Laws have unintended consequences

I’ve got a 23 year old grandson.  He’s a good kid.   He works hard in a local restaurant about 40 hours a week.

He worked his way through college by preparing food,  cleaning up the place and just being a good employee.  He also received a small scholarship to help him make it through school.

He’s looking for a better paying job, but with the local economy the way it is today, he’s having a difficult time finding work in his field – – so he’s living with his folks and working at the restaurant.

At least he was – – until last week  – – when his boss told him that he would have to cut his hours – below 30 hours a week.   His boss said that because of the Affordable Care Act, any employee working more than 30 hours a week, would have to have health care provided for him.

His boss said that he couldn’t afford to do that and cut his hours to 29 a week.

My grandson is now trying to look for a second job to supplement his first job, while he tries to find work where his college diploma will be of assistance.

That’s just a perfect example of how government programs can have a profound impact on people — and in this case a negative impact.

For my grandson, there are two impacts.

First — a college degree does no good if there are no jobs available.  We can spend all the money we want on education – but if the jobs aren’t there — then all the education in the world isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit.

Then — the Affordable Care Act requires employers to provide health care to all of their full time employees.  Full time being 30 hours a week, according to the Federal Government.

Most small businesses can’t do that so in order to meet the federal requirements  they cut back on the hours their employees can work.

The unintended consequences are often more significant than the intended results when government passes laws without reading them.

People can be hurt by bad laws.   My grandson is one of them.