In 2002, Wal-Mart raised its definition of “full-time” work from 29 to 34 hours weekly. With that change, Wal-Mart increased the number of its part-time workers to nearly 400,000, or about a third of its total workforce, and also increased barriers to workers’ eligibility for job-based health care, according to a report by the minority staff of theU.S. House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee.
Part-time workers must wait two years to be fully covered and cannot ever purchase care under the Wal-Mart plan for their children or spouses.
And even when some workers do become eligible for health care coverage, many can’t afford the premiums and deductibles. According to an October 2003 AFL-CIO report, an unmarried Wal-Mart employee earning between $7.50 and $8.50 an hour for a “full-time” 34-hour workweek and choosing the least expensive coverage available might have to spend $6,396.50—some 45 percent of his or her annual wages—on health care. The plan also carries a $350-per-family-member annual deductible before coverage can begin.
Instead of providing affordable health care, Wal-Mart encourages its workers to sign up for public health assistance. On a Dec. 19, 2003 broadcast of “NOW” with Bill Moyers, former 10-year Wal-Mart manager Gretchen Adams said managers kept “a list of the state agencies so that we could have some place to send these associates…for Medicaid, for well-baby care, for whatever it is that they need.”
In 2003, Las Vegas Wal-Mart managers even gave workers special forms that helped them certify their poverty status when applying for public assistance, says Fortune magazine.
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