The average number of hours an employee has worked, per week or month, over the course of a measurement period. Used in the ACA to determine an employee’s full-time status.

The Affordable Care Act defines an employee’s status as full-time if their average service hours are 30 hours a week or over (or more than 130 hours per month).

For newly hired employees, the duration in days during which the employee’s service hours are tracked to calculate their initial average service hours.

The time that the employee is unable to work. This time is tracked separately to ensure that the average service hour calculation for an employee on leave is not adversely affected by an employee’s inability to record normal service hours.

A span of time during which an employee’s service hours are tracked for the purpose of calculating their average service hours and ultimately determining full-time status. Under most circumstances, measurement periods should be between 3-12 months in duration. The measurement period is also known as a “look-back period”.

Time that is paid or entitled to payment that has been recorded by an employee. Primarily this is work time, but can also include paid time for leaves such as vacation, holidays, and jury duty.