Taco Bell Franchise Cuts Single Mom Johnna Davis' Hours Because Of Obamacare - HuffPo [View all]

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Taco Bell Franchise Cuts Single Mom Johnna Davis' Hours Because Of Obamacare
The Huffington Post | By Nate C. Hindman
Posted: 01/08/2013 4:28 pm EST | Updated: 01/09/2013 1:05 am EST

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A Taco Bell employee in Guthrie, Okla., is speaking out after the fast-food franchise cut her hours to avoid costs associated with Obamacare, reports News9.

For Johnna Davis, a single mother of three who saw her hours fall in December to 28 hours a week, the change not only means a smaller paycheck. It also strips her of the right to receive health benefits from Taco Bell, a right that would have kicked in under Obamacare in 2014 had the franchise continued to give Davis a full-time schedule of hours.

Owners of fast-food franchises across the nation are blind-siding hourly employees by cutting their weekly hours -- and, in turn, their paychecks -- to dodge Obamacare costs.

The new law, which obliges businesses with more than 50 employees to offer benefits to staffers averaging at least 30 hours of work per week, doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2014. But to determine whether employees work enough hours on average to receive benefits, businesses must track schedules at least three months in advance of 2014, prompting some bosses to begin restructuring payrolls now.

Davis told News9 that workers at the Guthrie Taco Bell were led to believe employee health benefits were on the way. "What we were being told was one thing, and that was, ‘We’re going to offer benefits, we’ll just keep all of our full-time employees,'" she said. "Then come December, their whole story changed."

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/taco-bell-obamacare_n_2433947.html?utm_hp_ref=small-business&utm_hp_ref=small-business