Construction Industry Braces for a Devastating Employer Mandate

Click here to listen to the audio of NFIB's most recent national conference call with our policy experts and construction industry members about this harmful provision.

President Obama is currently working with congressional leaders to reconcile the healthcare reform bills passed by the House and Senate. His goal? A bill by the State of the Union address, expected in early February.

Unfortunately, since this process isn’t very inclusive, each and every small business owner should be concerned that the provisions in a final bill could include new health insurances taxes, onerous paperwork requirements and mostly devastating – stringent employer mandates.

That last point is what has small construction employers bracing for near disaster.

Without any policy justification, the recently passed Senate bill specifically mandates construction companies to provide health insurance coverage or pay penalties if they have more than five employees and a payroll that exceeds $250,000.

This destructive new mandate was only made public just days before the vote and is an unprecedented assault on a single industry that is made up of mostly small businesses. This new mandate would have devastating effects on construction companies that are already experiencing an unemployment rate exceeding 18 percent after losing more than $200 billion in economic activity last year.

In these tough economic times, it's unreasonable to presume that the men and women who own and operate small construction firms can bear the increased cost of these new benefits simply because Congress mandates that they do so.

Worst of all, this mandate, which will directly strengthen the already powerful labor union lobby is nothing more than a political payoff designed to make it easier for big unions to grow its membership rolls.

We are working with lawmakers to strip this provision from the final bill. This is NOT the reform our nation’s construction industry needs or can afford. 

Click here to call your Senators and tell them to oppose the unfair and costly employer mandate targeted at the construction industry. 

Click here for more information on this destructive mandate.