E-FLEX Coalition Sends Collective Statement to House Ways and Means Committee

January 28, 2014 – ARLINGTON, VA – The Food Marketing Institute (FMI), an executive committee member of the Employers for Flexibility in Healthcare (E-FLEX) Coalition, which includes leading trade associations and businesses in the supermarket, retail, restaurant, staffing, and other industries, sent a letter to all members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee in advance of the Committee’s hearing today on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) 30-hour/week full-time employee definition.  

The letter notes, “[T]he E-FLEX Coalition and many in the employer community remain concerned that the ACA employer requirements are fundamentally unworkable and require legislative changes, especially the 30 hours per week definition of full-time employee status. It is critically important to change the law’s definition of full-time as 30 hours of service to a definition more in line with employment practices. The law’s definition of full-time as 30 hours of service per week does not reflect employers’ workforce needs or employees’ desire for flexible hours. This change is needed to avoid disruptions in the workforce and maintain flexible work options for employees.”

The E-FLEX Coalition, of which FMI is an executive committee member, “encourages the Committee to consider the following pieces of bipartisan legislation that address the ACA’s full-time definition: H.R. 2575 - Save American Workers Act of 2013; H.R. 2988 - Forty Hours Is Full Time Act of 2013; and S. 1188 - Forty Hours Is Full Time Act of 2013.”  

FMI Director of Government Relations Robert Rosado indicated that FMI has previously expressed support for this legislation, as well as for constructive efforts to correct ACA’s definition of full-time employees (Sec. 1513 of ACA), so that the definition is congruent with practical working environments. He said, “Today’s hearing is yet another positive indication of the continued bicameral and bipartisan consensus to lift the ACA’s 30-hours-per-week definition.”

Coalition Letter link 
Coalition Members link