Heaven forbid you should take care of your 1000 employees...

[polemic_realism]

who give their best hours and their mental and physical selves to your crappy scrambled egg restaurant:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/florida-restaurateur-to-impose-surcharge-for-obamacare.html

“People are trying to find ways to avoid the penalties and to avoid having to pay for ObamaCare,” John Metz told FoxNews.com. “Everyone’s looking for a way to not have to provide insurance for their employees. It’s essentially a huge tax on all us business people.”

To further offset the costs, Metz, who oversees roughly 1,200 employees as president and CEO of RREMC Restaurants, LLC, said he also will slash most of the staff's time to fewer than 30 hours per week. That change will be announced to employees next month, he said.

[Skidmore]

1. These fools don't realize that you can't serve the same amount of customers

with fewer staff. They are shooting themselves in both feet. Time for other restaurants and bakeries to step up and fill the gap.

[polemic_realism]

3. also...

Raise the damn price a little bit. Whatever. I'd be happy to pay an extra twenty five cents to know that the people cooking the FOOD are healthy and have access to care that can keep them that way.

[Incitatus]

5. Also, when short staffed sanitation is the FIRST thing to go

[Johonny]

6. I don't think they realize

the rest of us are sick of paying for their employees health care because they won't pay into the health care system. They make the system more expensive for the "honest" companies and citizens by creating a class of working poor that have lower costs because everyone else picks up their dime. We are trying to legislate the REAL cost of their business on these people and we aren't going to stop. We don't care if they make a slightly smaller executive bonus this year, the fact is they are making insane amounts of money as it is. They can cry all they want but the free rides are over. The guy running for office offering free gifts to them lost.

[nclib]

10. They'll have fewer customers with those attitudes

so they might be ok with fewer staff.
And I like the idea of other restaurants stepping up. I look forward to giving them my business.

[leftstreet]

2. Remind me, why did the ACA exempt part-timers? n/t

[PDJane]

4. It's not the surcharge that will drive people away.

It's the lousy food and the attitude of the underpaid and overworked staff!

This is just whining, pure and simple. They need to be told to shut up and treat their employees like human beings.

[HughBeaumont]

7. Like it was said before . . ..

. . . where was the surcharge for Corporate Welfare, Military spending, Bush's folly wars and Bush's tax cuts for the rich? You know, the things that are REALLY bankrupting our country?

At what point does a businessperson who's not simply raising his prices quietly, but politicizing a price hike by using an election that didn't go his way as an excuse to do it, not being a "conscious businessman" and simply being a greedy grandstanding Republican ASSHOLE?

[Skidmore]

8. Drop them a line and let them know how you feel

about their treatment of workers. My husband loves to find a Denny's when we are travelling and I've sat in more than a few. We won't now.

http://www.dennys.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=denny's&utm_campaign=%28B%29+Denny%27s+Headterms+E-&utm_content=s0IWPFtrk|12502272756&gclid=COb7vMiW1LMCFehDMgodbGwADw#/about

[Barack_America]

13. Mom & pop diners are the way to go.

We've got a few great ones near us.

And I've found the i-phone to be extremely useful when we're traveling. I can estimate where we'd like to stop, hop on the internet and do a quick search for local restaurant reviews and ratings. It's worked well for us. That said, the last time we traveled we did end up at a Denny's because the mom & pop place I found was so packed with locals we'd have to wait an hour for a table. From now on, we'll wait.

[benld74]

9. NO! That change was announced to employees HERE! You douche!

[EC]

11. Most of these employees end up in

Medicad programs like WalMart employees, don't they? So we're paying for them now. They'll lose more from this than if they would have just shut their damn mouths and gave their employees insurance and raised prices a bit.

[Barack_America]

12. What's your salary, Mr. Metz?

What health benefits do you have?

Why are your employees not worthy of the same?

[Xithras]

14. I don't have a problem with the surcharge.

It's been a fairly common thing in San Francisco for years. The Healthy San Francisco program requires employers to either provide health insurance for their employees, or to contribute to a city run health care program. Because the cost is based on the hours worked by the employee, businesses simply tacked the fees onto the bills as an extra tax.

If you eat out in San Francisco and look at your bill, you'll usually see it listed as a "Health Fee" or "Healthy San Francisco Surcharge". Few people complain about it, and it hasn't harmed businesses. Whether the restaraunt raises the prices to compensate for the extra cost, or it's itemized on the receipt, the customer will end up footing the bill at the end of the meal, so why does it matter how it's listed?


My question for Metz is this: If you are adding a surcharge to cover the cost of adding healthcare, why are you ALSO cutting employee hours? If you are having your customers carry the cost of your new healthcare requirements, the net impact on your bottom line should be ZERO. Other than spite and sour grapes, how can you justify cutting worker hours?

[closeupready]

15. This is likely the beginning move in a jobs boom

which is a predictable outcome of de-linking access to health care from status of employment.

More people unemployed/underemployed and uninsured will lead to more entrepreneurship in underserved markets formerly served by those who are now seeking ways to avoid covering their employees.