In order to keep healthcare costs low, Wal-Mart will no longer offer health insurance to about 30,000 part-time employees who do not work an average of 30 hours a week, according to Reuters.
The cut equals about five percent of the nations largest employer's total part-time workforce, Reuters reported. Beginning Jan. 1, employees working "less than an average of 30 hours a week" will no longer be offered health insurance.
In a blogpost, senior vice president of global benefits Sally Welborn said that "Wal-Mart continues to face rising healthcare costs," and that "this year, the expenses were significant and led us to make some tough decisions as we begin our annual enrollment."
"We had to make some tough decisions," Welborn told The Associated Press. Welborn added that although she did not know the amount of employees who would no longer be offered health insurance, Wal-Mart will aid employees in finding new healthcare options.
"We are trying to balance the needs of (workers) as well as the costs of (workers) as well as the cost to Wal-Mart," she said, the AP reported.
Wal-Mart recently said the amount of U.S. employees enrolling in its health care plans after the Affordable Care Act had exceeded their expectations, according to Reuters.
Wal-Mart employs about 1.4 million American workers, and about 1.2 million workers, including family members combined, are enrolled in their healthcare plans, Reuters reported.
Since 2011, Wal-Mart has been cutting back on the amount of employees eligible for healthcare, according to Reuters. Wal-Mart is the last in other major retailers, like Home Depot and Target, who have also recently cut benefits due to the Affordable Care Act.
Nancy Reynolds, a cashier at a Florida Wal-Mart said this is Wal-Mart's way of keeping workers in a financial crisis, Reuters reported.
"Taking away access to healthcare, even though many of my co-workers couldn't afford it anyway, is just another example of Walmart manipulating the system to keep workers like me in a state of financial crisis," Reynolds said.
