Bills
| 3.23.22

Should a "Full-Time Employee" be Defined as Working 40 Hours Per Week Under Obamacare’s Employer Mandate? (S. 1782)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is S. 1782?

(Updated June 25, 2019)

This bill would modify the tax code with respect to the employer mandate to provide healthcare coverage to define a “full-time employee” as an employee who works at least 40 hours per week on average. The Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) redefined a full-time employee as working at least 30 per week on average, and employers are mandated to offer health insurance to such workers.

Argument in favor

Common sense holds that a full-time employee is someone who works at least 40 hours per week, and Obamacare’s employer mandate to provide health insurance should reflect that so part-time workers don’t have their hours cut below the current 30 hour threshold.

Argument opposed

The Affordable Care Act was wise to redefine “full-time employee” as someone who works at least 30 hours per week, and Congress shouldn’t reverse that change as it could lead to fewer employees being offered health insurance by their employer.

Impact

Employees and employers; and the IRS.

Cost of S. 1782

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced this bill to help employees who’ve had their hours cut because of Obamacare’s employer mandate, which requires businesses to offer insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours per week:

“Our legislation is very straightforward and would remedy a serious flaw in the Affordable Care Act that is causing workers to have their hours reduced and their pay cut. The law creates a perverse incentive for businesses to cut their employees’ hours so they are no longer considered ‘full time.’ Our concerns are not hypothetical: thousands of employers across our country are cutting work hours or staffing levels as a result of the law.”

Lead cosponsor Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) added:

“I have heard from part-time workers across many industries, like school cafeteria managers to grocery store employees to adjunct professors at colleges, that have seen their hours cut to comply with the health care law. In Indiana, common sense holds that a full-time employee is someone who works an average of 40 hours a week, and the health care law should reflect that.”

This legislation has the support of two cosponsors in the Senate, with Donnelly being joined by his colleague and fellow Hoosier Sen. Todd Young (R-IN).


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: cosmonaut / iStock)