An ALE or Applicable Large Employer meaning is a company with at least 50 workers or full-time
equivalents from a single business or a group of connected companies. A full-time equivalent is a group of two or more employees who work 30 hours a week or more. So, if an ALE employs 15 people for less than 15 hours per week, it has one full-time equivalent ALE referred to as an ALE member when it refers to a collection of various entities.
ACA employs the word ‘ALE,’ which stands for the Affordable Care Act. According to the Affordable Care Act, major businesses must provide data to the government yearly. If an ALE does not comply, the IRS may impose fines.
It is not always required to have FTEs fall under the category of an ALE. Rather, the ACA looks at the average number of full-time workers in a given year.