No! Obamacare (aka, the ” Affordable Care Act“) has a provision in it which makes it unlawful for an employer to “discharge, fine, suspend, expel, discipline, or discriminate against a participant or beneficiary for exercising any right [under the Act] or for the purpose of interfering with the attainment of any right to which such participant may become entitled under the plan…”

A federal court in the Southern District of New York recently ruled that Dave & Busters violated this law when it reduced its full-time staff from 100 to 40 in order to avoid what it believed to be excessive costs associated with Obamacare. See Marin v. Dave & Buster’s, Inc., et al. , 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18086.

The court refused to dismiss the case, ruling that these facts stated a claim under this law. The court allowed the case to proceed and for the employee to continue her suit for “lost wages and salary incidental to the reinstatement of benefits.”

So, at least according to this judge, an employer may not reduce an employee’s hours in order to avoid Obamacare.

Contact The Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore if you think your employer has violated the law.