Tag Archives: Regulation

May Compliance: Is Your Business Compliant?

HR Compliance

Spring is in that air and we love it here at CorpStrat. Last month we had several questions regarding the legalization of marijuana in the workplace, how employers can protect themselves, and paystub correction inquires so we thought we would tackle theses issues in our newsletter this month.

As many of you are aware, California is one of 8 states that legalized marijuana for recreational use. Prop 64, effective January 1, 2018 outlines this however; California employers can and should ban marijuana use in the workplace to ensure a safe work environment. California employers generally cannot randomly drug test employees however, they can test under the following circumstances:

Pre-employment screening
Physical examination
Under reasonable suspicion
Post accident
Employees in highly regulated industry or position critical to public safety

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Get Informed on Rising Health Care Costs

Association Based Health Insurance – A Cure For Small Group?

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers that do not meet the 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employee threshold to be Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), are not required to offer health coverage. Nor do they face penalties. Not surprisingly, as a result, smaller businesses often do not offer coverage.

New regulations proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) want to change that dynamic. And in a thriving economy, where unemployment means retention is key, health insurance is a key driver in employee acquisition and retention.

Up to 11 million Americans working for small businesses or who are sole proprietors and their families lack employer-sponsored insurance. The DOL hopes new rules on HOW healthcare plans are purchased will close the gap of uninsured Americans; without eliminating options available in the healthcare marketplace.

New Rules

The proposed regulations will allow small business health plans—known as Association Health Plans (AHP)—to expand under The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This may allow the self-employed and other small businesses to band together to form their own associations for the purposes of providing healthcare coverage.

AHPs would be required to accept all applicants and could not deny individuals with pre-existing conditions or charge more for people who are sick. However, they could reduce prescription drug coverage and increase coverage in other categories to compensate for the reduction, the effect of which would be to increase costs for chronic care patients.

The employer members of these plans would need to be in the same trade, industry, line of business, profession, or to have their principal place of business in the same state, or, if in multiple states, in the same metropolitan area.

Under the current regulations, an AHP is considered a single plan only if the association has a purpose or function unrelated to offering healthcare benefits and the employer members have a common economic interest. So, few options exist and all have to comply with the ACA’s “essential benefit rules”.

The end result of these new rules, or so the thinking goes, is that this will make premiums more affordable. The trade-off is that these health insurance plans would be less extensive then what is usually required by health insurance plans offered by the current marketplace. Lots of review and legislation await the proposed offering of new association plans. However, they offer a glimmer of home to the problem of rising health insurance costs.

Where Do You Draw The Line?

Overly-Friendly or Sexual Harassment…Where Do You Draw the Line?

With the daily news of high profile cases of sexual harassment since Harvey Weinstein was accused last fall along with many others, clients have asked – how do you determine if someone is over-friendly verses harassment? The line between flirtation and harassment is a very fine, often, blurred one.

There is no disputing that a person’s individual and workplace culture plays a large part in this equation. Understanding what is happening (or not happening) in your organization, is most imperative for executives to take the lead on. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a clear definition of what is and is not harassment. So perhaps the question should be, what proactive things can I do to tackle this ever growing issue?

Know the facts. Review the EEOC definition and educated yourself.
Know the types of harassment. Sexual, verbal, gender, etc. and how they can play out in your culture.
Have an inclusive work culture that is diverse in ethnicity, social background, and gender.
Review and update policies that relate to harassment of all kinds.
Develop internal communication that outlines standards, a process for reporting abuse, and clear consequences for violating the policy.
Participate in regular scheduled trainings.
Create a supportive work culture where employee’s feel empowered and valued.
Support HR when a concern arises.
Don’t wait for a formal complaint. If you see or hear about it, ACT.
Respond quickly to all allegations.

Be The Solution

While there are no guarantees a company policy or training will be the perfect solution, employers can take proactive steps to address harassment and create solutions that ensure a safe and comfortable work environment for all.

For the skeptics, yes, false accusations have been made and genuine misunderstandings, easily rectified. But don’t let that lessen the seriousness of a complaint. Harassment of all kinds now have a voice and that has given people the courage to speak up, when they may have been too scared to before.

