07/03/13 Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) issued the following statement after the Treasury announced it would implement a year of transition relief for businesses, free from penalty, as they implement, better understand, and lawmakers improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“I am pleased that the Treasury announced they will be implementing what Senator Collins and I asked for last month: transition relief, free of penalty, for employers as they work to understand what health care reform means for their businesses and as we work to make common sense improvements,” Donnelly said. “A year of transition allows us to work on improving the law to make it work better, such as the proposal Senator Collins and I introduced to redefine ‘full-time’ as 40 hours a week.”
On June 19th, Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Donnelly sent a letter to President Obama requesting transition relief, free of penalty, for businesses working to understand the ACA and as lawmakers work to improve the law. Read the letter here.
Senators Donnelly and Collins also introduced the Forty Hours is Full Time Act, which would change the definition of a “full-time employee” in the ACA to someone who works an average of 40 hours per week and the number of hours counted toward a “full-time equivalent” employee to 174 hours per month. Under the ACA, a full-time employee is currently defined as someone who works an average of at least 30 hours per week, and there is significant confusion among employers who are struggling to understand and comply with the new requirements.
