New York City Transit Ordinance (NYCO)

New York City Transit Ordinance (NYCO)
Information for Commuter Clients
January 2016
Contents
1 Who is affected?
2 What are the details?
3 How do you comply with the ordinance?
4 When does this take effect?
5 Where can you find more information?
6 Recommendation
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
2
NYCO-Who is affected?
• For-profit and nonprofit employers with 20 or more full-time non-union
employees in New York City must offer their full-time employees the opportunity
to use pre-tax income to purchase qualified transportation fringe benefits.
•
Employers must determine which employees may or may not be
covered based on their work location.
•
The law applies to full-time employees of employers in New York
City, and also whose employer is located outside of New York City
but whose job responsibilities require them to work occasionally in
New York City.
• Full-time employees whose job responsibilities require them
to work occasionally in New York City are covered by the law if
they worked an average of 30 hours or more per week in the
most recent four weeks, any portion of which was in New York
City, and if their employer has 20 or more full-time employees.
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
3
NYCO-What are the details?
For-profit and nonprofit employers with 20 or more full-time non-union
employees in New York City must offer their full-time employees the
opportunity to use pre-tax income to purchase qualified transportation
fringe benefits.
•
Remember-New York City includes 5 Boroughs: Manhattan, Staten Island,
Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx
Ordinance is focused on ensuring employers offer the transit benefit only—
parking and bicycle are not required, but are encouraged.
Employers must ensure that every employee is made aware of the transit
benefit offering and specifically ACCEPT or DECLINE the offer.
•
Employees who use a parking benefit without a transit benefit would
DECLINE the offer of the transit benefit, for the purpose of the Ordinance.
If you offer a subsidy-only program for an amount below the IRS monthly
limit ($255 as of 1/1/2016), you must also allow an employee to deduct, pretax, the difference of the subsidy and the IRS limit.
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
4
NYCO-When does this take effect?
NYC’s Commuter Benefits Law takes effect on January 1, 2016. All
employers should offer the transit benefit by that time.
There is a 6 month “grace period” (July 1, 2016) before the NYC Dept. of
Consumer Affairs will be authorized to seek penalties for noncompliance.
The law gives employers 90 days to cure (correct) a violation before DCA
issues a violation.
Compliance will be monitored by complaints only.
No reporting to the City is required of the employer, only record
keeping.
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
5
NYCO-How does an employer comply?
1. Offer a transit benefit to qualifying employees
2. Provide a written offer of that benefit to those employees
3. Retain documentation for at least 2 years that shows whether
those employees specifically accepted or declined the offer of the
benefit.
Based on the rules, your office locations and employee population, you
should determine which employees are eligible and how best to ensure those
employees accept or decline.
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
6
NYCO-Where can we find more
information?
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/about/pre-tax-transit-benefits-law.page
• This is the City’s official resource page for employers about the Ordinance.
• Links to the Local Law documentation and Rules documentation are also
included here.
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/about/commuter-benefits-FAQs.page
• This link is for the FAQs within the official resource page—they are quite
comprehensive and should provide quick answers to most questions.
http://rules.cityofnewyork.us/content/mass-transit-benefits
• This link is the official rules which contain clarifications, definitions and
other deeper questions you may have.
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
7
Recommendations for
Compliance
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
8
NYCO Compliance Recommendations for
Commuter Clients
An important part of the NYC Transit Ordinance is to ensure that all employees
are aware that their employers offer the benefit. And since compliance will be
monitored by employee complaints only, it’s a great idea to make sure all of your
employees know you already offer this money-saving benefit!
We recommend that you…
• Offer a commuter benefit to all employees.
•
Simplifies administration of ordinance requirements
•
Saves money for you and your employees, so why not make it
available to everyone?
• Promote the benefit to all employees, especially in New York City
locations.
•
Using material from the Media Store, you can spread the word
about the commuter benefit to promote enrollment
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
9
NYCO Compliance Recommendations for
Commuter Clients
A written offer of the benefit to your employees is required, which includes
whether or not an employee specifically accepts or declines the offer. You
may choose to handle this in any way that is appropriate for your company
and employee base.
We’ve created a form that may help. Share it with your employees and keep
their response on file for at least 2 years.
• Share the WageWorks Compliance Form for all NYC Area
employees by…
•
incorporating the form into your Open Enrollment processes and
simply have employees certify each year or….
•
post the form on your company intranet with instructions for its return
or…
•
email the form to employees from your HR department with
instructions for its return.
•
Don’t forget to include the form in your new hire packet for future
employees!
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
10
Thank you.
© 2015 WageWorks Inc. All rights reserved.
11