-By Warner Todd Huston
John Schnatter, CEO of the Papa John’s pizza chain, has announced that now that President Obama has been re-elected and it is obvious that Obamacare is here to stay, he will likely be forced to cut back worker’s hours because of the cost of the federal government’s take over of our national healthcare.
Provisions of Obamacare state that workers that work 30 hours a week or more will be automatically considered full time and must then be included in their company’s healthcare insurance program. Common practice currently maintains that the eligibility threshold for health insurance is a 40-hour work week, so this will cost businesses exponentially more for workers that work over 30 hours a week. The higher cost associated with this change is forcing many businesses, especially those in the food service industry, to consider limiting workers to less than 30 hours a week.
In essence, implementation of Obamacare will cut the weekly take home pay of millions of low wage workers by forcing companies to cut worker’s hours.
Papa John’s isn’t the only company considering such layoffs. Rusty Weiss has compiled a list of companies that have already announced layoffs due to Obamacare.
That list includes such companies as Kroger grocers, Darden Restaurants (the chain that runs such outlets as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouses and others), St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, medical device manufacturer Stryker, and many more.
This is just the beginning, too. As companies begin to realize the monumental costs that will be forced upon them due to Obamacare, fewer new jobs will be created, worker’s hours and pay will be cut, and it will be harder for entry level workers to transition from part time to full time worker as companies will have had a roadblock erected by the federal government that will prevent mobility.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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