By Michael P. Buffer
WILKES-BARRE - Obamacare prevents Luzerne County Council from adopting an ordinance that would require county employees to work at least 40 hours a week to get health benefits, assistant county solicitor David Schwager determined.
On Nov. 27, council unanimously approved a motion to draft an ordinance that the county will only provide health benefits to full-time employees who work at least 40 hours a week and record hours worked on the county time-management system.
But starting on Jan. 1, 2014, the Affordable Care Act will force the county to provide health care benefits to all employes who work at least 30 hours a week, Mr. Schwager said. Council members plan to discuss the proposed ordinance on health benefits at Tuesday's meeting.
The change would apparently have minimal impact in Lackawanna County.
The vast majority of Lackawanna County employees who are considered full time, and who are therefore eligible for health care benefits, work 35 hours a week, chief of staff Maria Elkins said.
Most part-time employees work less than 1,000 hours annually, which averages out to far less than the 30 hours-a-week threshold, she said.
Luzerne County Councilman Rick Morelli initially proposed the ordinance to stop the county from providing health benefits to part-time employees not represented by unions. Full-time nonunion employees are currently required to work at least 32.5 hours a week and are eligible for health care benefits.
Council members added the 40-hour-a-week requirement to the proposed ordinance to create a uniform full-time standard for nonunion employees and for future collective bargaining agreements. About 300 of roughly 1,440 county employees are not represented by unions.
Officials have said 25 part-time employees in the executive branch are eligible for health benefits, but 17 of them are union employees entitled to health benefits because of collective-bargaining agreements.
Officials have been debating how many part-time employees work for the county judiciary, in part because court employees do not use the county time management system to track hours worked. According to court Administrator Michael Shucosky, all court employees are considered full-time.
Councilman Stephen A. Urban, a commissioner in the former county government, has insisted law clerks and other lawyers on the judicial payroll work part-time hours and do not receive paid vacation time.
More than 30 attorneys work for the judiciary while maintaining private law practices. The county budget allocates $11,500 for each employee with health benefits.
Staff writer DAVID SINGLETON contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: mbuffer@citizensvoice.com