About one out five U.S. are reducing for - workers as a result the Act (), a new survey by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found.
The survey found that about 14% percent have reduced for -timers as a result the mandate that employees working a be offered , and another 6% plan to do so. 72% have not considered reducing for - workers.
The survey also found that 91 percent organizations have not considered reducing for - employees, and percent said they have not considered reducing the overall number employees as a result the mandate.
(Companies are permitted to reduce workers’ in response to conditions, but may be penalized if the Department Labor and the determine that they have done so only to avoid providing .)
“As organizations learned more about the law, they found that their levels were already the same or more than what the law required, minimizing the adjustments that some anticipated would need to make when the was created,” said Evren Esen, director SHRM’s survey programs.
The survey also found:
- 54% require employees to work a to be eligible for , an increase from 44 percent in 2014 and 39 percent in 2013. But 26% organizations require employees to work more than a to be eligible. “Some actually might choose for economic reasons to take a penalty rather than make this change,” Esen said.
- Two-thirds organizations (66%) said their organization offered the same level of benefits as before the was enacted.
- About three-quarters (77%) respondents said that their costs increased from 2014 to 2015, while 6% saw a decrease.
- About three out five organizations have made changes to their in the last year.
- 54% offered alternative such as savings accounts and reimbursement accounts this year, compared to 37% in 2013.13% said they planned to alternatives in the future.
- 20% had with grandfathered status in the past but have since dropped the status.
- More than half (53%) said they would not be affected by an excise - benefits that takes effect in 2018, or are taking action to avoid the .
The survey polled more than 740 randomly selected HR professionals with a title of manager or above or who work with benefits or compensation. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.