A Virginia small employer counts its workforce to determine its status under Va. Code § 38.2-3431. Which worker counts toward the head count for this purpose?

Why B is correct

Va. Code § 38.2-3431 defines an eligible employee as one who works on average 30 or more hours per week, and the small-employer head count is built from those eligible employees over the preceding calendar year. Independent contractors, informal unpaid helpers, and job candidates who were never hired are not employees of the employer for this test. Getting the count right matters because the 1-to-50 band determines whether the employer's medical plan falls under Virginia's small-employer availability and renewability protections.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) An independent contractor is not an employee of the company, so contractors do not enter the small-employer count under Va. Code § 38.2-3431.
• C) An informal helper who is not carried as an employee on the employer's records is not part of the statutory head count.
• D) A candidate who was interviewed but never hired was never an employee at all.

Memory hook

30 hours a week makes the count; contractors and ghosts don't.