ACC to trim some faculty members’ hours to avoid health benefits
| By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, Austin American-Statesman | |
| McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The policy, outlined in a memorandum from college officials late last week, isn't sitting well with some of the part-time teachers. Not only would they not receive health coverage from ACC, but the reduced workload would decrease their pay.
Under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, ACC must offer health benefits to an employee who works an average of 30 hours or more per week, according to the memo from
"The impact of this legislation is that the College will more closely comply with" its rule limiting adjunct faculty members to nine credits per fall or spring semester, they wrote. That's a workload of three typical classes.
In addition, they wrote, adjuncts will be limited to 28 hours a week through any combination of teaching and hourly employment. Some adjuncts supplement their teaching with such hourly work as tutoring.
David Albert, an adjunct who teaches government, questioned the policy in a column in the
ACC, citing a state formula, said each class involves six hours of classroom and other work, or 18 hours for a three-class load.
"Besides class time," Albert wrote, "adjuncts prepare and revise lectures, PowerPoints, handouts and Blackboard assignments; read academic journals in their discipline; respond promptly to student email; grade papers; hold office hours; attend faculty meetings; write letters of recommendation, and fight with substandard copiers and computers that ... constantly break down."
Of 1,961 faculty members at ACC, 1,418 are adjuncts -- including 140 staff members who already receive benefits -- and 543 are full time, said
No more than about 50 adjuncts currently work 30 or more hours a week, said
Adjuncts will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and some could be moved to full-time status "where it's in the best interest for the college and students," Patterson said. Extending health benefits to all is "not a sustainable option."
ACC spends
"I'm very fortunate," Villarreal said, "and I just want my other adjunct friends to have the same thing."
___
(c)2013 Austin American-Statesman, Texas
Visit Austin American-Statesman, Texas at www.statesman.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
| Wordcount: | 504 |



New asthma treatment offered in Charlotte region
Advisor News
- Strong underwriting: what it means for insurers and advisors
- Retirement is increasingly defined by a secure income stream
- Addressing the ‘menopause tax:’ A guide for advisors with female clients
- Alternative investments in 401(k)s: What advisors must know
- The modern advisor: Merging income, insurance, and investments
More Advisor NewsAnnuity News
- ALIRT Insurance Research: U.S. Life Insurance Industry In Transition
- My Annuity Store Launches a Free AI Annuity Research Assistant Trained on 146 Carrier Brochures and Live Annuity Rates
- Ameritas settles with Navy vet in lawsuit over disputed annuity sale
- NAIC annuity guidance updates divide insurance and advisory groups
- Retirement is increasingly defined by a secure income stream
More Annuity NewsHealth/Employee Benefits News
- Kansas state employees retain choice of Blue Cross, Aetna for health insurance
- CONGRESSWOMAN TENNEY CALLS ON DOJ TO INVESTIGATE NEW YORK'S PLAN TO USE MEDICAID FOR AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION
- Health insurance legislation signed into law by Reynolds
- Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Report on Findings in Substance Abuse (Health insurance type moderates the association between substance use disorders and cardiovascular multimorbidity among U.S. adults – Results from the 2023 …): Addiction Research – Substance Abuse
- New Findings from Fudan University Describe Advances in Beta-Lactam Antibiotics (Budget impact analysis of aztreonam-avibactam for metallo-b-lactamase carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales infections in China): Drugs and Therapies – Beta-Lactam Antibiotics
More Health/Employee Benefits NewsLife Insurance News
- 5 steps to take before selling your firm
- Bismarck man pleads guilty to taking out insurance policy on dead wife
- ALIRT Insurance Research: U.S. Life Insurance Industry In Transition
- U-Haul Holding Company Schedules Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year End 2026 Financial Results Release and Investor Webcast
- New Empathy and LIMRA Research: The Overlooked Opportunity to Engage the Next Generation After an Insurance Payout
More Life Insurance News