Theresa Brantley: 30-hour work week a boon for business

In his April 7 letter “40-hour confusion,” William H. Pennington Jr. of the North Carolina Association of Health Underwriters said companies should no longer be required to offer health insurance to employees who work 30 hours per week, saying many business owners lack the time and/or funds to determine which of their employees are eligible to join their health insurance plan.

Pennington claimed many small businesses (50 or more full-time employees) are unable to determine which of their employees should be offered health insurance. Ludicrous. The 30-hour full-time work week has been adopted by employers to reduce labor costs.

Dropping health insurance for 30-hour-per-week employees would save business owners even more money, at the expense of hundreds of thousands of workers. It is a nationwide trend for companies to treat their hourly employees as an expense, not as valuable assets who do the work necessary for their success. Allowing businesses to drop their health insurance benefits is a slap in the face to these employees.

The “Save American Workers Act of 2015” should be renamed the “Enrich Business Owners at the Expense of American Workers Act of 2015.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Theresa Brantley: 30-hour work week a boon for business."