Here is an article in the Dallas Morning News giving a little - TopicsExpress



          

Here is an article in the Dallas Morning News giving a little blurb about Dave and Busters, and mentions my friend Jennifer Sanchez. Its nice to know that the word is finally being spread about how our company is treating employees and cutting their hours. Though the article is small, it is published in the Dallas Morning News, the hometown of Dave and Busters. Thanks Jennifer!!!! Antonio Soriano delivers food to a table at Cantina Laredo. The restaurant’s parent company says it has begun hiring fewer full-time employees. By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS Staff Writer krjacobs@dallasnews Published: 26 August 2013 09:45 PM Updated: 27 August 2013 10:52 AM As restaurants scramble to comply with a law requiring access to health insurance for most full-time workers, one approach is attracting attention: Have fewer full-time workers. Locally and across the nation, some restaurateurs are looking at cutting back on the number of workers who put in 30 or more hours a week — the Affordable Care Act threshold for full-time status. Employees at some chains say workers already have had their hours cut, from 35 or 40 to, in some cases, fewer than 20. The National Restaurant Association, which has been vocal in its opposition to the law that’s also called Obamacare, is backing the Forty Hours Is Full Time Act of 2013, which was introduced in the House earlier this month. The Department of Labor leaves it up to employers to determine their workers’ full-time status, but the Fair Labor Standards Act requires overtime to kick in after 40 hours. While legislators sort it out, full-time restaurant jobs may be harder to find. “We’re going to open nine restaurants this year,” said John Harkey Jr., chief executive of Dallas-based Consolidated Restaurant Operations Inc. It owns 10 brands, including Cantina Laredo, Cool River Cafe and III Forks. “I’m probably going to hire 500 people this year. In that process we are consciously trying to minimize the number of hours of the new employees that are hired, because we are unsure of the health care legislation. “We haven’t reduced hours artificially,” he said, “but we have taken the step of hiring fewer full-time people.” While some restaurateurs and retailers have complained about both the sum and the parts of the Affordable Care Act, the 30-hour feature has been particularly vexing. “The 30-hour threshold was a key element of the law that provided unique challenges for the chain restaurant industry in particular and [for] restaurant franchisees,” said Rob Green, executive director of the National Council of Chain Restaurants. “It’s a concern to a large number of companies within the industry.” That’s because in both restaurants and retailing, many employees work fewer than 40 hours and had been considered part time. If health benefits were offered to the part-timers, they often were 100 percent employee-paid. Access requirement Under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time-equivalent workers will be required to offer access to affordable health care to staffers who clock in with 30 or more hours a week. The restaurant association has said costs to employers will go up under the law, but the trade group does not have an estimate of how much. Harkey said his costs could go up by $2,800 yearly per newly covered employee. He said he does not think the ratio of his workers taking health insurance will initially grow much beyond the current rate of about 4.5 percent. The original “employer mandate” deadline of Jan. 1, 2014, was delayed, giving employers another year to plan. Some employers already are eyeing worker time cards. Earlier this year, the Cincinnati-based parent of the Frisch’s Big Boy restaurants said that “among other responses to mitigate medical insurance costs … the level of full-time hourly employment may potentially be decreased in favor of increased part-time employment.” Jim Araby, an executive with the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, called employer proclamations that they can’t afford the new health care costs “a bunch of bull,” noting that larger employers can bargain with insurance companies for lower prices. He predicted employer reluctance to offer coverage will swell the Medicaid ranks. “If employers dump their responsibility, the ones that are left are individuals and the government,” he said. “Especially in the low-wage economy, in restaurants, in hotels, in retail stores, where workers don’t make enough money to qualify even for the [government-run] exchange, they then go on state assistance and Medicaid.” Smaller checks And they try to make ends meet with smaller paychecks. “How are you punishing me for wanting to work? That’s the craziest thing I ever heard,” said Jennifer Sanchez, 26, a former server with Dave & Buster’s. She said she was reprimanded in July, and then left the Dallas-based company, after she volunteered to pick up a shift for another worker — which could have pushed her weekly hours above 28. Many employees in her former restaurant had their workweek cut to 28 hours, she said. Supervisors told workers the change was needed “to keep the business afloat … because of the Obamacare thing,” she said. “For the past five to six years, honestly, I could work 45 to 60 hours a week. It was never an issue,” she said. “That was before the whole ‘28 hours’ thing.” Other Dave & Buster’s workers also said the cuts were widespread. “Everyone is struggling,” said a Dave & Buster’s worker who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job. “When you go from working overtime to 19 hours a week. … Almost everyone in the store now has a second job.” He noted that the company, which is hiring for new locations, recently posted a record profit. Generally, Harkey and other restaurant officials have said, restaurant margins are too thin to accommodate the extra cost of insuring more workers. Dave & Buster’s executives declined to comment specifically on schedule changes. “We take all decisions that affect our team members’ hours seriously,” Margo Manning, senior vice president of human resources for Dave & Buster’s, said in a statement. “Like many companies, D&B is in the process of adapting to upcoming changes associated with health care reform… “But there are many other important factors we take into account when establishing team schedules, such as the personal needs of our employees, productivity and labor efficiency, and overtime expense. We have always had a significant number of part-time team members. … We plan to continue to have a mix of full- and part-time hourly employees,” she said. Taking heat Orlando-based Darden Restaurants Inc., which owns the Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains, took heat from consumers late last year based on what the company called erroneous news reports. Articles indicated the company was holding some workers to 28 hours a week and planned to hire more part-timers. The reports stemmed from a “misunderstanding of what we did as part of a test with a handful of restaurants,” spokesman Rich Jeffers said. To help “address the cost implications [of] health care reform,” Darden tested “hiring more part-time employees to backfill full-time attrition,” he said. “We found it just didn’t work.” About 50,000 of Darden’s 200,000 employees work 30 or more hours a week. Jeffers declined to say how many have health care coverage now, or what the estimate is for next year. “There’s no way to know how many will accept it,” he said. Still, Darden estimates that from January through May 2014, the last five months of the current fiscal year, “the potential negative impact” to the company’s profit from the cost of health care will be 5 to 6 cents a share. Even in restaurants where hours aren’t being reduced because of health care, workers fear they’ll feel some pain. Larry Farris, 29, is a server at an Italian restaurant in downtown Dallas. He said his weekly hours were reduced this summer from about 40 to about 20 as business slowed. Fewer hours and a drop in tips sliced his weekly income from about $700 to about $150. He said he’d like to go back to full time, but he’s concerned about the job landscape now. “If restaurants don’t want to pay the money, which they don’t, then definitely I see it being an issue for anyone who wants to work full time at a restaurant,” said Farris, adding that he’s now behind on his car payment. “There’s 20 people a week that come in applying for a job,” he said, “and we’re already overstaffed as it is.” Finding full time Servers looking for work will have an easier time finding a full-time gig locally than in other major metro areas, according to Shiftgig, which lists restaurant, retail and hotel jobs. Waiter/server postings offering part-time jobs as of Aug. 23-26: Dallas-Fort Worth 40% Houston 44% Nationwide 47% Chicago
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 05:09:21 +0000

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