Reps say small business health mandate unfair

By Matt Yas

March 23, 2010

The so-called fair share provision in state law requiring employers with 11 or more workers to offer health insurance to many of them has proven to be unfair to small businesses, two state representatives claim.

Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, joined his Republican colleague, George Peterson of Grafton, to argue that small businesses are ill-equipped to calculate how many employees to whom they must offer health insurance. This problem is exacerbated by the law’s provision requiring that part-time employees be converted into “full-time equivalent” employees for the purposes of determining how many workers must be offered insurance.

Pignatelli has sponsored a proposal to eliminate the requirement that businesses include part-time workers in fair share calculations.

Peterson said the status quo fails to account for employees who receive insurance through a spouse or family plan. He said the problem is particularly stark for temporary employment agencies.

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