Part Time Employers Act Health Insurance Bill Provide Care

In February 2013, Janice "Jan" Schakowsky, a U.S. Representative for Illinois, "introduced" (ask Congress to consider "enacting" (making into a law)) the "Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act of 2013." This "bill "(proposed law) would "penalize" (punish) employers for failing to provide health care to part-time employees.

One of the "unintended consequences" (things that happen as the result of something else, even though nobody planned it that way) of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" passed in 2009 was that it gave employers an "incentive" (motivation; a reason to want to do something) to "drop" (remove) employees from its health insurance programs. The Affordable Care Act includes a "fine" (money that must be paid as a punishment) for employers who do not provide health insurance benefits for full-time workers, but not for part-time workers. As a result, some employers began "cutting" (reducing) employees' hours so that they would be part-time employees and the employer wouldn't have to provide health insurance benefits.

Representative Schakowsky's bill would "reverse" that (make something become the opposite) by penalizing employers for not providing health insurance benefits to part-time employees, too. The Act would also extend coverage for part-time employees under the "Family and Medical Leave Act" (a law that allows people to take "unpaid leave" (time spent away from work without receiving payment) for family and medical emergencies) and the "Employee Retirement Income Security Act" (a law that determines who can participate in "pension plans" (plans through which employers pay money to former workers in their retirement).

The Act is strongly supported by the "United Food and Commercial Workers International Union" (UFCW) and other "unions" (organized groups of laborers who advocate for workers' rights).