Home Depot has decided to take the employer-provided health insurance away from all part-time employees. They have done this, in their words, because it would be "illegal"
for them to provide this insurance.
From the Daily Caller:
“Unfortunately, the ACA [Affordable Care Act] precludes us from offering the limited liability medical plan we’ve been offering the part-time associates,” said Stephen Holmes, the company’s director of corporate communications.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/...
Home Depot’s founder, Bernie Marcus, is a strong critic of the government network. ”Obamacare is going to kill off small business,” he said this year.
On what planet Home Depot is considered a small business aside, how can a CEO take benefits away from a certain group of employees, nearly 20,000 part time workers, based on what can be most charitably be characterized as a misunderstanding of the law?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Is there any accountability?
Is there any remedy?
Is there any justice?
Just to clarify my point, apparently Home Depot provided some type of lousy coverage for part time employees, a plan that did not meet the minimum requirements of the ACA, so in that sense, it is illegal for them to offer it. However, the way I heard it sounds very punitive toward their part time employees. Also, I know a supervisor at Home Depot who is now required to counsel those who work under her that Home Depot cannot legally provide them coverage because of Obamacare.
I think it is the way it is being phrased that will make people/employees think that Obamacare will be taking away one of their benefits that is the essential problem here.