Bill To Define Full-Time Work Week As 40 Hours Passes House
By Rachel Bunn, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The Save American Workers Act -- a bill that would raise the definition of the full-time work week from 30 hours to 40 hours for the purposes of the employer mandate in the ACA -- garnered 210 co-sponsors since it was first introduced last summer, and it was pushed to the forefront of the House in the early part of this year.
The bill passed out of the
Democratic Reps.
The ACA requires employers with at least 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance to those who average at least 30 hours per week or risk a fine. The mandate was supposed to begin next year, but has been pushed back to 2016.
This, in theory, could close the gap for those who do not already qualify for employer health insurance. Young and supporters of his bill argued that this does not happen, however, and instead, workers are having their hours reduced to get around the mandate.
"Millions of hardworking Americans across this country are working less," said Rep.
Citing a report by the
However, citing the same report, Rep.
"Throughout this debate, Republicans have been claiming they are a champion for the American people, but that's not the case," Pallone said.
Democrats also took shots at the claims that the 30-hour rule "forces" businesses to reduce hours or cut workers. The repeated rhetoric is meant to confuse people and undermine the ACA, under the guise of being beneficial to the lowest income workers, said
"There's nothing in the law that says that people have to shorten the work week," McDermott said "It is not Obamacare that decides the number of hours people work."
"I don't think that badly of owners of businesses myself," he continued.
Still, the bill has received support from retailers and associations, including the
"Raising the threshold of full-time under the ACA means that retailers will have the flexibility to continue to offer coverage at the current level, whether, for example, the level is 32, 35 or 37 hours. Retailers have voluntarily offered coverage for decades, and they want to be able to continue to offer this coverage to their employees and their families," said
An attempt to recommit the legislation back to committee failed, and the bill passed.
It now moves to the
___
(c)2014 the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)
Visit the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.) at www.heraldtimesonline.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Wordcount: | 616 |
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News