A guy named Jeff Cutler reports in his blog that a Cambridge MA company, Aspiant, sent out a message to its employees on Tuesday night announcing that the company would no longer pay for employee health insurance due to the election results.
Update: My original diary said he was blaming Obama's victory. A commenter points out that he was actually blaming the defeat of Question 1, which would have repealed the Massachusetts income tax.
He runs a copy of the entire message from the CEO, which states that they are doing this as a preemptive move because they're afraid they won't be able to do it in the future. An excerpt is below the fold.
Unfortunately these steps are necessary because it is uncertain that future legal developments will allow for a reduction in benefits. To preempt this development this change is made effective immediately. It is likely that with the change in administration alternative health insurance options will become available that may reduce your health insurance obligation. It is also likely that our tax obligations will increase and it is unlikely that a raise in rates will be possible from our client in these economic times.
I can only hope that future elections will provide a more positive environment for business or further measures will have to be taken.
Wow - this is just apalling. I have to think this is something that this company might have been planning anyway, and just saw the election as a convenient excuse. But to act like this before Obama has even taken office or put forward his plans is just outrageous.
I notice that the email talks about "our client", so I can only assume that this is a very small start-up perhaps on shaky footing.