JCN MEMBER CEO ANDREW PUZDER: Workers and Entrepreneurs Win if 40-hour Work Week is Restored

(ATLANTA, GA) – Today, the Job Creators Network (JCN) is applauding the resolution passed Friday by the new U.S. House of Representatives to restore the traditional 40-hour work week standard when complying with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Such a move would abolish the damaging ACA provision that mandates employers pay health insurance for employees who work just 30 hours a week.

“Employees want the flexibility to put more money in their pockets by working more hours and in a commendable act of bipartisanship, the House has acted to protect their interests,” said JCN member Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Hardees, Carl’s Jr. and other restaurant chains. “Job creators are hopeful the Senate will move swiftly to send a bipartisan bill to the President which will send a clear message to employees that Washington will no longer put political gridlock ahead of workers’ economic well-being.”

One provision of the Affordable Care Act requires medium and large employers to offer health coverage to all employees working 30 hours per week or more, or face new federal fees and fines. The unprecedented provision effectively re-defines “full time” work as anything beyond 30 hours per week, rather than the traditional 40 hours.In response, many employers in industries with large part-time work forces have been forced to cap the hours of workers at less than 30 hours per week, effectively slashing the income of workers who were regularly working more than 30 but less than 40 hours.

“The problem with the Affordable Care Act isn’t what it tried to do, but what it has failed to do,” said Puzder. “Instead of controlling costs, it is controlling workers and job creators.”​