May 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to the Four Point HR Newsletter

Positively Adapting To Workplace Change

Change in the workplace can be difficult. While many employees fear change and are resistant, it can be helpful and make for a smooth transition if we, as employees, accept change with a positive attitude. We must realize that in order for a business to succeed and grow that change is necessary. The marketplace is always evolving and businesses must conform to these constantly changing times.

New policies, procedures, and protocols are put in place to better the work environment for all employees as well as to make operations for every day business practices more efficient. Below we’ve listed five tips to help when facing change in the workplace.

  • Define and acknowledge what is changing and is not.
  • Be optimistic.
  • Be accepting.
  • Be proactive with accepting change and learning new skills. This will help you navigate your way through change in policies, procedures, and or protocols.
  • Discuss with co-workers how upcoming changes will affect the workplace positively.

Understand that not all changes are long-term, and that all change is dynamic. What’s most important is that we all accept change with a positive attitude, provide proactive feedback, and work together to help build a successful work environment.

Managing The Family And Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

All Four Point HR PEO clients have a great benefit for eligible employees.  (Eligible employees will have worked at least 12 months for the client company and at least 1250 hours in the last 12 months.) Assuming an employee meets the criteria, they may request up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave for:

  • Their own serious health condition, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition
  • The birth or adoption of a child, or foster child, and bonding time with the child
  • Care of a military service member, or to assist a covered, active military member who is the employee’s spouse, son, daughter or parent.

If an employee is faced with any of the above challenges in their personal lives, their job is protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act.   This means that as long as employees do not exhaust their 12 weeks of FMLA, they must be returned to the same job or one similar to it.  This benefit is intended to lessen the stress that an employee may otherwise feel if forced to choose between work and family.

It’s important to remember that time off cannot be held against an employee in any employment actions, which include:  hiring, potential promotions, or any kind of Corrective Action.  Additionally, employers should know employees may take FMLA leave as either a single block of time or in multiple, smaller blocks of time, if medically necessary.

It is important to note that FMLA leave is UNPAID LEAVE, however, if an employee has sick, vacation or general PTO time available, employees may use this time to continue to be paid and employers may request that PTO time be used.  Additionally, employers must maintain health insurance during the leave of absence, with employees making the same payments they would normally make for those benefits.

An employee requesting FMLA leave must follow the parameters below:

  • An employee must give the employer notice time as soon as it is reasonably possible for the employee to do so. (The employee should give this notice at least 30 days in advance if the leave is foreseeable.)
  • An employee does not have to provide a diagnosis to the employer, but does need to provide enough information to show that the requested leave of absence is due to an FMLA protected condition.
  • There are very specific communication guidelines that both the employee and employer must follow during this process:
    • Employers must notify employees within 5 business days of the first leave request whether or not the employee is eligible for FMLA leave.
    • When an employer gives an employee eligibility notification they must also give notice of rights and responsibilities to the employee.

These first two requirements are accomplished by completing FMLA Form WH-381 (Notice of Eligibility and Rights and Responsibilities)

    • An employer must ask the employee to provide a completed medical certification form to the employer with in 15 calendar days showing their serious health condition.

Completing FMLA Form WH-380-E most easily fulfills this requirement.  (Certification of Health Care provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition)

    • Finally, the employer must provide FMLA approval with in 5 business days (after the receipt of WH 380-E.)  At this point the employee’s leave is protected, and when the employee returns the employer MUST return the employee to the same or nearly identical job.

The approval Form WH – 382 allows the employer approve or not approve the FMLA leave, and states any additional parameters associated with the leave.

  • A Medical Certification Form is not required, but Four Point HR strongly suggests that the client employer require it.  If the form is used, then the following information must be provided:
    • Contact Information for the Health Care Provider
    • When the serious health condition began
    • How long the condition is expected to last
    • Appropriate medical facts about the condition
    • Whether the employee is unable to work /or the family member is in need of care
    • Whether the employee needs a continuous leave or intermittent leave.

If any of the above information is missing an employee has an additional 7 calendar days to complete the form and return it to the employer.

  • Assuming all facts and information are provided appropriately, and the FMLA leave is approved, there are many parameters that the employer would be expected to follow when the employee returns.  The employee must be placed in the same or a nearly identical job that:
    • Has the same or substantially the same job responsibilities and status
    • Includes the same general level of skill, effort, and authority as the previous job
    • Offers identical pay, overtime/or bonuses, and benefits
    • Ensures the same general work schedule and location.
  • If for any reason, an employee exhausts their FMLA leave entitlement of 12 weeks, the employer is NOT required to restore the employee to the same or a similar position.

There are a number of specific circumstances that have been clarified by the Department of Labor, and many additional forms for each possible use of FMLA.

The good news is that Four Point HR will guide an employer through all of these forms as well as any difficult questions or challenges. So, clients must offer this incredible benefit to employees and Four Point HR will assist at any time.

Please call 404-419-0230 with any questions or to inform us that you have an employee who wishes to take FMLA leave.  Due to the short time frames surrounding FMLA paperwork, please contact Four Point HR as soon as you receive the request for FMLA leave.

