Guthrie Taco Bell Worker Speaks After Hours Cut To Avoid Health Insurance Mandate

The Taco Bell in Guthrie cuts its full-time employees' hours to avoid mandates under the new health care law.

Now, a mother of three who works at that restaurant is speaking out. Under the Affordable Care Act, any company that has more than 50 full-time workers falls under the new health insurance mandate.

We talked to the company that owns the Guthrie restaurant today, and it confirmed the cuts. Now, employees there aren't allowed to work more than 28 hours a week.

Johnna Davis has worked at the Taco Bell in Guthrie since September. She's seen a 200 dollar cut in her paycheck since a new store policy went into effect.

"What we were being told was one thing, and that was, ‘we're going to offer benefits, we'll just keep all of our full time employees and then come December, their whole story changed," Johnna Davis said.

She says her manager held a meeting before Christmas, saying employees' hours would be cut in the new year.

"They informed everybody that nobody was considered full-time any longer, that everybody was now considered part-time, and [they] would be cutting hours back to 28 hours or less due to Obamacare," Davis said.

Under the Affordable Care Act, companies are required to provide insurance to its full-time employees, or face fines. Davis would've qualified for an insurance plan.

"Several of the other people I work with, some of them are single parents, and we do the best we can, and 28 hours a week just isn't going to cut it for the bills," Davis said.

Now this single mother of 3 is looking for a new full-time job. Nearly 20 employees their have seen their hours cut.

Treadwell Enterprises out of Missouri owns that restaurant in Guthrie. The company told News 9 that it's retaining full time hours for most of its full-time supervisors and managers.

Treadwell Enterprises released the following statement Monday to News 9:

"Treadwell Enterprises, like most businesses, is still researching what the Affordable Care Act means to our operations. Regardless of the conclusion of our analysis, we will comply with this law, as we do all laws."