Part-time push: ObamaCare and employers.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: Citings - Medical coverage for employees - Brief article

ONE way ObamaCare tries to ensure that most everyone will have medical coverage is by requiring employers with more than 50 employees to offer it to all full-time employees, which the law defines as those who work an average of 30 hours or more per week. Starting in 2014, employers who fail to provide coverage can be hit with fees of up to $2,000 per worker.

But for millions of hourly earners, that provision may backfire. Rather than add health benefits to employee compensation, many employers are planning to cut employee hours.

Service industry employees probably will be hit especially hard. In October the Orlando Sentinel reported that Darden Restaurants, which owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse chains, had begun testing outlets that limit...