This is from Ilyse Wolens Schuman at Littler:
... Sen. Alexander started the hearing by citing a Hoover Institution study, which found that the 30-hour standard puts 2.6 million working-age Americans at risk of losing jobs and work hours. Alexander claimed many of these employees work in the hospitality, retail, and restaurant industries, and are disproportionately women. Dr. Doug Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum, testified that this number of workers at risk of having their hours reduced on account of the 30-hour definition was as high as 9.8 million.
Andrew F. Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, explained:
The ACA's math is simple: Three employees working 40 hours a week will produce 120 hours. Five employees working 24 hours per week will also produce 120 hours. Under the ACA, employers must offer the three full-time employees health insurance or pay a penalty. They have no such obligations to the five part-time employees, making part-time employment less costly. In this way, the ACA unintentionally encourages our general managers to reduce their employees' hours to under 30 a week.
Dr. Holtz-Eakin described this disincentive to hire more full-time employees as "essentially a tax on the growth of small businesses." He noted also that "30 [hours a week] is simply at odds with the data on labor markets in the U.S." According to Holtz-Eakin, 72% of workers work over 40 hours per week, and 50.2% work exactly 40 hours per week....
