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A major restaurant chain said Tuesday that its complaints about President Obama's healthcare law have been bad for business.

Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, had previously announced plans to cut its workers' hours so that it wouldn't have to provide health insurance under the law's employer mandate.

Darden is one of several large employers to consider rolling back workers' hours in response to the Affordable Care Act. But the company said Tuesday that negative publicity surrounding that position might be bad for business.

The company on Tuesday lowered its earnings estimates for fiscal 2013, and said in a statement that the weaker projections owe in part to concerns over a backlash to its healthcare stance.

"Our outlook for the year also reflects the potential impact, though difficult to measure, of recent negative media coverage that focused on Darden within the full-service segment and how we might accommodate healthcare reform," Darden CEO Clarence Otis said in a statement.

The company said it would figure out how to make the new healthcare requirements work.

After saying Darden's brands are working to improve their products and marketing, Otis added that "we are also committed to accommodating healthcare reform in ways that work for our employees and guests."

Several restaurant chains and other businesses with large numbers of part-time workers have said they plan to either roll back hours or raise prices to offset additional healthcare costs.

One such firm — Papa John's Pizza — suffered a hit in its brand favorability following its comments about the health law, according to a recent consumer study.

The research firm YouGov found that customers' impression of Papa John's and Applebee's fell in the weeks after Election Day, when both companies indicated plans to cut workers' hours or raise costs because of healthcare reform. http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/2709
11-restaurant-firm-says-criticism-of-obamacare-may-hurt-earnings]
Of course, in fairness that's not the whole story. They are also

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blaming sour promotions in its eateries, Superstorm Sandy, its purchase of the Yard House USA chain. Recent promotional offers also didn’t resonate well with “financially stretched consumers,” especially as “newer promotions from competitors” lured them away, said Darden Chief Executive Clarence Otis in a statement.More at http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-olive-garden-darden-oba
macare-20121204,0,6293689.story

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I love it. Maybe Americans DO care (at least a bit) about this bullshit after all. I sincerely hope so.

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A month after the U.S. Supreme Court had affirmed the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, 88% of employers told Towers Watson they had no plans to terminate their health care plans for those working 30 hours or more a week — up from 71% in 2011. Also, 77% of companies said health care benefits were central to rewarding and retaining employees.Much more at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/09/10/bisc0910.htm]
It's places like McDonald's and Safeway and other cheapos who don't offer health insurance coverage to part timers, and move people from full to part time to avoid it:

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In 2012, 28 percent of organizations of all sizes that offer health benefits offer them to part-time workers, according to the 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Education Trust. That is a notable increase from the 16 percent reported in 2011, but in line with the 25 percent reported in 2010.

Larger employers are more likely to offer health benefits to part-time employees. In 2012, 45 percent of employers with 200 or more full- and part-time employees offer benefits to part-timers, compared with 28 percent of smaller companies, the survey of 3,326 public and private employers showed. Part-time jobs are common in the retail, food services and construction industries. They are often low-paying and typically do not require advanced skills or training. More at http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/EditorialContent/2012/1112
/Pages/1112-part-time-worker-benefits.aspx

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Tit for tat got us where we are today. If we want to be grownups, we need to resist the ugliness. If we each did, this would be a better reflection on Firefly and a more welcome place. I will try.