President Obama's Election Day victory ends, or at least postpones, Republican promises to overhaul or repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), a hallmark piece of legislation from the president's first term. This means that, starting on Jan. 1, 2014, employers with more than 50 full-time equivalent employees must either provide health care coverage for their workers or pay a penalty.

In the November feature “Pay or Play,” InsideCounsel provides a look at the key factors that companies should consider when deciding whether to comply with the law—or face a stiff fine for failing to do so.

Does the size of a business matter?

The PPACA applies to all companies with more than 50-full time employees. Employers can choose not to provide coverage, but will pay $2,000 for every worker they do not insure, excluding the first 30 employees.

A General Accounting Office review of several studies on the subject found that larger employers are less likely to drop health care coverage when the new reforms take effect, largely to remain competitive in attracting the best employees. Smaller companies with less than 100 workers, on the other hand, could face a disadvantage on the health care market, as they often can't get the same deals on insurance as their larger counterparts, so paying the penalty may make sense to them.

How are part-time and full-time workers affected?

Currently, many employers offer benefits only to full-time employees, generally defined as those working 35 or more hours a week. The PPACA, however, has lowered the standard for full-time employment from 35 to 30 hours, leaving companies that rely on part-time employees with a difficult choice to make.

“The problem arises when you have a workforce where your criteria [for receiving health benefits] was 35 hours per week, and now the threshold is 30,” says Patricia Cain, a partner at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg. “If you have a lot of employees working 30-plus hours but less than 35, your choices are to cut them back to under 30 hours, pay the penalty tax or offer coverage.”