Unions Using Obamacare to Punish Small Business

James Sherk / January 06, 2010

When does Washington consider a successful small business a problem to be dealt with? When that small business successfully competes against unionized firms. Then it needs to be tied down with expensive red tape until it is no longer so successful.

Say what? Members of Congress routinely extol the praises of small businesses as the engine of job creation – especially in these difficult economic times. This is standard practice on Capitol Hill – small businesses do not have the same resources as large ones, and they often cannot afford to comply with federal mandates. Rather than put them out of business Congress exempts them from expensive regulations.

The Senate health care bill also gives small businesses an out. The bill fines businesses $750 for each employee if the company does not provide more expensive “qualifying” health coverage to all their workers. However, companies with less than 50 workers do not have to pay this fine.

Or at least, that was how the bill was written. A small provision slipped into the bill at the last minute changes that threshold for the construction industry. Now any construction company with five or more workers would have to pay the fine. With a few paragraphs in a 2,074 page bill the Senate gutted the small business exemption for construction companies. (more…)