New I-9 Effective 5-8-13

On March 8, 2013, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service updated and published a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 (visit our free forms to download). Employers should begin using the revised Form I-9 immediately for all new hires and all re-verifications.

Effective May 8, 2013, employers will be REQUIRED to use the revised Form I-9 and could face penalties if found to not be using it. Prior versions of Form I-9 will not be accepted after May 7, 2013.

What’s New about the form?

• Adding data fields, including the employee’s foreign passport information (if applicable) and telephone and e-mail addresses.
• Improving the form’s instructions.
• Revising the layout of the form, and expanding the form from one to two pages (not including the form instructions and the List of Acceptable Documents).

How should HR prepare for the new form?

• Assign a team member to spearhead the transition to the new form.
• Familiarize yourself and your team with changes to the form; this is a good time to also review Form I-9 requirements, in general, to ensure your organization understands the requirements for each section as they relate to regulations.
• Identify areas where business processes may need revising.
• Partner with your electronic I-9 software developers to ensure a smooth implementation of the new form so that you are up and running effective May 8, 2013.

What should HR be doing anyway?

• Form I-9 is only required for all employees hired after November 6, 1986.
• The Form I-9 must be completed AND dated within 3 business days after the employee’s hire date. They cannot complete it until AFTER they have received and accepted a conditional offer of employment. Use an Offer Letter to document this was the case.
• The employer must examine the original documents, not photo copies, to ascertain if they are genuine.
• The employer cannot TELL the employee WHAT documents to bring for examination. A list of documents is provided on the Form I-9. Give this list to the employee so they can choose what documents they have that satisfy the requirements.
• All documents must be UNEXPIRED!
• Section 1 is completed by the employee and signed and dated.
• Section 2 is completed by the employer and signed and dated. This should be the SAME person who examined the original documents. Within the “Certification” paragraph, there is a blank line to insert the employee’s hire date. This is often left blank. Be sure to complete this and ensure it is the correct hire date that was used on the Offer Letter.
• Section 3 is ONLY for RE-verification so this is left blank UNTIL it is time to RE-verify the employee’s documents. You should have some type of tickler/reminder system in place for Form I-9 re-verifications. Every document must maintain an unexpired date, including Driver’s Licenses.
• Store the I-9s separate from the Personnel Files. A binder is a good method. Use alphabetical dividers for organization. Keep the binders locked. Electronic storage and signatures are allowed.
• Remember the retention for I-9s is the duration of employment PLUS one year OR 3 years from the date of hire, whichever is longer. It is not necessary to keep I-9s beyond the retention period.

USCIS has scheduled free webinars to help employers learn about the new form.  Visit I-9 Central Home for more information. Thank you.

This information has been provided by Your HR Resource. 

Health Plan Solutions under the ACA

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ACA) is moving forward. Effective 2014, the Act will require all individuals in the United States to have some form of health insurance. Referred to as mandates, this provision will impact all employers with 50 or more full time equivalent employees, known as “pay or play”. Essentially, employers with 50 or more full time equivalent employees may be faced with penalties if the employer:

 
a) does not offer coverage and at least one employee receives a premium tax credit or cost sharing subsidy in an Exchange; or

 
b) the employer does offer coverage but it is not affordable to the employee and therefore the employee chooses coverage through an Exchange and receives a premium tax credit.

The question I am most often asked is what can an employer do who has fewer than 50 full time equivalent employees? First, no matter how many employees a company has, employers understand that offering a benefits package that includes health and wellness provides a competitive marketplace advantage by attracting and retaining talent. Next, if you are an employer with 50 or more full time equivalent employees, do not let the penalties frighten you because you do still have choices in the healthcare you offer your employees. Employers with fewer than 50 employees have choices too. While this employer may not be subject to penalties associated with “pay or play”, other aspects of the ACA will affect your plan, should you offer one.