Business Guidelines To Identity Theft

Identity (ID) theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. ID theft occurs when someone uses another person’s name, Social Security number, credit card number, personal or business information without their permission to commit fraud or other crimes.

In today’s business world, it is almost impossible to do business without collecting personal information about your consumers, employees, business partners, students, or patients. The data your business collects, stores, and manages is an asset. But when your data is breached it can become a liability for your business’ identity. Should a breach incident occur, it is important to have a response plan in place to analyze what has been stolen and how to respond to the victims.

If company information has been disclosed accidentally or deliberately stolen, it is important to take immediate steps to help minimize identity theft damage.

  • Contact the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov or call toll-free 1-877-382-4357
  • Notify your local Law Enforcement
  • Contact the IRS Identity Protection Unit and complete Identity Theft Affidavit (Form 14039).

Drug Free Workplace

Drug abuse in the workplace is a serious problem that affects the output of American businesses. Over $100 billion a year is lost in revenues and production or spent on insurance claims, paid sick leave, theft, and accidents due to drug use.

According to the White House Office Drug Policy Desk, in some industries, as many as 12.3% of employees abuse drugs and 15.7% of employees abuse alcohol.  Construction and mining jobs are particularly susceptible to these levels. Most employers are unaware of the number of drug and alcohol abusers they employ and ho it is affecting their workplace productivity levels. Illegal drug users between the ages of 18 and 64 are full time employees; that’s 57.4% of drug abusers according to the Bureau of Justice. Employees under the influence of drugs or alcohol are involved in nearly four times as many accidents on the jobsite than non-drug abusers.

Some assumptions are made about substance abusers, which simply aren’t true. Many assume they are more likely to be unemployed, socially inept, mentally inferior and low income. The fact is that most substance abusers are middle class, highly intelligent, socially active and otherwise law abiding. Maintaining a job is important to a user for many reasons, among them consistent income to afford those substances, access to employer and fellow employee items that can be stolen and used for profit, access to other substance users who can either act as sources or who may purchase them from the employee. These are a few of the many reasons that alcohol and drug testing are an important part of any workplace.

Implementing a drug free program and drug screening program in the workplace requires a well-written policy that informs employees of how drug testing will take place and what is expected of them. Some states require the employer to give the employees written advance notice of the drug free program and testing. Check your state requirements before implementing your program.

There are several different ways to conduct workplace drug testing. These methods include pre-employment, post accident, random drug testing, reasonable suspicion drug testing, annual drug testing and after treatment for a previous bout with drug use. Each of these methods of detecting drug and alcohol are effective ways to maintain a drugs free workplace.

Health Insurance Exchanges – The Year Ahead

Even with states planning ahead, they face massive amounts of work in 2013 to prepare for full operations starting next January.  Key responsibilities include:

Build Information Technology Infrastructures:  Communication between the exchange, state and federal system, and qualified health plans are essential to ensure smooth eligibility determination and enrollment process.  The federal government is creating a centralized “Data Service Hub” to connect multiple sources of federal data to make eligibility assessment easier and testing is expected to be completed by Spring 2013.

Define Coverage for Essential Health Benefits:  At the start of 2014, all coverage offered inside and outside exchanges must include a list of ten mandated health benefits, including services such as ambulatory care and emergency services.  Each state can define its own “benchmark” plan, choosing from plans with the largest enrollment in the state and supplementing the plan as needed to ensure that all the “essential health benefits” are offered.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) also calls for the creation of four major “metal” tiers for plans offered on the exchange based on cost sharing and benefit levels.  Those levels are define in terms of “actuarial value” – 60% for bronze, 70% for silver, 80% for gold, and 90% for platinum.  Bronze is the minimum coverage level that satisfies the individual mandate; products in this category must cover 60% of the cost of care, on average, while enrollees pay the other 40% through cost-sharing such as deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance.

Certify Qualified Health Plans: Plans must be qualified to participate in the exchange and licensed by the state where they are offered, include essential health benefits, offer at least one silver and one gold plan, and charge the same premium for a given product both inside and outside the exchange.

Coordinate With Public Health Insurance Programs: Exchanges must determine eligibility for and coordinate enrollment in low-income health programs, such as Medicaid and CHIP.  States also need to prepare for the movement of enrollees between Medicaid and the exchange as a household income changes.

Administer Premium Subsidies, Including Eligibility Determination: Enrollees who are ineligible for the public programs but who have household income between 100-400% of the federal poverty level ($23,050 to $92,200 for a family of four in 2012) can receive tax credits on a sliding scale that cap their premium contribution at 2-9.5% of household income.  The exchange will send information on eligibility for tax credits to the department of the Treasury.

Create Consumer Information and Outreach:  Each exchange needs to create a consumer-friendly website that displays information about health plans options in a standardized format to compare price and quality as well as an electronic calculator to allow purchasers to see out-of-pocket cost after premium tax credits are applied.  Exchanges must also develop call centers and may launch major outreach and awareness initiative.

Create the Navigator Program:  People will need to be trained to help new participants navigate the enrollment process and dispense information like an insurance broker currently does in the commercial market, including information about premiums benefit design, tax credits and network options for qualified health plans.