On January 8, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 252-172 (all voting Republicans plus 12 Democrats) to pass the Save American Workers Act (H.R. 30), a piece of legislation designed to repeal the Affordable Care Act's 30-hour definition of full-time employment and replace it with a 40-hour standard.

The number of full-time workers on an employer's payroll is important, since the ACA requires employers to offer health insurance benefits if they have 100 or more full-time employees as of January 1, 2015, and 50 or more full-time employees as of January 1, 2016.

Rep. Todd Young (R-Indiana), who sponsored the legislation, and his over 150 co-sponsors, believe that the ACA's 30-hour definition of full-time employment will cause employers to reduce the number of hours many of their employees work, or even cut jobs, in order to avoid the current ACA requirements, resulting in hardships on these employees. That is, employers are likely to convert some or many of their full-time workers to part-time (29 hours or less) status.

The concerns seem to be legitimate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that there are almost seven million Americans working part-time who would rather have full-time jobs. In addition, according to the BLS, the number of full-time workers dropped by 150,000 in November 2014, while the number of part-time workers increased by 77,000.

In introducing the bill, Rep. Young stated, "When the employer mandate became effective on January 1, up to 2.6 million Americans were at risk for seeing lost hours and wages at work. Ironically, this unintended consequence hurts most those Obamacare was claimed to help - low- and middle-income Americans working hourly jobs. Repealing this provision and restoring the traditional understanding of a 40-hour week is necessary to protect their paychecks."

Besides being co-sponsored by over 150 other representatives, the bill was supported by over 300 business organizations, including the American Benefits Council, the National Association for the Self-Employed, the National Association of Health Underwriters, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Small Business Association, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, the Small Business Council of America, the Small Business Legislative Council, the Society of Human Resource Management, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In voicing support for the bill, James A. Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, noted, "Because final regulations implementing the employer mandate include many complex standards for determining whether an individual is a 'full-tie employee,' passage of H.R. 30 is one helpful step Congress can take to alleviate employer concerns." He added, "Many employers are concerned that, despite best efforts to comply with the law, they could be subject to penalties given the complexity of administering coverage to comply with the law, particularly with respect to employees who work a variable schedule, short-term employees, temporary, seasonal or similar contingent workers."

Another voice of support was the National Federation of Independent Business. "One of the most easily foreseeable consequences of the Affordable Care Act is the pressure it imposes on small firms to reduce or avoid adding full-time positions," said Dan Danner, president and CEO of the NFIB. "Health insurance coverage is a very big expense for small companies, and if they don't have the sales to cover the cost, then they've got to make other adjustments. By defining down the definition of full-time work, the law creates a terrible dilemma for small businesses. Repealing it should be an immediate priority."

Turning the act into law, however, still faces a couple of hurdles.

First, companion legislation must pass the Senate. Last week, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) re-introduced the "Forty Hours is Full-Time Act" (S. 30), which Sen. Collins first introduced in 2013. As of January 13, 32 senators, including two Democrats, had signed onto the bill. However, despite the fact that the Senate is controlled by Republicans, there is question as to whether the bill will be able to garner the 60 votes required to prevent a filibuster. The 60 votes would require "yea" votes by all Republicans plus at least six Democrats.

Second, President Obama has threatened to veto the bill if it gets to his desk.

Instant Insights /

Legislative efforts underway to repeal portion of Obamacare

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