The Florida-based Gator’s Dockside restaurant chain has began adding an Obamacare surcharge to meal tickets for the purposes of covering healthcare for their employees, but there’s a catch you may already be aware of.
via TPM
“Instead of raising prices on our products to generate the additional revenue needed to cover the costs of ACA compliance, certain Gator’s Dockside locations have implemented a 1% surcharge on all food and beverage purchases only.” a sign reads at one of the restaurants, alerting customers to the surcharge, according to CNN.
The catch is the employer mandate that requires businesses with over 50 employees to provide health insurance does not take effect until 2015. Moreover, Gator’s only provides insurance to management as of this time.
The company employs a total of 500 people, with about half working full-time. Currently only management receives health benefits, but the restaurant will have to offer coverage to all full-timers once the mandate takes effect. The fee will allow the company to continue offering full-time hours to many workers, according to Sandra Clark, the group’s director of operations.
Gator’s Dockside has added an Obamacare surcharge for no reason at all.
Even if the employer mandate were live today, that wouldn’t be an excuse for instituting an Obamacare surcharge, but it isn’t live today. This is a farce. Gator’s Dockside is not currently obligated to provide health insurance and they do not, in fact, provide health insurance for anyone outside of management.