Staples: Obama ‘Appears Not to Have All the Facts’

BuzzFeed had a report out earlier this week that the retail giant Staples is threatening to fire any employees that work over 25 hours a week because of requirements laid out in the Affordable Care Act. President Obama just so happened to sit down with BuzzFeed this week and he scolded Staples, saying, “When I hear large corporations that make billions of dollars in profits trying to blame our interest in providing health insurance as an excuse for cutting back workers’ wages, shame on them.”

Well, Staples fired back today. In a statement obtained by The Hill, a Staples spokesperson said Obama “appears not to have all the facts.” He said, “It’s unfortunate that the president is attacking a company that provides more than 85,000 jobs and is a major tax payer.”

In fairness, Staples did tell BuzzFeed this policy “pre-dates” the ACA and it may only have been “reiterated… to our associates as part of our ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of our stores.” However, some employees did speak anonymously to BuzzFeed about how much harsher the tone has been about the 25 hours.

One said before January, they just got a slap on the wrist. Now, “they’ve threatened to write up managers and every person that goes up over 25 hours.”

[image via Niloo/Shutterstock]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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