Thread: Michelle Malkin: How's That Obamacare Waiver Workin' Out for Ya? Read it and Weep

Malkin: How's That Obamacare Waiver Workin' Out for Ya?

By Michelle Malkin November 16, 2012 6:55 am

Exactly two years ago this week, the Obama administration announced it had issued more than 100 waivers en masse to a select group of companies, unions and other health insurance providers seeking relief from the onerous federal health care law. The Obamacare waiver winner's club now totals 2,000. Where are they now?

Answer: In the same miserable boat as every other unlucky business struggling with the crushing costs and burdens of the mandate.

Among the first and most prominent recipients of the Obamacare waivers for favors were large restaurant chains that provide low-wage, seasonal and part-time workers with low-cost health insurance plans called "mini-med" plans. An estimated 1.7 million workers benefit from such plans. Obamacare forced companies carrying such coverage to raise their minimum limits on coverage to no less than $750,000 annually. Another Obamacare provision forces all employers to spend at least 80 percent to 85 percent of their premium revenue on medical care.

The social justice Democrats' goal was to dictate insurance provider spending not just on coverage amounts, but also on executive salaries, marketing and other costs. The regulation punished companies with mini-med plans whose high administrative costs were due to frequent worker turnover and relatively low spending on claims -- not "greed."

Complying with the provision would have meant tens of thousands of low-income workers would lose their benefits altogether.

Darden Restaurants, the Florida-based parent company of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and other chains, was a member of the Obamacare waiver early bird special. Their get-out-of-Obamacare card helped spare the company's health insurance benefits for nearly 34,000 employees. Breathing a sigh of relief that it would allow chains to continue offering all employees access to affordable health insurance, Darden said in a statement in the fall of 2010 that "the waiver allows us to continue to do that as the various phases of the health care law are implemented."

Fast-forward to 2012. Darden announced last month that it would begin shifting full-time workers to part-time status to save money, cut health costs and circumvent Obamacare's coverage mandate scheduled for full implementation in 2014.

The move would reduce full-time employees' hours to less than 30 hours a week; part-time workers are exempt from the insurance mandate.

McDonald's, another big Obamacare waiver recipient, is considering the same move.

In fact, a survey of members of the Chain Restaurant Compensation Association (CRCA) conducted last year by Hay Group reported that a whopping 77 percent of "quick serve" restaurant operators said they were considering reducing employee hours to change their status from full-time to part-time.

At least one Denny's restaurant franchise owner in Florida is cutting hours and has openly contemplated an Obamacare surcharge.

Jimmy John's and Papa John's are also slashing work hours.

Applebee's is mulling a freeze on both hiring and expansion.

"There's no such thing as a free lunch" is a race-neutral truth. But economically illiterate Obama supporters have now called for boycotts of these businesses and accused them of vengeful "racism" against the president. Instead of sympathy and gratitude for private businesses trying to do right by their workers, customers and shareholders, the corporate-bashers inundated Twitter this week with profanity-laced condemnations of the restaurant service industry.

One protester tweeted: "@Applebees Your CEO is a racist piece of (redacted), he not hiring because Obama was elected... U WILL LOSE CUSTOMERS."

"Red Lobster, Olive Garden (are) using Obama re-election as an excuse to deny employees benefits and living wages," Jon Marquis fumed.

Twitter user Daphine Walker sent unhinged, ungrammatical messages to Red Lobster and Olive Garden in all-caps: "I WILL NEVER SPEND ANOTHER CENT ON THIS RACIST COMPANY WHO DOESNT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THEIR EMPLOYEES."

The CEO of Red Lobster and Olive Garden is black. But no matter. Regardless of the actual facts, economic realities and entirely predictable and inevitable consequences of command-and-control government mandates, it's always about identity politics for the Obama grievance mob. In good times and bad, the left never grants waivers from the race card.
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Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies" (Regnery 2010).

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

» Malkin: How’s That Obamacare Waiver Workin’ Out for Ya? » Commentary -- GOPUSA

Obama: DISTRICT OF CORRUPTION

MEDIA DAMAGING PRIVATE BUSINESSES TO PROTECT OBAMACARE


by WILLIAM BIGELOW 5 Dec 2012 30POST A COMMENT
Darden Restaurants is in trouble with consumers for its attitude toward Obamacare thanks to the efforts of the media to protect President Obama's business-killing healthcare law.

Darden, a major restaurant chain that owns the Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, protested the stipulations in ObamaCare that required businesses to provide health insurance by announcing they would cut workers' hours.
Now Darden is acknowledging that consumers started to view them more negatively as a result of media reports about their decision, and the company has lost business.

Darden CEO Clarence Otis said, “Our outlook for the year also reflects the potential impact, though difficult to measure, of recent negative media coverage that focused on Darden within the full-service segment and how we might accommodate healthcare reform.”

Darden stated it had to lower its estimated earnings for fiscal 2013 because of the backlash from consumers.
Papa John’s Pizza has also found its popularity decrease among adults who frequent casual restaurants due to one-sided media coverage of its attempts to stay in business in the face of increased operating costs due to Obamacare.

