Firms must swear Obamcare not a factor in firings

Is the latest delay of ObamaCare regulations politically motivated? Consider what administration officials announcing the new exemption for medium-sized employers had to say about firms that might fire workers to get under the threshold and avoid hugely expensive new requirements of the law. Obama officials made clear in a press briefing that firms would not be allowed to lay off workers to get into the preferred class of those businesses with 50 to 99 employees. How will the feds know what employers were thinking when hiring and firing? Simple. Firms will be required to certify to the IRS – under penalty of perjury – that ObamaCare was not a motivating factor in their staffing decisions. To avoid ObamaCare costs you must swear that you are not trying to avoid ObamaCare costs. You can duck the law, but only if you promise not to say so.

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Administration officials dispute that this is happening on any large scale. Further, Treasury officials said Monday that businesses will be told to "certify" that they are not shedding full-time workers simply to avoid the mandate. Officials said employers will be told to sign a "self-attestation" on their tax forms affirming this, under penalty of perjury.

So, either a business must keep on full time workers that no longer make economic sense, due to Obamacare or they have to lie and say that these workers were not fired or had their hours reduced as a result of Obamacare.

The government is saying "nudge, nudge, wink, wink, we know you cut staff due to Obamacare but as long as you say that is not the reason, all is good". This way, businesses can't publicly claim that these workers lost their jobs due to the ACA.

So, what is the actual "penalty" for a business that cuts staff due to the ACA and does NOT sign "ze papers"? Gulag for you?