Washington, D.C. – January 7, 2014 - The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), the sole national association representing all segments of the 1.8 million-employee lodging industry, today applauded Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) for introducing the bipartisan Forty Hours is Full Time Act. This legislation would fix a flaw in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by restoring the traditional definition of full-time employment back to the 40-hours per week which the American workforce has lived by for decades.

“We applaud Senators Collins and Donnelly for their leadership and willingness to work across the aisle to make this crucial change to the Affordable Care Act. Changing the definition of a full-time employee back to the traditional 40-hours is an important adjustment that affords hoteliers – many of whom are small businesses – and their employees the flexibility they need in today’s workforce,” said AH&LA president and CEO Katherine Lugar. “The existing law unnecessarily restricts the scheduling flexibility that so many employees value in the hotel industry, and could force employees to take additional jobs to make up for lost income. As of today, bipartisan legislation has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. The House and the Senate should move quickly on legislation to restore the 40 hour work week, which is a change that benefits employees and employers alike.”

Representatives Todd Young (IN-9) and Daniel Lipinski (IL-3) have introduced counterpart legislation, H.R. 30 “Save American Workers” Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives.