Topeka ? Toll collectors on the Kansas Turnpike are going to see some changes in how many hours they work because of the Affordable Care Act, officials said.

The ACA requires that employees who average 30 or more hours per week must have employer-provided health care coverage.

But the Kansas Turnpike Authority does not provide coverage for part-time employees, some of whom work more than 30 hours per week.

So, those collectors will have their work hours decreased.

“We plan to remain consistent with our long-term policy of not providing coverage for part time KTA employees,” a KTA memo to toll collectors said earlier this month. “In order to achieve that goal and remain consistent with the law, we will need to limit the number of hours that part time collectors work each week.”

The part-time collectors will be scheduled for a maximum of three eight-hour shifts per week.

KTA has 131 full-time toll collectors and 93 part-time collectors, according to Mike Johnston, president and chief executive officer of the KTA. Johnston said he didn’t know how many toll collectors will see a change in their hours.

Since the 236-mile turnpike that runs from Kansas City, Kan., to the Oklahoma border south of Wichita is a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week operation, the change in policy will have a ripple effect.

Some part-time collectors, “whose willingness to work a variety of shifts has been very limited,” may be “required to improve their availability,” the memo said.

Some full-time employees may be required to work more shifts than their standard schedule and some toll districts may have to hire additional part-time help.

“There is nothing nefarious going on. We are taking steps administratively that would make certain that we continue not to provide benefits to part-time people,” Johnston said.

The requirement to offer health insurance to employees working 30 hours a week or more applies to employers with 50 or more full-time workers.