[Editor’s Note: Ms. Davidson, owner of Tito’s Tacos and a board member of the California Restaurant Assn., participated in last week’s CRA Lobby Day event in Sacramento.]
[img]2272|right|||no_popup[/img]Sacramento seemed to be a bit better this year. Lots of new members (in the state Legislature), and the environment was not as horribly anti-business as in the last 10 years. I am hoping that they don't add onto the damage already done. I still cannot believe that the federal government and our state would really proceed and create a permanent underclass.
I went to Washington D.C. last year, and I am returning this week to try and explain the situation to members of Congress.
From the viewpoint of an unskilled worker, due to Obamacare, it will be unlikely you will be able to get a fulltime job because you do not generate enough revenue to justify to cost of new, higher priced medical insurance.
To make matters worse, the minimum wage is getting its first hike, to $9 per hour. Eighteen months later, it will rise to $10 per hour.
Here is one further problem for poor unskilled workers:
If they currently have a fulltime job with health benefits and they take a Family Medical Leave, their portion of the medical insurance will exceed 9.5 percent and their employer will be assessed a $3,000 fine for having an “unaffordable” insurance plan.
This becomes a reality for all maternity leaves since the state of California allows four months’ paid leave (paid by the disability fund), and employers are required to only charge the employee the same amount for his/her insurance as when the person is working.
To determine whether the insurance is affordable, it is the amount of money paid on the W-2, and does not include payment made by the disability fund. Unskilled women of child- bearing age will be excluded from fulltime jobs because nobody is going to pay insurance and get the $3,000 fine for the insurance being unaffordable. At present, the fine is $2,000 for not offering medical insurance.
That is how the permanent underclass will be created. I have been hiring part-time workers, and many of them have two part-time jobs. Very sad.
Ms. Davidson may be contacted at titostacos@msn.com
