Health Benefits Come Under Knife Ahead Of ObamaCare...
Strikingly, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that health benefit increases came to a standstill in service occupations after the first quarter of 2010 — when ObamaCare became law.
A likely culprit is a shift in the mix of full-time workers who will come under ObamaCare's employer mandate and part-time workers who won't.
Employers who offer full-time workers coverage can escape a potential fine of $3,000 per worker if employees work fewer than 30 hours per week.
That fine, levied for each full-time worker who accesses ObamaCare subsidies, equates to $5,000 in deductible wages for a profit-making firm with a 40% federal and state tax rate.
BLS data, though volatile from month to month, clearly show that retailers have been cutting the average workweek for nonsupervisory employees over the past year.
Exclusive - Largest U.S. private employer hiring strategy: Add more temps
Hiring temps is "one strategy" that retailers could use to mitigate the potential rise in healthcare costs due to the new healthcare care law, said Neil Trautwein, a healthcare lobbyist for the National Retail Federation. "Another strategy could be employing more part-time employees."
Under the reforms, large companies must next year offer healthcare to 95 percent of employees who work more than 30 hours a week or pay
a penalty of $2,000 per worker for the entire workforce.
A Reuters survey of 52 stores run by the largest U.S. private employer in the past month, including one in every U.S. state, showed that 27 were hiring only temps, 20 were hiring a combination of regular full, part-time and temp jobs, and five were not hiring at all.
"Everybody who comes through the door I hire as a temporary associate," said a store manager in Alaska, who asked not to be identified. "It's a company direction at the present time."
The temporary workers are often being hired on 180-day contracts, according to the survey.
Edited by Rogerdodger, 14 June 2013 - 09:17 AM.