Media Damaging Private Businesses to Protect Obamacare

They have created a lot of their negative media.

http://www.alipac.us/f19/al-olive-ga...33/index2.html

Story in the above link.


Michelle Obama announces partnership with Darden Restaurants

he Darden restaurant chain has pledged to cut their calorie and sodium content by 20 percent and will offer heartier food options on their children's menu with a new partnership with Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign.

First Lady Michelle Obama and chef Julie Elkinton greet Alaysia (L), 5, and Aniyha Smothers, 9, as they eat at an event where Obama announced a new partnership between Darden Restaurants and her Lets Move! Campaign at an Olive Gardenrestaurant in Hayattsville, Maryland on September 15, 2011. The Restaurant chain has pledged to cut their calorie and sodium content by 20% and will offer heartier food options on their children's menu. UPI/Kevin Dietsch


All 13 images at:

Read more: Michelle Obama announces partnership with Darden Restaurants - UPI.com

Labor Activist Group Targets Orlando-Based Darden Restaurants

By Will Patrick
Capital VanguardDarden Restaurants is an Orlando-based company that owns some of the most recognizable names in American dining. Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse are just a few. Perhaps a victim of its own success, Darden has recently found itself the target of an out-of-state activist group that has picked Central Florida as its latest battleground.Restaurant Opportunity Centers United, ROC, is a controversial labor organization that according to theNew York Post, tries to “shake down high-profile city restaurants.”The group is also behind much of the funding and community organizing that nearly led to a paid sick leave initiative appearing on Orange County’s November ballot. And while the idea of paid sick leave for restaurant workers is viewed favorably among most voters, the tactics and goals of ROC remain in question.Last month, for example, ROC members along with several Darden restaurant employees disrupted a company shareholders meeting in Orlando. Activists inside the meeting confronted Darden’s CEO Clarence Otis and demanded higher wages and paid sick leave. Others protested outside.The incident appeared to be a coordinated Occupy Wall Street-style event complete with cameras capturing the confrontation and an ROC report, called Darden’s Decision, simultaneously released to an interested media.ROC received some $275,000 of federal money in 2009 and has subsequently been investigated for employing intimidation tactics as a routine matter of business. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-California) recently wrote a formal congressional letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a presidential appointee, stating:“ROC targets restaurants that it believes have subpar safety or workplace conditions and demands that the restaurants pay a monetary reward.“When a restaurant resists the demands, ROC organizes large protests outside the restaurant, harasses patrons who want to enter and eat…and even places giant inflatable cockroaches outside the restaurants.”Reading more like a list of grievances than a study, Darden’s Decision contains strongly phrased allegations. “Darden employees and consumers have charged the company with wage theft, discrimination, paying unsustainable wages as little as $2.13, and denying employees the ability to earn paid sick days.” Unmentioned was the $65 million in community grants Darden has donated since 1995.ROC has already sued one of Darden’s restaurants in the past claiming discrimination and low wages; Darden claims the lawsuit is without merit. Waiters are often paid less than minimum wage in the restaurant industry because they receive tips for their services. Restaurant employees also have traditionally traded shifts with fellow workers when sick.The Orlando Sentinel reported that one ROC organizer, John Cronan of New York City, was at the disrupted shareholder meeting in Orlando. According to the article, Cronan stated that he used to work as a waiter for Capital Grille, a Darden restaurant, and would often serve customers while sick. The implication of Cronan’s comments being that paid sick days were necessary or customers would be in harm’s way. Otis responded by citing strict company policy requiring sick employees to be excused from work.Cronan, however, appears to be much more the activist than a struggling waiter. For his part, the New York City resident writes for a blog called Z-Space: A Community of People Committed to Social Change. Titles of some of his recent blog posts include: Make the Rich Pay, Class Barriers, and Participatory Economics as Alternative [sic].Another group present at Darden’s shareholder meeting was the Nathan Cummings Foundation, whose self-described mission is “to build a socially and economically just society that values nature and protects ecological balance.” The Foundation is not only a Darden shareholder, but a funder of ROC.With lawsuits statistically on the rise since 2008, Darden seems the perfect target. Darden owns and operates more than 2,000 restaurants, employs 80,000 people – 2,000 in Orlando – and has annual sales of $8 billion.ROC was founded in New York City after the September 11^th,2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Its original mission was to help waiters, bartenders, busboys and other restaurant employees who were displaced by the destruction of downtown Manhattan.In the 11 years since, ROC has grown into a national organization and says it’s dedicated to improving wages and working conditions for low-wage restaurant workers. It also bemoans the fact that less than 1 percent of the restaurant industry is unionized.Will Patrick is the Capitol Reporter for the James Madison Institute. Originally from Sarasota, Will worked in New York City for eleven years and now lives in Tallahassee with his young family.Labor Activist Group Targets Orlando-Based Darden Restaurants | The Capitol Vanguard
http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/10/10/labor-activist-group-targets-orlando-based-darden-restaurants/