ADVERTISEMENT

Whole Foods CEO: Obamacare Is Hurting Our Employees

December 18, 2013

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey spoke with Fox News’ Stuart Varney Wednesday to discuss the negative impact Obamacare is having on the health food retailer.

Mackey told Varney that Whole Foods, which has been in business for 35 years and employees 80,000 workers, is being hit hard by Obamacare. "It’s raising our costs…We’ll have to cover things that are expensive that we may not want to cover, our team members may not want to have covered," Mackey said. He explained that that costs will be raised, which could either depress wage increases or the corporation will be forced to pass the cost on to Whole Foods employees.

Obamacare mandates that employers must provide health care coverage for employees working more than 30 hours a week, a requirement that Mackey says is counterintuitive.

"[The mandate] creates the wrong incentives for employers. It creates incentive for fewer full time workers and more part time," Mackey said. "If all our competitors are going that direction, we’ll probably have that same kind of incentive to do the same."

Whole Foods has maintained a 75 percent full time and 25 percent part time work structure, something Mackey says is unusual in retail. Because of Obamacare, Whole Foods will be forced to adjust the full time/part time ratio to 70/30.

Published under: Obamacare