How did the federal government influence the workweek and group health benefits?

The workweek is changing. It used to be that every full-time job required 40 hours per week, but that's mostly gone out the window. Let's see if we can figure out how long the modern workweek is. 

Is it 30?
Under the Affordable Care Act, full-time employees are ones who work an average of 30 hours per week. Companies with the equivalent of 50 full-time staff members need to offer group health insurance to anyone who meets this standard. 

It'd be easy to accept 30 hours as the standard for a full-time workweek because of the ACA, but that figure may change. The Society for Human Resource Management reports that the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted in favor of the Save American Workers Act. The legislation will increase the ACA's threshold to 40 hours to ensure that employers won't cut hours in order to save money. Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) explained that many professionals could face catastrophic losses without protection. 

"Many of our hourly workers are experiencing a drop in the number of hours and wages that they enjoy of as much as 25 percent," Young said. "On balance, these are folks who can least afford to see a cut in their take-home pay. And so we want to restore the 40-hour workweek."

The SHRM notes that the act has a great deal of support. Many unions have backed the proposal because they believe it well help protect members. 

Though the bill was passed with 248 affirmative votes in the House, it's expected to face stiff opposition in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already criticized the act and will likely prevent it from receiving enough support. 

The legislation makes the situation all the more confusing for employers. If various government factions can't agree on what constitutes a workweek, then can there really be a clear answer? For now, 30 hours is the official mark, but change might not be all that far off. 

Is it much higher?
Recent data indicate that people work well more than 30 or 40 hours per week. Research from Rasmussen Reports indicates that 40 percent of professionals put in more than 40 hours and another 9 percent go beyond 50 hours as of December 2013. For comparison, only 33 percent of respondents worked an excess of 40 hours in May. 

That's why it's important for companies to monitor the number of hours in their staffs' workweeks. There needs to be a solid middle ground between long enough that employees can earn decent wages and so long that workers are overburdened with responsibilities.