 |
|
Democratic Gains
Bolster Chances
of Union Card-
Check Bill
With President Barack Obama in the White House and bigger Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill following the election, a bill at the top of organized labor's agenda has new momentum.
Labor's top priority is a measure that would make it easier for workers to join a union. The Employee Free Choice Act would require companies to recognize a union when a majority of workers sign cards authorizing one.
The bill was approved by the House in 2007 but was blocked by Senate Republicans. Next year, there will be at least six more Democrats in the Senate.
Their total of 57, puts them within three votes of a majority big enough to stop a filibuster. Two Senate races, in Minnesota and Illinois, are still undecided.
"Our prospects have improved dramatically since the election," said Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, at a press briefing in Washington recently.
Obama's ascension from the Senate to the White House is one of the primary reasons for the union's renewed hope for the bill. As an Illinois senator, Obama was a co-sponsor of the legislation.
The measure represents a major change in labor law. Under current rules, a company can force a secret-ballot vote supervised by the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In addition, the measure would allow a company or a union to send a first contract dispute to mediation after 90 days and to binding arbitration after 30 days of mediation. It would impose fines up to $20,000 on companies that discriminate against workers during organizing campaigns and force them to pay treble back wages.
Critics argue that the bill undermines workplace democracy and is designed to bolster union membership, which stands at about 12 percent of the U.S. workforce. However, in 2007, unions won 50 percent to 60 percent of organizing votes. For unions, this legislation is about winning 100 percent by not having an election.
Supporters of the legislation contend that company intimidation denies millions of workers the opportunity to form a union. They say that collective bargaining is the avenue to higher salaries and better benefits.
"In an economy that gives corporations far too much power, a union card remains the single best ticket into the middle class," said AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. According to Sweeney, union members "were the firewall that stopped John McCain" in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
Promoting the card-check bill was a primary motivation for deep union involvement in the election. Unions contacted 13 million voters in 24 states to support Obama and other Democrats. The AFL-CIO and its affiliates spent $250 million on member mobilization, advertising and contributions to candidates.
Despite strong Democratic gains in the election, the party has fallen short of a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Even if Republicans have enough votes to block the bill again, Trumka is confident about the measure's prospects. "There are an infinite number of strategies to get that passed rather than a straight-up vote—and they will get our full attention," he said.
Hedley Lawson brings over 25 years of optical industry experience to Jobson Medical LLC. For over 10 years, he has been a contributing editor to VM, most recently as writer of the monthly column "Business Essentials." He is the Contributing Editor of VM's
E-Newsletter Business Essentials. Contact
Business Essentials with questions or comments. |
| |
 |
|
COBRA Benefits
for a Spouse
Q:
If an employee drops a spouse from their group health coverage at open enrollment in anticipation of a divorce, are we still required to offer COBRA coverage? And if so, when?
A: Yes, you are still required to offer COBRA coverage to the spouse from the date of the divorce, not from the loss of coverage date due to the open enrollment drop. Section 4980B-4 of the Internal Revenue Code, under Q&A-1, paragraph c, states that if coverage is eliminated in anticipation of a qualifying event, such as a divorce or legal separation, the elimination is disregarded in determining a loss of coverage for COBRA purposes.
As the intent of the law is to provide continuation coverage due to a divorce or legal separation, simply dropping coverage at open enrollment is not a way for an employee or an employer to circumvent COBRA coverage being offered to a spouse dropped for this reason.
Rather, while the spouse may be dropped from the group plan at open enrollment, when the divorce does become final, the spouse or employee will have at least 60 days to inform the employer or plan administrator of the divorce, and COBRA continuation must be offered as of the date of the divorce. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made this clear in Revenue Ruling 2002-88.
So how does the employer know when the divorce is final so that they may meet their obligations under the law? Remember that pesky requirement of having to send or add to your summary plan description a general COBRA notice to all new participants? Within that notice, the employer is required to explain both their own COBRA obligations and those of the participants, including guidance on the allowable time frames to notify the company or plan administrator of a qualifying event.