Given how little agreement exists about a clear definition of sexual harassment, employers seeking to create a comfortable work environment may need to be more explicit about the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Consider CorpStrat to help you through that next situation and in developing policies or trainings. Our HR on Demand packages can provide reliable HR support and create solutions. We are here to help.

Stay Prepared And Compliant

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Compliance News March 2018

This year is off to a great start for Team CorpStrat! Our newest division CorpStart HR is growing by leaps and bounds. We work diligently to create 21st Century HR for our clients and hope this monthly newsletter helps you keep current with the ever-changing HR compliance laws and HR best practices so that you can be a “best place to work.”

We have a LOT of important compliance issues to cover. Workplace injuries, Department of Industrial Relations required notifications, ACA compliance and much more. Hope you didn’t forget to post your OSHA 300A Summary Form. If so, you still have time to get compliant. Visit https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping, print, complete, and post.

If 2018 is the year you’d like to get your HR house in order, it’s not too late to give us a call. Just send us a note if you’d like to have a conversation. We’d be happy to partner with you and help you stay compliant. In the meantime, Like us on Facebook and join our newsletter for all things HR.

Are you prepared to navigate workplace injuries?

You get that call that an employee has injured themselves and you go straight into 911 mode. Workers Compensation, medical leave, ADA compliance and not to mention safety protocols flood your mind. While no situation is the same, there are a number of things you can do to make life easier.

Know and understand the leave of absences you are required to provide and how they interact with workers compensation.
Notify OSHA when required. For deaths, OSHA must be notified within 8 hours, hospitalizations, 24 hours. Failure to know and understand the rules and regulations leads to inspections and heavy fines.
Planned Medical Care. Have a concrete workers compensation program that outlines issues like, handling transportation of the employee, healthcare facility, notification of the injury, etc.
Investigate the injury. Have solid tools for investigating an incident thoroughly, as you will need to forward any and all information to the carrier and potential legal counsel.
American Disability Act. If an employee is able to return to work with modified restrictions this would likely fall under ADA regulations. At this point, you would need to provide a reasonable accommodation. Failure to do so could result in EEOC charges, ADA lawsuits, or even retaliation claims.
Review and update your policies often. Proactive measures save time and money in the long run.

Federal Immigration Notification

As mentioned last month, Immigration Enforcement has been updated regarding I-9 inspections of records. Under AB450, the Department of Industrial Relations has released the attached notice that complies with the new law’s notice requirements. If an employer’s I-9 forms are going to be inspected, the following notice must be posted within 72 hours of learning of the inspection. Because the timeframe is so short, it is recommended employers have an established process to respond to Notice of Inspections and avoid penalties up to $10,000 per violation.

2018 I-9 Inspection Notice Notification

Benefits: Complying with ACA Affordability Test

With the reduction for employers in affordability levels in company-sponsored plans from 9.69% to 9.56%, employers should ensure they are providing health coverage that will not cost the employee more than 9.56% of an employee’s salary. As increases in premium occur, this can put some of your employees into an unaffordable designation.

Testing?

The IRS created affordability tests to show that the employer has provided coverage that is considered “affordable” and therefore should not be subject to any fines if an employee manages to get coverage on an exchange and receive a premium tax credit to do so.

These tests set out in the final shared responsibility regulations, provide that employer coverage will be considered affordable for purposes of the employer shared responsibility assessment if the required employee contribution for the lowest-cost option offered does not exceed 9.56% of one of the following:

W-2 – The employee’s wages for the calendar year reported on the Form W-2.
The rate of pay – The amount obtained by multiplying 130 hours by the lower of the employee’s hourly rate of pay as of the first day of the coverage period or lowest rate of pay during the calendar month.
Federal poverty line – An amount equal to the federal poverty line for a single individual, divided by 12. Under the FPL safe harbor, employers use the FPL in effect six months prior to the beginning of the plan year to allow time to establish premium amounts in advance of the plan’s open enrollment period.

The affordability test reduction affects employers who use the W-2 and the rate-of-pay tests. In both cases, you may need to reduce the employee contribution rate for single coverage in your lowest-cost plan.

Top 5 Mistakes that cost employers BIG BUCKS

Daily we see employers pay hefty fines to government agencies for payroll violations that are completely avoidable. Knowing and understanding how these 5 payroll liabilities affect you legally will save you tens of thousands of dollars.

