VA college reduces employee hours to comply with ACA

Although the employer mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act has been delayed, Virginia is capping hours for certain workers in preparation to decrease its insurance benefits. 

According to The Washington Post, the state has cut worker hours at Northern Virginia Community College despite heavy employee work loads. Under the ACA, employers with 50 or more employees are required to provide healthcare coverage for all full-time workers. Many employers across the country have been limiting the hours of some employees in preparation for the implementation of the ACA, but the recent postponement of the employer requirement has given some employers time to rethink their strategy. 

The Richmond Times-Dispatch, a local newspaper, reported Virginia has been struggling with the definition of full-time under the ACA in recent months. Issues have arisen about whether to cut the hours of part-time workers at state universities and colleges, such as adjunct professors, since the law defined full-time employment as working more than 30 hours a week. 

For Kevin Pace, a staff member at the college who is officially part-time, the reduction in hours this past spring made it harder to teach his students.

“We work so hard for so little pay,” Pace told The Post. “You would think they would want to make an investment in society, pay the teachers back and give us healthcare.”