Staples Associate Connection

Staples’ Part-Time Associates Offered Healthcare Insurance Benefits

Bureau of Labor of US Stats reports that almost 85% of full-time employees are provided sponsored health insurance by their employer. However, not all Americans can avail themselves of this since most of them don’t work full-time jobs which are classified under the “Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA)”, commonly known as Obamacare.

Now this act has been officially launched, it applies to part-time associates with 30 hours working hours per week under the same employer.

Staples actually puts forth a commendable effort in making things easier even for part-time employees. After 90 days of service, all part-time associates are eligible for a fixed benefit health insurance plan. According to the Staples benefits page, the employee contribution is an arguably inexpensive $20.96 for each pay period.

Update: Staples makes clear on their benefits page that the fixed-benefit plan offered to part-time employees is not considered creditable coverage for the purposes of Obamacare, meaning you may need additional coverage to avoid the federal penalty.

Another report of the Census Bureau suggests that only 24% of US part-timers have basic access to employer-sponsored health insurance. The role of part-timers in the US economy is crucial as they work on what full-timers can’t. Still, they have to string together multiple temporary positions to make ends meet. If they are working less than 30 hours per week, then essentially they have to attend school or raise a family in between jobs. Therefore, all Americans are required by Affordable Care Act to maintain their own health coverage as employers aren’t required to provide healthcare benefits to part-time staff. For all these reasons, part-time employment opportunities, that provide healthcare benefits, are amongst most sought-after jobs.

Under the PPACA, several part-time employees do receive subsidies that can help in affording individual healthcare plans from private insurance that are state-run. In this era of downsizing, many companies are scaling back; and those who are not, are eliminating benefit packages especially for part-time staff. Not to mention how Target, Trader Joe and Home Depot including Walmart have recently discontinued healthcare plans for their part-time staff by raising the verge for health coverage to 30 hours per week. Those who don’t meet the requirement must turn to state or fed insurance exchanges for subsidies.

Staples Offering Healthcare insurance Benefits to its Part-Time Employees

While several fortune 500 companies and other major industry toppers that once offered health insurance for their part-timers have now drastically dropped that perk, there are still employers who think for their part-time associates on priority basis.

Amongst these employee-friendly companies, Staples is consistent to offer health care coverage with other perks to part-time workers who work less than 30 hours per week.

Being the largest and most geographically diverse companies –Staples really try to make things easy for its part-time associates. At Staples, part time employees are eligible for a fixed benefit of health insurance plan after 90 days of service. In accordance with the Staples benefit page, the employee contribution is very reasonable with only $20.96 per salary.