WASHINGTON – A U.S. Senate
proposal offered by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) would redefine full-time as 40
hours a week in regards to the Affordable Care Act, Nation’s Restaurant News
reports.
“Most Hoosiers I know think
40 hours is full time,” said Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), a supporter of the bill.
“We need to change the definition of a ‘full-time employee’ in the [PPACA] to
bring it in line with what most Americans have traditionally recognized as full
time.”
The Forty Hours is Full
Time Act of 2013 would change the definition of a full-time worker as one who
clocks 40 hours weekly or 174 hours monthly on a 52-week year. Right now, the
health care reform law measures full time as employees working either 30 hours
weekly or 130 hours monthly.
The foodservice industry
is throwing its support behind the bill. The International Franchise
Association “has worked diligently to educate lawmakers since the law was
passed that the definition of a full-time employee under the [PPACA] is
unworkable for employers in the franchising industry, which include many
restaurants, retailers, hotel owners and service-related business owners, and
supports more than one out of every eight private sector jobs in America,” said
IFA president and chief executive Steve Caldeira. “We are pleased lawmakers are
finally heeding our call to provide a more workable and common-sense solution
for employers under the ACA.”
“The definition of
full-time employee is of particular importance to restaurants because of the
industry’s unique reliance on large numbers of part-time and seasonal workers
with fluctuating and unpredictable work hours, as well as unpredictable lengths
of service,” said Scott DeFife, the National Restaurant Association’s executive
vice president for Policy and Government Affairs. “The law’s definition of full
time as 30 hours of service per week, per month on average is significantly
below the standard most employers use today, based on other federal labor
laws.”