Those notices are not just for the employee, but for all dependents on the plan, and an employer may hold all qualified beneficiaries to those time frames. COBRA states that employers must give participants at least 60 days to notify them of a divorce or legal separation, and that time frame must be communicated in the general COBRA notice.
If the employer meets this notice obligation, and neither the spouse nor employee notifies the employer or plan administrator within 60 days of the date of divorce or legal separation, the employer's COBRA obligations for that spouse will have been met.
To ensure a good faith effort to comply with general COBRA notice obligations, an employer may wish to mail the notice to the employee and dependents by certificate of mailing (not certified mail) and keep a log of these mailings.
If you have a question or issue for one of our experts, contact
Business Essentials.
—Hedley Lawson, Jr.
Source:
Society of Human
Resources Management's
HR Knowledge Center
| |
 |
|
Budgets for 2009 Salary Increases Drop by 20 Percent
The news for salary increases for 2009 is not good, according to preliminary results from a recent
Culpepper Trends Survey on the impact of the economic downturn on compensation plans. The survey revealed that 2009 salary increase budgets have dropped by 20 percent from projected salary increase budgets initially reported in August 2008. 
In response to the global financial crisis that erupted in mid-September, nearly half of companies have either reduced or eliminated salary increase budgets for 2009. One-third of companies indicated that they are undecided.
Since September 2008, base salary increase budgets for 2009 have declined an average of 20 percent from 4.18 percent to 3.33 percent. The percentage of companies planning to freeze salaries in 2009 has increased from 2 percent to 11 percent. Some 7 percent of companies surveyed plan to delay salary increases for three to six months. And an additional 23 percent of companies are considering either delaying salary increase or freezing salaries completely in 2009.
A word of advice: in this time of economic uncertainty, it is critical to attract top talent and retain star performers who will drive your organization’s success in difficult market conditions. You cannot afford to guess about compensation rates of key employees or make "across the board" salary increases or freezes. A modest investment in current market data will help you allocate your compensation dollars wisely and in the right places.
Back to Top |
| |
 
|
 |
|
Post Open Enrollment Action Steps
It is Open Enrollment time and you have already sent out to employees a workbook or newsletter summarizing your benefits program for 2009 along with enrollment forms, the Medicare Part D notice and the annual reminder required by the
Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act (Janet's law). In addition, you may also want to provide your employees with a few voluntary, but very helpful reminders: 
-
To check, and if needed, update beneficiaries under life insurance programs (including any AD&D plan).
-
To update the status of their dependents, especially children who are or will be full-time students. If you have employees complete forms to certify the tax dependency of their dependents (important especially for plans such as FSAs), this may be a good time to get new forms.
-
Summarize insurance company underwriting rules for increases in coverage such as an evidence of good health requirement for life insurance. It is also important to remind employees that the actively at work rule will apply to increased (or new) life and disability insurance coverage, with emphasis on when the actively at work provision applies. Generally, the actively-at-work provision will apply on the first day of the plan year (1/1/2009 for a calendar year plan), not the date the employee enrolls for the coverage.
-
Let employees know how they can get a copy of your HIPAA privacy policy. While this reminder is only required every three years, it is a lot easier to include a few sentences each year than to try to remember to include it every three years.
If you have not already done so, remember to mail the open enrollment materials to children (or the custodial parent of the child) covered under a qualified medical child support order, employees who are on a
Family Medical Leave (FMLA) and to COBRA qualified beneficiaries. And if you provide retiree coverage, make sure they are included as well.
After Open Enrollment is complete, there are still a few things left to do, but you have more time to do them. Some items to include on your follow up list:
-
Send Summary Plan Descriptions to newly enrolled participants.
-
Send a general COBRA notice to any newly enrolled employee or a spouse added to your health care plan.
-
Make sure that HIPAA certificates of creditable coverage are provided to individuals whose coverage is ending.
-
Distribute a full HIPAA privacy notice to employees who are new enrollees in your health plan(s).
-
Notify CMS of the status of your prescription drug coverage (i.e. creditable or non-creditable).
