Prior to the “Affordable Care Act’s” passage – you know, when Nancy Pelosi’s House needed to pass the bill to find out what’s in it – critics said the law’s employer mandate was likely to lead to employers cutting workers’ hours. This was dismissed as doom-and-gloom prognosticating by people who hated the bill and just wanted to block a major legislative win for President Obama.
On the campaign trail last week, Hillary Clinton was asked about the shift to part-time workers as it relates to the Family and Medical Leave Act. That’s when Hillary admitted that Obamacare is part of the problem, too:
“That, and also, the Affordable Care Act. You know, we got to change that because we have built in some unfortunate incentives that discourage full-time employment. A lot of employers believe if you don’t work 40-hours a week you don’t get benefits and that includes; you don’t get health care benefits; that might include you’re not eligible for the family medical leave; you’re not eligible for paid sick days.
“So, there is a disincentive in our system that we need to deal with and I really worry about it because there is trend to try and move more and more people into part-time work; and how many of you are part-time workers? And sometimes you want to work part-time, it fits into your family, it fits into your life obligations but sometimes you want to work full-time but you can’t get a full-time job. So, I want to look at all the employment rules.”
The mandate kicks in for employees who work 30 hours a week, at firms of 50 or more workers. Because of the mandate, employers have an incentive to reduce employees’ hours under the 30 hour threshold.
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