Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Ordinance

Ordinance: SMC 14.28

Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Ordinance Q & A

Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Fact Sheet

Ordinance Coverage Waiver

Healthcare Expenditure Waiver

Sample Cancellation Waiver

The Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Ordinance

As of July 1, 2020, this law provides certain hotel employees and employees of businesses with certain kinds of relationships with hotels to provide healthcare expenditures to, or on behalf of, covered employees. Note: This law has different effective dates for different covered employers.

The healthcare expenditure rates change each year. The 2024 and 2025 rates are detailed below.

For the 2025 calendar year, the adjusted rates are:

1. $561 per month for an employee with no spouse, domestic partner, or dependents
2. $955 per month for an employee with only dependents
3. $1,124 per month for an employee with only a spouse or domestic partner
4. $1,686 per month for an employee with a spouse or domestic partner and one or more dependents

Declining Employer Provided Healthcare.

You can voluntarily decline your employer’s plan to pay for healthcare which is called “waiving the expenditure”. If you decline, that means that the employer does not have to make any payments to you or on your behalf. However, an employer can only do this if the employer does not require you to pay more than $106/month (2024) or $112.20/month (2025) to gain access to the healthcare expenditure (e.g. premium payments for employer-sponsored health insurance). This amount changes each year and will be updated.

For the 2024 calendar year, the adjusted rates are:

1. $530 per month for an employee with no spouse, domestic partner, or dependents
2. $902 per month for an employee with only dependents
3. $1,062 per month for an employee with only a spouse or domestic partner
4. $1,592 per month for an employee with a spouse or domestic partner and one or more dependents
   
   

For more information about covered employers and employees, the law, and required postings, please view the QA and our Resources and Language Access pages.