Sen. Lisa Murkowski(R) is re-introducing the Forty Hours is Full Time Act, which will match full-time employee status of the Affordable Care Act to the conventional 40 hour work week.
Matthew Felling with Murkowski’s office said the new healthcare law’s definition of 30 hours per week being a full-time position which employers must provide healthcare to could lead to lay offs.
Felling: “What the health care bill did was it added a new complicated third rung of employment status where if you are somewhere between 30 and 40 you are full time in terms of the expenditure of health insurance. So now we have, 30 or below: part-time, 30-40: part-time/full-time where you get health benefits but nothing else and then 40 which is full on benefits, healthcare, etc.”
Felling said the added cost for employers to provide healthcare insurance to employees who work between 30-40 hours per week could cost them up to $500-$600 per month on top of that employees wages which would get passed down to the consumers.
Sen. Murkowski had introduced the bill to congress previosly but it didn’t go anywhere. This time Murkowski is joined by Senators Susan Collins (R), Joe Donnelly (D), and Joe Manchin (D) for the bipartisan reintroduction.
Felling: “Despite the fact that we had a bill that had garnered bipartisan support, they wouldn’t even allow an up or down vote. Now we have a bill in a new environment and I really think we have momentum to get this done.”
Felling added that this act will be a proactive effort to proactively make amendments to the ACA before large employee cuts are seen.
