Almost one in five large- and mid-sized U.S. companies plans to reduce the hours that part-time employees work in order to limit exposure to coverage mandates under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Once employer mandates of the sweeping federal health reform laws begin going into effect in 2014, employers with at least 50 full-time workers (determined by ACA to be those working at least 30 hours per week) will be required to offer health benefit plans to 95% of qualifying employees or incur a $2,000 per employee tax penalty.

Two reports released by SHRM on the impending impact of the health care reform law indicate that 18% of companies with between 500 and 2,499 employees will reduce part-time schedules to less than 30 hours per week to mitigate costs related to the addition of new members to the plan. And approximately 19% of large firms with 2,500 to 24,999 employees plan to cut part-time employees’ hours.

On the other hand, the study found that smaller employers, those with fewer than 500 employees, were less likely to cut part-time employees’ hours. Just 5% of employers with fewer than 100 workers expect to reduce part-time hours.

via Employers may reduce part-timers’ hours as ACA approaches | Insurance & Financial Advisor I IFAwebnews.com.

Does anyone out there (besides me) believe company managements need to manage as if people mattered?