Lastly, once you have complete information about plan enrollment, it's time to perform the annual discrimination testing if you have a cafeteria plan or a self-funded health plan. If you have employer-provided life insurance, you may also need to run those discrimination tests as well.
Source: Victor Deksnys, area executive vice president, Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. He can be reached at (415) 925-2079 or
Victor_Deksnys@ajg.com.
How to Help Employees Deal With Change
The current challenges presented by the recession are forcing ECPs to make changes in how they do business which translates into changes in the workplace. Following are a few pointers on how your employees can deal with the stress associated with change in how your practice is run:
- Explain why the change is required or necessary.
- Describe the expected benefits to be gained ("What's in it for us").
- Provide training and resources necessary to implement the change.
- Solicit or address any employee questions and concerns.
- Be patient and expect mistakes as new habits are formed.
- Demonstrate your support and commitment to the change.
Back to Top |
| |
  |
|
 DOL Postpones Move to Electronic Annual Report Filing 
The
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued rules that defer the electronic filing mandate for Form 5500 and the required attachments and schedules for one year—from the 2008 plan year to the 2009 plan year. The DOL has determined that in order to ensure an orderly migration to the electronic filing system, a deferral of the final rule for one additional year is necessary. This will allow time for the DOL to procure contracts to build the electronic system and to give plan sponsors more time to prepare for filing Form 5500 electronically.
Background on Regulations
In 2006, the DOL issued final regulations that establish electronic filing as the only method for submitting Form 5500 annual reports and required attachments and schedules. The final regulations apply to employee pension and welfare benefit plans, plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers to plans subject to Title I of ERISA.
The new electronic filing system will use the Internet as the sole medium for transmission of all 5500 filings. The system will incorporate immediate validity and accuracy checks that will reduce both the error and rejection rate of filings and eliminate much of the costly post-filing paper correspondence and related potential penalties. In addition, the new system will offer two ways for the electronic submission of annual return/reports.
The first system will offer users of approved, privately developed Form 5500 computer software a secure Internet-based method for transmission of Form 5500s created through the use of the software. The DOL also intends to include, as a second filing method, a dedicated, secure Internet Web site through which plan administrators (or other return/report preparers) will be able to input data and to complete and submit Form 5500 filings on an individual plan-by-plan basis.
New Effective Date
In light of concerns regarding the implementation of an electronic system, the DOL has decided to delay the effective date of the rules by one year to plan years starting on or after Jan. 1, 2009. Accordingly, the majority of filers will have until at least July 2010 to prepare for electronic filings.
Conclusion
The new electronic filing system reflects the government's and business community's move toward paperless systems while allowing sufficient preparation time to implement the new standard. It is expected to maximize the speed and efficiency of 5500 transmittals, and significantly reduce filer errors, thereby resulting in less correspondence and fewer filer penalties.
Source: Victor Deksnys, area executive vice president,
Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc.
A Checklist for I-9 Compliance 
The
Federal Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) requires all employers to complete I-9 forms to verify each employee's identity and work eligibility. The IRCA also authorizes penalties against employers; even minor paperwork violations can result in fines of up to $1,100 per form.
In the last few years, the country's focus on I-9 compliance has substantially increased. As part of its workplace enforcement strategy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued regulations requiring employers to police their employees' immigration status. Although these regulations are currently on hold, companies are still required to have an accurate and completed I-9 form for every employee in the workforce.
It is not only federal agencies interested in I-9s. Various states are also getting involved. For example, state laws in Arizona, Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri, and South Carolina impose penalties for immigration and I-9 violations by employers.
Therefore, it is more important than ever to have your I-9s in order, so take time to review your current I-9 compliance.
Back to Top
|
| |
  |
|
 |
|
Accounting for Sick Time
With the cold and flu season upon us, the number of employees calling in sick is bound to increase. If your employees are required to use a PTO or sick day, be prepared that some of them would rather come to work with a cold or flu rather than using a PTO day. This, in turn, usually results in others in the office catching the bug and begs the question, can employers send the person home from work and charge them for an accrued day of PTO?
