Posted on 01/07/2015 1:04:02 PM PST by Beowulf9
The 40-hour workweek was championed by labor unions in the 19th century as a boon to their overworked members. Ford Motor Company implemented it in 1914 after Henry Ford, the company’s founder, concluded that the then-48-hour week was too long and hurt productivity.
Ford’s foresight bolstered the middle class and established the U.S. as a model of economic security for the world. But that stability is now being threatened by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which, for reasons that have nothing to do with the health and well-being of employees, reduced the work week to 30 hours. Rather than helping the average worker, the abrupt change is making life harder for American families.
The healthcare law requires companies with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance to their full-time workers or face fines of up to $3,000 per employee. Full-time employees are defined in the law as people who work 30 hours or more a week, not the standard, more traditional 40 hours. Business owners have reportedly increased their use of part-time workers and curtailed hiring according to research conducted by Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of the International Franchise Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The survey showed that the healthcare law would force 50 percent of small businesses to cut hours or reduce the number of workers on their payrolls. Forty one percent said the ACA has caused them to delay hiring new employees.
I’ve not worked a 40 hour week in 20 years. Getting more done usually means working longer hours.
Still waiting to see ANY economic benefit from obamacare.
We thought it would help a small segment at the expense of everyone else, but it turns out, it’s hurting that small segment too.
Helps nobody, hurts everybody.
Governmental fairness in the age of obama.
Most laws that define benefits for full time employees put the threshold in the 30s, because a lot of places situate the “normal” work week somewhere under 40 so that workers can do a small amount of “extra” time before getting into overtime pay. My wife has worked at a place that defines full time as 37.5 hours longer than I’ve known her, most retail places try to top out people’s scheduled time around 35 just so they have the wiggle room for folks to not leave on time.
Engineered socialism. Investments in automation will increase, labor force will shrink, survivors will work reduced hours, money will be redistributed as the government picks winners and losers. I wonder if that is the future, how else to explain that 92 million people are out of the labor force and things keep rolling as they implement the 30 hour work week.
Was going to say the same thing. As an IT Engineer, I don't remember the last time I worked less than 50 hours a week. Then again, according to some whackjob on the Internet, I'm part of the 1%, so I have that going for me.
“Business(s) have reportedly increased their use of part-time workers and curtailed hiring...”
Yes. We. Have. Mission Accomplished, @sshat!
Well the IRS hired 15,000 attorneys and accountants to administer it. So there ya go, at least for those lucky folks.
/sarc
In a just society, the degenerate bastards who voted for this monstrous law would be hanged.
Every last one of them.
“Getting more done usually means working longer hours.”
The the person who finds ways around that statement usually finds financial security.
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