Olive Garden: no more insurance to workers w/ less than 30 hrs per week

[Justice]

A sibling with more than 15 years at Olive Garden was told as of January 1, they would lose their existing insurance because they average less than 30 hours a week. They are at 27 hrs per week.

A year ago, this sibling had one shift cut without notice or reason. That cut is the reason their hours slipped below 30 per week. They did not want the cut, it was forced on them. They literally took a second job to make up the difference.

The sibling was told they must go get insurance under Obamacare. The premiums are higher than they currently pay unless they opt for a plan with a $7000 deductible, which they are unlikely to spend.

So it is not that Olive Garden or its corporate parent and affiliates are only hiring people at less than 30 hours a week, it is they are manipulating existing employees in order to get away from offering coverage. They have high turnover, they don't seem to care.

[PeteSelman]

1. Lots of companies are doing this.

From a business standpoint it makes sense. Health insurance is a big expense. What do they care about employees? There's a huge pool of people out there desperate to be exploited.

Capitalism, yay!

[Yo_Mama]

14. Yeah, labor slack (low FT employment and high employment)

leave employees in a terrible bargaining position.

Even unions can't accomplish that much in circs like these.

[dkf]

2. Owned by Darden industries. Nobody they will ever speak to made that decision.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Dardin owns Dead Lobster too

These workers can form a union even as part timers.




http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2008/11/04/sea-shepherd-unveils-dead-lobster-t-shirt-design-966

Sea Shepherd artist/activist Geert-Jan Vons fresh from an artistic victory over Disneyland has now set his sights on Red Lobster or as he refers to them "Dead Lobster."

Geert's design of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck evilly cutting up and eating sharks made the headlines in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the London Times, and numerous newspapers around the world. Within a week of the stories, Disney announced that they would not be serving shark fin soup at their restaurants in Hong Kong. It was a major victory for the sharks, and sent a message loud and clear that sharks need to be protected.

Red Lobster does not kill seals but they have the power to stop the killing of hundreds of thousands of baby seals in Canada every year. All they have to do is to agree to join the international Boycott of Canadian Seafood. Red Lobster alone purchases enough seafood from Canada to negate the profits of the annual Canadian seal slaughter.

So far they have refused to do so.

FULL story at link.

[YOHABLO]

3. And this is the reason we should continue to fight for single payer health care.

$7000 deductible? Oh please.

[dballance]

4. Lots of companies were already doing this and using temp and "contract" workers to avoid benefits.

This is not something brought on by the ACA. It was a movement already well under way in corporations. The ACA may be hastening it to some degree now but that's more of an excuse on the part of the corporations than a reality.

[anneboleyn]

12. Yes. It has been happening for years. I witnessed it in the mid-1990s.

I worked at a very popular restaurant in California when I was in college. The owners would not allow most employees to work a full-time schedule as they did not want to pay for health insurance. Everyone knew this, and i always thought it was despicable considering the fact that the owners were millionaires. They played these sorts of games all the time -- shifts and hours were routinely cut, etc. -- the myth that this is the "fault" of Obama is just that -- a myth now being used by companies to justify on-going brutal and unfair treatment of employees who desperately need their jobs and can't fight a huge corporation like Olive Garden.

[Decaffeinated]

5. Saw that one coming...

[B Calm]

6. Exactly why health insurance should not be going through employers!

Bad idea from the start! It ties down an employee to a low paying job. If we had national health care employers would have to pay better wages to retain employees.

[FlaGranny]

8. Sears, more than 20 years ago

did the very same thing, put many (most?) of their employees on part time to avoid giving them benefits of any kind.

[anneboleyn]

13. Yes. I saw it happening in the 90s. And it has only gotten worse over time.

Why ANYONE believes that companies are in fact "generous" with benefits and so on (until "Obamacare ruined everything" as they lie blatantly) is and has been living in a fantasy-land. These companies do anything they can to avoid paying benefits.

[clffrdjk]

9. Be careful op

Those kinds of stories are not welcome here I had a post hidden for telling mine

[Phentex]

10. It's a story when someone acts like this is brand new...

It has been happening for years and years. There was a time when companies offered 36 to 38 hours just to avoid benefits. Now it's a measly 27 hours. As already pointed out above, the ACA is just a convenient excuse today.

Other things that have been happening since before President Obama even ran for the job are:

Higher insurance premiums

Limitations of coverage by employers

Limitations of coverage by insurance companies

Practices dropping medicaid patients

Practices dropping other insurance plan patients

I do think it's fair to post stories where the ACA has negatively impacted people, but it must be pointed out that it's because of the mess we started with.

[clffrdjk]

15. See what I mean OP

The ACA requiring a company to provide benefits to anyone working 27hr has not one thing to do with a slew of companies cutting parting workers hours to below 27hr within the last year. And only piece of shit rethuglicans think otherwise. /sarcasm/

So phentex can you explain to me why my employer cut myself and every other part-timer with no bennies from a 38-39hr week to a max of 24hr? What did they gain in the across the board cut?

[Phentex]

18. They pay you less.

Much could depend on the industry.

[clffrdjk]

19. Yes I have been paid less

But for every 2 people who had their hours cut another person was hired so the payroll didn't change. All they did was create more work for themselves that does not seem like a really good motivator. As for the industry, service industry/across the board. You are the one claiming that this is a general ongoing trend yet the best answers you have to my question is that it depends on the industry? Do you not have any evidence or hell even thoughts to support your ideas?

[Motown_Johnny]

11. What is your sibling's taxable income?

If it is around $15,000 (and he/she lives in a state where Medicaid has been expanded) then he/she qualifies for Medicaid.


We need more information with these types of posts. Please include:



1. What State you are talking about.

2. Give approximate adjusted gross income for the household

3. How many adults and children are in the family and approximate ages

4. Give a link to the policy you are referring to (if possible). For example: http://www.valuepenguin.com/health-insurance/MI/consumers-mutual-consumers-mutual-premier-low-deductible

[sweetapogee]

16. post all that information

on the interwebs. On a public forum.

[Puzzledtraveller]

17. That may be a good thing for them

They can buy on the exchange and now be eligible for subsidies.