According the HR Policy Administration, Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine recently proposed legislation that would amend part of the Affordable Care Act that currently discourages employers to bring on full-time workers. HR administrations might want to take note.
Sen. Collins' The Forty Hours Is Full Time Act comes on the heals of a similar amendment, the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights, which was introduced by Democrat Representative Jan Schakowsky from Illinois and numerous other bills within state legislatures. The new act by Collins would define full-time employment on the federal level. The ACA classifies full-time work at 30 hours or more per week, which many within Congress believe to deprecate employers from bringing on new hires and lowering current full-time worker hours to reduce healthcare costs.
The act has been endorsed by the National Education Association, according to the HR Policy Administration.
If the proposed bill passes through Congress, Collins hopes it will clarify for employers what full-time means within healthcare reform.
"The fact that these organizations—typically thought of as bookends on the political spectrum—would agree that Obamacare's definition of a full-time employee is broken illustrates how out-of-step it truly is," Collins said in a statement.
