Part time or fulltime hours to qualify for Benefit Coverage

[Guest JaimeOHR]

Is there any guidance from California state or federal law which would dictate the number of hours that employers must use to designate part time or full time status for benefit eligibility?

Can an employer use their own discretion in setting full and part time hours? Say, 40 hours is full time and 39 or less is part-time? This is for small group employers, under 50 employees.