workload represented by credit hours, workdays, and work hours.
Adjunct hours of service (ahs): An hour of adjunct faculty work used for part-time faculty benefit administration during the administrative period of the year. Any adjunct faculty member who averages 30 or more adjunct hours of service (ahs) per week worked during the lookback period will be considered full-time for benefits administration under the Affordable Care Act (26 CFR 54.4980H-1(a)(24)).8
Stability period: The current academic year corresponds to the stability period. In the stability period, the employee's benefit status, which had been previously established for their position, remains stable, regardless of fluctuations in their hours worked. The stability period is generally 10 or 11 months (26 CFR 54.4980H-1(a)(45)).9
Administrative period: Following the stability period is an administrative period of 1 or 2 months. During the administrative period, the past workload of each adjunct faculty member is measured to determine a benefit status for the subsequent stability period, which follows the administrative period (26 CFR 54.4980H-1(a)(1)).10
Measurement period: The measurement period is the most recently completed stability period used during the administrative period to calculate the average weekly adjunct hours of service (26 CFR 54.4980H-1(a)(46)).11
Look-back measurement method: Once per year in the administrative period, the average weekly hours of service in the measurement period are calculated for each adjunct using a “reasonable method.” The university will use the “look-back measurement method” (26 CFR 54.4980H-3(d)).12 Per the Federal Register,
The proposed regulations provide a method, referred to as the look-back measurement method, under which employers may determine the status of an employee as a full-time employee during a future period (referred to as the stability period) based upon the hours of service of the employee in a prior period (referred to as the measurement period).13
In the administrative period, the Office of Human Resources will evaluate adjunct hours of service during the measurement period to determine the appropriate actions to take for benefits administration in the stability period. Any part-time faculty employee (i.e., adjunct faculty member) averaging 30 or more hours of service per week during the measurement period will be contacted by Human Resources to review health insurance coverage options for the subsequent stability period.
8 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-54#p-54.4980H-1(a)(24)
9 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-54#p-54.4980H-1(a)(45)
10 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-54#p-54.4980H-1(a)(1)
11 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-54#p-54.4980H-1(a)(46)
12 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-54#p-54.4980H-3(d)
13 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2014-03082/p-99