Subway, Carl's Jr. Hire Part-Timers to Avoid Obamacare

Is part-time the new full-time? In a move to avoid higher health-care costs under Obamacare, a ten-location Subway franchise in Michigan has added around 25 part time positions while reducing other employees' hours, reports the Wall Street Journal. Burger chain Carl's Jr. is following suit: CKE Restaurants Inc., which owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, started hiring part-timers to replace full-time staffers who left starting last year. It appears that these two franchises are not alone; more and more companies appear to be making the transition. So far in 2013, employers have added more part-time employees per month than full-time workers (93,000 vs. 22,000 on average), which is the reverse of last year's numbers (31,000 vs. 171,000 on average).

The Obama administration recently announced a "one-year reprieve" until 2015 (the original compliance date was January 1, 2014) before they begin fining employers that fail to offer "affordable" insurance to employees working 30-plus hours a week. Wendy's also started making the switch to part-time earlier this year, although Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) stopped the transition to part-time jobs due to public backlash to the idea.

· Restaurant Shift: Sorry, Just Part-Time [WSJ]
· All Subway Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Obamacare Coverage on Eater [-E-]