High-end clothing brand Juicy Couture is reportedly replacing full-time workers with part-timers to avoid the provisions of Obamacare .
Juicy Couture would not be the only employer trying to make an end run around the so-called Affordable Care Act. Various employers have already cautioned that they may pass along employee insurance cost hikes to customers . Other employers, including apparently Juicy Couture, are downgrading workers into part-time status so the employees no longer have eligibility for insurance coverage or purposely keeping headcount below 50 to avoid the law’s provisions — which means jobseekers have to look elsewhere for employment.
The Juicy Couture allegations are detailed in an online petition posted at the Retail Action Project website, in which a New York City employee talks about how he was forced out of a job because his hours were cut:
“When we began working at Juicy Couture, many of us were full-time. Now, only 19 of the store’s 128 employees are full-time! Not only are they firing full-time workers and replacing us with a part-time workforce, just this month Juicy capped all part-time workers hours at 21 hours per week. We quickly realized that Juicy Couture is doing everything they can to not take care of its workers.
“See, it was hard enough for us to make ends meet in New York City as full-time retail workers. But by keeping hours under 30 per week, Juicy Couture will no longer be required to offer their workers affordable health care — part of the Affordable Health Care Act’s plan to make sure more working Americans have basic health care.”
Perhaps the irony here is that most of the hip/trendy employees of the clothier — at least those who voted — likely cast their ballot for Barack Obama last November.
Separately, the company which claims that its apparel is manufactured in the “glamorous USA” may have some explaining to do, based on this tweet:
.@ juicycouture is this a joke? Label says “made in Vietnam”! CC @fashioncenterny @ madeinnyc @ madeinamericasc @ stgcnyc twitter.com/sheandreverie/…
— she and reverie (@sheandreverie) March 28, 2013
