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Survey finds 14% of employers cut part-time hours because of ACA

March 24, 2015

Fourteen percent of US employers surveyed reduced part-time workers’ hours because of the Affordable Care Act, according to a survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Another 6% plan to do so, but 72% are not considering a reduction in part-time workers’ hours.

The ACA mandates large employers offer healthcare coverage to employees working 30 hours or more per week or face a penalty.

The survey also found 91% of organizations have not considered reducing employee hours for full-time employees, and 90% said they have not considered reducing the overall number of employees as a result of the ACA employer mandate.

“As organizations learned more about the law, they found that their coverage levels were already the same or more than what the law required, minimizing the adjustments that some anticipated employers would need to make when the ACA was created,” said Evren Esen, director of SHRM’s survey programs.

Additional survey results:

  • 54% of employers require employees to work 30 hours a week to be eligible for coverage, an increase from 44% in 2014 and 39% in 2013. But 26% of organizations require employees to work more than 30 hours a week to be eligible. “
  • 66% believed their organization offered the same level of healthcare benefits as before the ACA was enacted.
  • 77% of respondents said that their healthcare coverage costs increased from 2014 to 2015, and 6% saw a decrease.
  • About three out of five organizations have made changes to their healthcare coverage in the last year.
  • 54% offered alternative healthcare plans such as health savings accounts and health reimbursement accounts this year, compared to 37% in 2013. In addition, 13% of respondents said they planned to offer alternatives in the future.
  • 20% had health plans with grandfathered status in the past but have since dropped the status. Of the organizations that ended their grandfathered status, 19% said it would have cost more to keep the status than to change plans. 
  • 53% said they would not be affected by an excise tax on high-cost benefits that takes effect in 2018 or are taking action to avoid the tax.

The survey polled more than 740 randomly selected HR professionals with a title of manager or above or who work with benefits or compensation. It was fielded from Jan. 21 to Feb. 4.