GOP: Schools cutting workers’ hours to avoid ObamaCare penalty

{mosads}Although the lawmakers did not cite any examples of cuts to full-time teachers, they said the cuts are nevertheless hurting children’s education.

“We are greatly troubled by the recent cutbacks across our state and ask that your office study these dangerous consequences,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The IRS recently said school districts cannot factor out summers and other school breaks when calculating workers’ hours, according to the lawmakers’ letter.

“Secretary Sebelius, as a former Governor, we are sure you can appreciate the difficult choices being made in the heartland to deal with decisions handed down from Washington, D.C.,” they wrote. “Hundreds of middle class Hoosiers working in schools will now suffer the consequences of a law you told the American people would serve as a solution to making health care affordable for the middle class.”

The employer mandate applies to all employers with more than 50 full-time workers.

Employers must pay a penalty if more than 30 full-time employees are not offered insurance. After the first 30 workers, the employer must pay a $2,000 penalty for each worker who gets a subsidy from the federal government to buy insurance on his or her own.

The letter to Sebelius was signed by Reps. Marlin Stutzman, Susan Brooks, Larry Bucshon, Luke Messer, Todd Rokita, Jackie Walorski and Todd Young. They are all Republicans from Indiana.