A full-time employee is anyone on a payroll who works an average of 30 hours or more a week. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers must include part-timers in their company head count. For example, two half-timers are equal to one full-timer, so a business with 40 full-timers and 20 half-timers would have 50 full-time-equivalent employees (FTEs), and thus would have to offer health benefits or pay a penalty. The law does not require employers to cover part-time workers, but to count them in determining their "large employer" status.