Dear Members of the House of Representatives:
On behalf of the members of National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to endorse H.R. 30, the “Save American Workers Act,” introduced by Representatives Todd Young (R-IN), Dan Lipinski (R-IL), Pete Olsen (R-TX), Mike Kelly (R-PA), and Tim Walberg (R-MI). This legislation would repeal the 30-hour definition of full-time employment established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and replace it with the conventional 40-hour definition.
Section 1513 of the President’s health care law stipulates that employers with 50 or more full-time employees must provide those employees with health insurance or pay a fine. The law also redefines “full-time” as 30-hours, a serious departure from the 40-hour work week originally codified in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The 40-hour work week is the typical definition of full-time across federal and state labor regulations, affecting everything from overtime to unemployment benefits.
A difference of ten hours might not seem like a lot, but to employers and employees alike, grappling with the impacts of PPACA, these ten hours come with an incredibly high price tag. For employers, being forced to provide health insurance for workers who previously would have been considered part-time means raising prices, laying off part-time workers, not hiring new workers, or implementing other cost-cutting measures to stay under the 30-hour limit. For many part-time employees who work multiple part-time jobs, or choose to only work part-time, this has meant losing hours they needed to meet their financial needs. Already, many employers, especially those in the service industry, have cut workers’ hours in order to meet the new guidelines. Harmonizing PPACA’s work-week definition with that already recognized by the Department of Labor will help both employers and employees.
At the same time, this strange outlier is only one part of the President’s health care law that threatens jobs and our ongoing economic recovery. Congress needs to continue to work to repeal and replace the legislation with free market reforms. H.R. 30 serves to highlight just one of those much-needed changes.
Until additional protections and reforms are implemented, this bill provides immediate, tangible relief to part-time employers and employees; preserving jobs and preventing unnecessary hardship. NTU is pleased to endorse the “Save American Workers Act” and urges all Representatives to cosponsor this legislation and work toward its swift enactment.
Sincerely,
Nan SwiftFederal Affairs Manager