On January 8 2015, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 30, the Save American Workers Act, with a final vote of 252-172. The bill, which would reform the definition of “full-time employee” in the Affordable Care Act to the industry-standard 40 hours per week. The bill was one of International Franchise Association’s top legislative priorities.
The More Time for Full Time Initiative, a coalition of leading business groups, played an instrumental role in lobbying Congress to support this legislation. Companion legislation, S. 30, the Forty Hours is Full Time Act, was reintroduced in the Senate on January 9, 2015 with bipartisan support.
Proponents of this legislation point to evidence that employers are reducing the number of hours offered to employees to 29 per week in order to avoid the obligations under Affordable Care Act, which they argue will harm the employees the law is meant to help.
Please see our prior blog posts on this subject. We will continue to keep you updated on the progress of this legislation.