With the nearing deadline for health care signups approaches, attention has again been drawn to the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.  Since President Obama's signature legislation was introduced and subsequently passed into law, many detractors have made claims about the types of damage the law would have on the average U.S. worker.

In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, the CEO of CKE Restaurants (the company that owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's) said that the law is forcing companies to make changes that are detrimental to the employee.  CEO Andy Pudzer said this:

"Obamacare has caused millions of full-time jobs to become part-time."

We had our partners at PolitiFact take a look at this claim to see if it was accurate or not.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that Pudzer's claim rates HALF TRUE on the Truth-O-Meter.  Gillin says there's a correlation, but Pudzer's estimate may be rather high.

"We took a look at the numbers and found that there were about eight million people who work in restaurant franchises like Hardee's and Carl's Jr.," said Gillin.  "What we found is that there may be a correlation, but there's nothing to support the claim that it's affecting 'millions' of workers.  Independent research conducted by universities and other media outlets have estimated that there might be a few hundred thousand employees that have been moved from full-time to part-time hours, but nowhere near the 'millions' as claimed by Pudzer."

PolitiFact reached out to Pudzer for comment and received some clarification back from the CEO.  In a statement to PolitiFact, Pudzer conceded that "there is no definitive data available" to support his claim, but then added that "there is also nothing definitive to the contrary of which I am aware."

Although some estimates say that several hundred thousand workers might have a status change from full-time to part-time that would affect their employer-provided insurance, the number of those affected is not in the "millions," as Pudzer claimed.  PolitiFact rates this claim HALF TRUE.

 

SOURCES: Obamacare changing status for millions of workers?