Consider the below ACA requirements that affect all plans, some of which are already in effect:

1. Modified Community Rating: cannot charge more based on serious medical conditions
2. Deductible Maximums: PPO plans will be capped at $2,000 deductibles 
3. Medical Loss Rebate (MLR) Checks: if an insurance company spends less than 80% of premiums on medical care and quality, it must rebate the portion of premium dollars that exceeded this limit

What if…

You had a unique opportunity to:

a) have the required coverage the ACA mandates; and
b) retain some control over your health plan design!

Your HR Resource offers plans that provide complete flexibility to build your own customized plan, avoid some of the ACA mandates, offer wellness incentives to your employees and continue to manage your plans in a way that is affordable for you and your employees.

What does that mean for you?

1. You will not be lumped into one risk pool, giving your plans the flexibility to be rated on how well your plan is performing!
2. You will not be limited to low deductibles, giving your plans the flexibility to offer deductibles higher than $2000 which helps reduce premiums!
3. You will not have to worry about administering MLR checks which, for small employers, end up costing more than the paper they are written on!

Your HR Resource is an employee benefits and HR consulting firm specializing in Employee Health & Wellness Benefits, Employee Relations, Anti-discrimination training, Employee Complaint Investigations, Policies & Procedures, Payroll Administration, Drug Testing, Background Checks, and Compliance.

To learn more, contact Laura Moxley, SPHR, with Your HR Resource, at

405-360-2160 or laura@yourhrresource.com. 

Business Seminar Series - Top 10 Must Haves for your Employee Handbook - May 30th, 2012

This class will examine why it is necessary to have an employee handbook, primarily focusing on the TOP TEN items that should be included in every effective handbook using supporting examples of case law. Attendees will learn what subtopics should be included in each item and will receive a sample EEO Statement and AntiDiscrimination   Policy for their practical application on the job.

• Effective Handbooks
• Latest Updates
• Must-Have Policies
• New Drug Testing Law
• Sample Policies:
  • EEO Statement
  • Anti-Discrimination Policy 

Class Taught by:

Laura Moxley, SPHR is Founder and President of Your HR Resource, a Norman-based human resources and benefits consulting company.

Your HR Resource specializes in Health Benefits, Employee Handbooks, Employee Relations, Compliance, Anti-discrimination training, Employee Complaint Investigations, and Payroll Administration. Laura has over 15 years of human resources experience serving much of that time as HR Director for a large privately held company. Laura earned a BA from the University of Oklahoma, has a Professional Certificate in Human Resource Management, and is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). She is also a licensed health insurance producer.

Laura frequently speaks to groups on various HR topics and currently serves as Director of the Oklahoma State Council for Human Resource Management.

Laura also currently serves on the State Chamber HR Committee and the Governor's Council for Workforce and Economic Development. In 2010, Laura was named as one of "50 Making a Difference" by the Journal Record's Woman of the Year program. The program recognizes Oklahoma women for leadership in business and service to their communities. www.yourhrresource.com

REGISTER NOW by CLICKING HERE

Workers Compensation Total Cost of Risk

The term “iceberg effect” in the insurance world refers to hidden claims dollars. When considering the cost of a workers’ compensation claim, what usually first comes to mind is the initial cost of the claim. However, what most may not know is that when a claim is incurred, it affects several factors that all equate to dollars and impact the employer’s bottom line. These are referred to as indirect claims costs. OSHA has spent considerable time and resources in researching what these dollars actually are. According to the study, the smaller the claim, the higher the percentages of the indirect costs associated with that claim. This makes sense as there is a common cost in setting up a claim, doing associated paperwork, etc. for all claims and this would certainly cost more as a percentage for smaller claims.

