Under the Affordable Care Act, an applicable large employer is an employer that employed an average of at least 50 full-time employees during the preceding calendar year.  Any company that employs under 50 employees are classified as Small Employer and are exempted from the Affordable Care Act / Obamacare.

Large Employers on the other hand must provide affordable health care insurance for its’ employees or else have to pay a maximum penalty to $2,000 per employee.  Affordable Coverage is defined as health insurance being under 9.5% of the employee’s household income.