As long as there is no contract requiring otherwise and as long as the decision is not motivated by discriminatory animus, employers are free to send sick employees home and dock them a PTO day. Further, if an employee is Family and Medical Leave Act-qualifying and has a "serious health condition," and if provided for in your company policy, you may require that the employee substitute the PTO leave day in lieu of
unpaid FMLA leave.
In your example, a simple cold would likely not qualify as a "serious health condition," but it is possible that a cold or flu with complications, or another highly contagious disease would qualify. Thus, you should be aware of the relationship between PTO and the FMLA and also the differing opinions on what constitutes a "serious health condition."
If you were to implement such a procedure, the employee's guaranteed unpaid FMLA leave would run concurrently with the PTO leave, therefore resulting in the reduction of the 12-week unpaid FMLA leave "bank" by one PTO day.
As a practical matter, you should ask the employee first to voluntarily use his/her PTO before sending them home on involuntary leave so as not to adversely affect your employment relationship.
Back to Top
|
| |
|
| | |
| In This Edition... |
|
 It's Your Business
Democratic Gains
Bolster Chances
of Union Card-
Check Bill
From the Top
Budgets for 2009
Salary Increases
Drop by 20 Percent
Ask the Experts
COBRA Benefits
for a Spouse
People
Management
Post Open Enrollment
Action Steps
How to Help Employees
Deal With Change
Office Space
Economy Forces
Some to Consider
A Compressed
Work Week
Health Matters
Accounting for
Sick Time
Rules and Regulations
DOL Postpones
Move to Electronic
Annual Report
Filing
A Checklist for
I-9 Compliance
Resource Corner
Links to Important
Resources |
| |
|
 Subscribe to Business Essentials
The monthly update about day-to-day management issues for optical ECPs and retailers.
Print this issue of Business Essentials.
Get the latest optical industry news!
Subscribe to our other
e-newsletters:
VMail Extra
Lab Advisor |
| |
  |
| |
|
Office Space
Economy Forces Some to Consider
A Compressed
Work Week
The current economic downturn is forcing some practices to consider the move to a four-day work week, a strategy that can benefit both employers and employees alike. Many ECPs are trying to think of ways to help their employees ease their financial pain. One method of easing the strain is having longer business hours for patients and allowing employees to work four 10-hour days each week, eliminating Friday office hours, instead of the typical eight-hour over five days schedule.
Commonly referred to as a "compressed workweek," this method certainly has its advantages. It can save employees one round trip to work each week, adding up to significant savings. Even before gas prices began to vacillate, employers used compressed work weeks as an informal work-life benefit for employees with commutes or other family obligations. Now, some eyecare practices are also choosing to take the cost savings a step further by actually closing their offices one day each week.
While on the surface, this decision looks like a win-win for everyone, there are a number of things you must consider before moving to a shortened work-week schedule.
Not all jobs are suited for a compressed work-week schedule. This is particularly true for jobs that require a set schedule to ensure proper coverage and patient interaction.
Paid holidays are a significant consideration when implementing a compressed schedule. While not legally mandated, most ECPs provide a certain number of paid holidays to their employees. It is important that you plan how you are going to handle these paid holidays for employees who are already working a compressed work-week schedule.
Those who have a four-day work-week typically use one of three approaches to eligibility for holiday pay. Some employers pay only for holidays occurring on the employee's regularly scheduled workday. Other employers establish a "floating" holiday system whereby employees are given a certain number of days off in exchange for working on typical holidays. A third approach that employers choose is to simply provide an extra day of pay while requiring the employee to work on that holiday; essentially paying the employee "double time" for the holiday.
Source:
Society for Human Resources Management's HR Knowledge Center
|
| |
 |
|
Easy-reference to Web resources about human resource policies and rules
Culpepper Trends Survey
Family Medical Leave
(FMLA)
Federal Immigration
Reform and Control
Act (IRCA)
Gallagher Benefit
Services, Inc.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Society of Human
Resources Management's
HR Knowledge Center
Unpaid FMLA Leave
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act |
| | |