1 – Garnishments and Child Support – Employers are responsible for knowing the proper ways to record wage garnishments/child support, federal and state new hire requirements, responding to wage orders, and forwarding the information to the employee.

2 – Sick Pay Classification – As a reminder, California has sick pay requirements that must be reflective on an employee’s paystubs. If you offer PTO, it must be reflective on the paystub to meet the new requirement.

3 – Employee verse 1099 Contractor – Generally the burden is on the employer to prove the classification of any individual was correct. Using the IRS Independent Contractor test and having a concrete Independent Contractors Agreement that addresses, invoicing, use of time, terms/cancelation notice, the scope of service, ownership of property, proof of insurance, etc. will help you build safeguards and protections in case of an audit.

4 – Exempt verse Non-exempt – One of the chief differences between exempt and non-exempt employees is in how the employee is paid. Exempt employees do not qualify for overtime. To qualify for an exemption under the FLSA, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis no less than $455 per week. Job titles do not determine exempt status. In order for the exemption to apply, an employee’s specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements.

5 – Overtime Rules – Many employers get tripped up unintentionally by confusing pay period hours with work week hours. Overtime for non-exempt hourly employees must be calculated based on a specific 7 day period of time regardless of how frequently the employees are paid. Employers that pay piecemeal must ensure they are meeting minimum wage requirements as well when factoring overtime in addition to other factors.

We succeed because our clients succeed and are always here to help.

3 Easy Steps To Ensure Compliance

Compliance Stress

Business Regulations Driving You Nuts? 3 easy steps to help you ensure compliance.

Compliance is a hot topic right now, OK, so maybe not as hot as Pokémon GO or the DNC, but with news stories coming out almost daily about companies facing legal trouble from regulatory missteps or illegal business activity it’s clear that compliance is a hot topic at least in the business world.
What causes a business to become non-compliant?

Non-compliance may be the result of cutting corners, negligence, ignorance, or misinformation about the ever-changing laws, but whatever the reason, the penalties are the typically the same, hefty fines or the loss of one’s company.

“But how am I supposed to focus on my business when my days are spent constantly learning about compliance?”

Luckily, we work with thousands of companies likes yours every day to help them maintain compliance so they don’t have to. With that said, here are three tips for navigating the regulatory environment around your business – without losing focus of your core business or going insane trying.

1. Identify Compliance Issues Outside Your Realm of Expertise

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Every business whether it’s a local restaurant or a hedge fund dealing with millions of dollars has compliance issues central to their business. Compliance issues arise from the moment you open your business and increase from there on out.

From how and when you pay your employees to where your business name is registered. Even the requirements on your website, compliance demands are in every piece of your business.

If that weren’t stressful enough, these regulations are constantly changing and increasing in complexity. For example, the Affordable Care Act has introduced and refined compliance issues that touch on everything from medical benefit availability, employer responsibility, tax reporting, benefit plan design, to the way insurance can be sold and then some.

So while you may know the best way to make and serve Zitti, if you don’t know how to design a good benefits plan, then you should be honest with yourself and seek help from those who can manage that aspect of your business.

2. Find Trusted Partners

Partners at CorpStrat

It’s imperative when you decide to seek help, that you find partners you can count on. One’s that won’t cut corners and who are certified and licensed. Also look for those who are active in peer groups, trade organizations or their own community.

You should also ensure they have a solid reputation in the industry. Be sure to check and see if they have long-standing clients that can back their claims and great reviews online.

Just as you are the expert in your area of business, there are other businesses whose expertise is keeping companies like yours compliant.

3. Never Stop Learning or Asking Questions

Compliance Questions

Did you know top business leaders like Bill Gates, Oprah, and Warren Buffet commit to 5 hours a week of deliberate learning?

Even industry giant like these realize the importance of learning and how it adds to their continued success.

Once you’ve selected a group to help you ensure compliance, don’t just stop there. After all, this is your business and the more you know, the better.

Don’t be afraid to check in and ask questions. After all, it’s important to know how they are continuing to learn and evolve to meet new regulations. An expert should always be able to educate their clients and make them feel comfortable.

– This communication is for informational purposes only; it is not legal, tax or accounting advice; and is not an offer to sell, buy or procure insurance.