Papa John's CEO John Schnatter is drawing heat over his announcement last week that the national pizza chain would consider cutting employees' hours to offset costs of implementing President Barack Obama's national health-care overhaul. Schnatter made the comments the day after Obama won re-election, sparking a social media controversy with Twitter and Facebook users promising to boycott the pizza...
Papa John's CEO John Schnatter is drawing heat over his announcement last week that the national pizza chain would consider cutting employees' hours to offset costs of implementing President Barack Obama's national health-care overhaul. Schnatter made the comments the day after Obama won re-election, sparking a social media controversy with Twitter and Facebook users promising to boycott the pizza company.
John Schnatter, CEO of the Papa John's pizza chain, is getting some heat for saying that the company might reduce employee hours to help pay for changes that result from President Barack Obama's massive health-care overhaul.
Speaking to students at Edison State College in Naples, Fla., Schnatter said, "I got in a bunch of trouble for this. That's what you do, is you pass on costs. Unfortunately, I don't think people know what they're going to pay for this."
Schnatter estimated that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would cost Papa John's $5 million to $8 million annually.
WPTV reported that about a third of Papa John's employees are covered by the company's health insurance plan.
"The good news is 100 percent of the population is going to have health insurance. We're all going to pay for it," he said.
Under the Affordable Care Act, full-time employees -- those working 30 hours or more per week -- would have to be provided with insurance at companies with more than 50 workers. Schnatter said it was likely that some franchise owners would reduce employees' hours in order to avoid having to cover them.
"That's probably what's going to happen," he said. "It's common sense. That's what I call lose-lose."