Collins reintroduces bill to fix ACA full-time employee definition

The definition of “full-time employee” under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be changed to 40 hours per week under legislation that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) reintroduced on Friday.

Under ACA’s employer mandate, employers face a penalty for declining to offer health insurance to employees who work an average of at least 30 hours per week. The Forty Hours is Full Time Act would raise the threshold to 40 hours per week to prevent employers from cutting employee hours – sometimes to 29 hours a week or fewer – to avoid the employer mandate.

“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,” Collins, who introduced the bill with bipartisan support from U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), said.

“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,” she said.

Collins and Donnelly first introduced the Forty Hours is Full Time Act in 2013 and again in 2015.

“The employees affected by this rule aren’t limited to any one sector,” Collins said. “In Maine, I have heard from school employees, restaurant staff, seasonal employees, home care nurses, municipal workers and many more. Our goal is simple. We want to protect part-time workers from having their hours reduced and their paychecks cut because of the illogical definition of full-time work in this law.”