According to the study, for claims under $3000, the indirect costs are 4.5 times the amount of the claim, they are 1.6 times the amount of the claim for claims between $3,000 to $5000, and 1.2 times the amount of the claim for claims between $5000 and $10,000; finally for claims about $10,000, they are 1.1 times the amount of the claim. Even though it is fairly easy to spreadsheet these numbers, there is a worksheet on OSHA.com that does the work for you. It even goes a step further to show you what sales are needed to cover your claims. When our agency has completed these in the past for clients, they are very surprised when you show them the numbers, but the amount of sales to cover the claim is where it really hits home. Here is an example using a small to medium sized company with a workers’ comp premium of $80,000. If they had two $20,000 losses that year, it would cost them $21,000 in additional premium over the next 3 years and $44,000 in indirect costs which would total over $65,000 in total costs. When calculated like this, it is really just like you are self-insuring because the amount the claim ends up costing your company exceeds the initial claim amount. In the above example, the original claim was $40,000 yet it cost the company over $65,000. If you operate on a 3% margin, which is standard for manufacturing companies, this would take over $14,000,000 in sales to replace these 2 losses in that same 3 year period. Keep in mind, most of these costs are incurred in the first year.

What makes up these soft costs or indirect costs? Loss of use, loss of productivity, lost customers, damage to brand, lost contracts, investigation expenses, administration, bad morale among employees, time to attend hearings, etc. The list goes on and on. I would challenge those of you who have changed your culture to a safer workplace to look at your financial statements and give the credit for the improvements to the reduction of these direct and indirect costs. For those who may struggle to get upper management to look at something besides sales, use the worksheet to show them the importance of safety and loss prevention.

By Chris L. Moxley, CIC, CRIS

Professional Insurors Agency, LLC

Chris Moxley is the Vice-President of Operations for Professional Insurors and President of TCOR Services USA. He earned his Certified Insurance Counselor Designation in 1995 and his Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist designation in 2005. He is active in several industry associations and is a member of the Oklahoma State and Oklahoma City Chambers of Commerce and serves as President of the Arbor Lake HOA. With over 20 years’ experience in the industry, Chris serves as publisher for TCORBLOG.com and teaches classes in risk management and workers compensation.

Employee Discipline Simplified

Should employers require steps in the disciplinary action process? First, what is disciplinary action and what does it entail? Disciplinary action is the means of communicating corrective action to an employee whenever some type of workplace infraction has occurred. Usually managers make it harder than what it has to be. This could be for many reasons; some of which may include the discomfort of having to confront the worker, fear the worker may do or say something and the manager will not know how to respond or react; or perhaps the manager doesn’t want to take the time to find and replace a worker that needs replacing so they keep the employee longer than they should. Also, some managers may be under the impression they first must issue warnings before they can fire an employee. These are all valid concerns and most can effectively be addressed with training.

While there are many great places to work, ultimately a manager will be faced with having to impose some type of disciplinary action on a worker so it is important to understand the best practices. On occasion, an employee may violate a policy or workplace standard, display poor performance or misconduct. It could be worse, and some form of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, safety violation, or gross negligence and/or misconduct could have occurred. Unfortunately, disciplining employees is part of what supervisors and managers sometimes have to do. So, should there be steps? We said in the beginning that disciplinary action was a means to correct behavior or performance; to inform the employee of the minimal expectations for improvement so he/she has a chance to save his/her job. If we want to give chances, it seems logical to inform an employee this is his/her first strike; and sometimes second chances are warranted. However, some managers loosely say three strikes and you’re out; even going so far as to broadcast and put in written policies that an employee will first receive a verbal warning, then a written warning, and after three written warnings, they will be fired.

Having steps in the disciplinary action process is not a good idea because it takes away the employer’s authority to take appropriate action at its sole discretion, given the offense. How? Very simply, if an employer’s policies state an employee must receive three warnings before being fired, and some type of gross misconduct occurs, it will be more risky for the employer to fire that employee. It is much better for an Employee Discipline Policy to state the employer can take whatever disciplinary action it deems appropriate given the infraction. The types of disciplinary action include: verbal warning, written warning, suspension (paid or not paid) and termination but in no particular order. Implementing disciplinary action in this way, the employer can reduce liability associated with wrongful termination claims. It is then important to train managers on these practices and company policies.