By: Hollie Hojek
hhojek@kcautv.com
Between Sioux City, South Sioux City and North Sioux City, there are hundreds of part time employees in our Tri-State area. And thanks to a new law that goes into effect in 2014, those hundreds of employees could be seeing a cut in hours.
Local city officials say it's a complicated issue made even more complicated by the lack of information from the federal government.
"I think the whole country was sort of in delay mode, waiting to see election results. And that would include the Federal Government in the final development of rules. This is new, complicated federal policy and they have yet to work out all the details," said Paul Eckert, city of Sioux City Manager.
The new law under President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act will require large employers to offer health insurance to part time employees working 30-hours or more a week $3,000 per part time employee.
"I would think at this time, we would probably cut back those part time employees so that they're under that "29." I don't know that for sure, again it is going to be very difficult," said Sue Murray-Lee, city clerk for South Sioux City, NE.
And while cities try to begin calculating these numbers into their future budgets, they're still waiting on information.
"We're evaluating, we're waiting for more rules to be clarified by the federal government and then each state government. In the meantime, we're evaluating how many employees we've got, and what the potential impacts, of the rules that have yet to be fully developed.\," said Eckert.
The City of South Sioux City is looking to get a second opinion on the issue by attending workshops put-on by local labor attorneys.
The City of Sioux City says it is hoping to have a better handle on the policy in the coming months, and have a proposal to present to city council by march of 2013.
