I just want to put this out there, my message in two dimensional bottle to all our legislators out there...
Can you PLEASE not make NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES or HOURS WORKED a metric for which businesses need to comply with a law? How hard would that be?
Can't you use "Total revenue" or "square footage of the building" or "Net Profits" or "Business Type" or "Employer's Salary" or some metric like that INSTEAD?
Because here's the thing....whenever anything to do with the employee is a metric, employers will always configure their employee situation in such a way as to avoid compliance with the spirit of the law.
For example: Businessses only need to comply with the Family Medical Leave Act for employees working 25 hours or more. Their work-around: Only use part-timers.
See how that works?
Or this: Businesses with 50 or more employees need to provide medical insurance. Why does it have to be based on NUMBER of employees where a business might not hire that 50th employee just to keep from having to comply with coverage....why not total REVENUE? Why not base it on employer compensation? Something an employer won't reduce just to be a jerk. If you yourself are the owner and you're pulling in 2 million bucks a year for yourself, you're sure as shit required to insure you're employees. How about THAT for a metric?
I get the thought process behind these types of laws...they want to give wiggle room for small employers and mom and pop shops that literally cannot offer full benefits without going under. So lawmakers create a metric for which businesses are big, and which businesses are small. FINE. But that metric can be ANYTHING. It doesn't have to have anything to do with the employees.
The point is...employers are going to gravitate toward cutting corners on that which will get them out of compliance with a law that costs them money. When lawmakers make EMPLOYEES and their HOURS the metric, they're guaranteeing the employees get smacked with the corner-cutting.
Stop DOING that, lawmakers. Just stoppit.