February 2 0 1 5 2015 Employment Law

Employers Resource Association
Cincinnati: 1200 Edison Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45216-2276
Phone: 513.679.4120 | Fax: 513.679.4139
Columbus: 300 East Broad Street, Suite 550
Columbus, OH 43215-3774
Phone: 614.538.9410 | Fax: 614.538.9420
Toll free: 888.237.9554 www.hrxperts.org
February 2 0 1 5
2015 Employment Law
Update and Review
See Ohio’s Top Attorneys in Action
ERA’s annual Employment Law Up-
•
Recognize the value of ask-
Inside this issue:
1
2015 Employment Law
Update and Review
2
From the President
3
Survey Update
4
Health and Wellness:
Improving Your Bottom Line
5
Human Resource
Management I
6
New Members
date and Review is all about you.
ing the super lawyers your
Staying abreast of the latest
own tough questions with-
changes in employment law is criti-
out their meters running
7
Member Highlights
Practice good stewardship
8
Safety Spotlight
by minimizing the likeli-
9
ERA Special Events
cal to remaining the consummate
HR professional. Your attendance
demonstrates to all that you:
•
Are serious about being a
most important HR/legal event of
10
Maximize Your Workers’
Comp Group Rating
Discount
11
Exclusive Offer for ERA’s
Non-Profit & Public Entity
Members
12
2015 - Another Year for
Employer Health Care
Coverage Decisions
14
Harnessing Your Healthcare
Costs
al liability
15
NLRB Strikes Again
Will be one step ahead of
16
Enhanced Employee Survey
Free Webinar
ment team
Stay on the cutting edge by
evaluating your current
practices against changes
in the law
•
Special points of
interest:
partner to your manage-
•
hood of litigation
Reserve your seat now for the
viable strategic business
•
•
the year!
Cincinnati
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
More information or register now.
Protect your career in areas
Columbus
where mistakes could be
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
damaging or create person-
More information or register now.
your less savvy competition
and enjoy the confidence of
being current, compliant
and competent
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 2
From the President
Family & Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Discipline & Discharge Top the List
Jennifer Graft, MBA, SPHR
Top Ten ERA
Hotline
Questions
In 2014, ERA received more than
7,500 calls seeking HR consultation
about workplace matters. As it has
for many consecutive years, leave
management topped the list for
most frequent calls received on
ERA’s Hotline. The most commonly
asked questions are about the
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
followed by Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) inquiries. Beyond
leave management, many hotline
calls pertained to handling difficult
employees, including, misconduct,
discipline and termination. In addition, many members eagerly
sought advice on effective performance management tools and
techniques.
In recent months, as the economy
continued to turn, hiring inquiries
have been on the rise. In this regard, our HR consultants and attorneys provided best practice guidance on, among other things, recruitment, conducting EEOC compliant criminal background screens,
drug and alcohol testing, interviewing do’s and don’ts, drafting EEOCADA compliant internet-based and
paper applications and ADA compliant job descriptions.
ERA also continues to provide consultation on emerging issues affecting the workplace, such as, social media, effectively managing
diverse generations in the workplace, transsexualism and gender
reassignment, identifying red flags
of potential workplace violence,
managing mental health matters
and complying with the recent
EEOC guidelines for managing
pregnant employees.
Here is ERA’s Top 10 Hotline
Inquires from 2014:
1. FMLA
2. ADAAA
3. Discipline & Discharge
4. Performance Management
Strategies
5. Wage and Hour (Fair Labor
Standards Act)
6. Handbook Requirements
7. Drug and Alcohol Testing
8. Military Leave
9. Background Screening
10. Attendance
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 3
Survey Update
Surveys in 2015 are off to a great start! We continue to receive great
participation and we are extremely appreciative of the time and effort
that has been dedicated to take part in our annual surveys. Currently,
we have three surveys open for participation:
Jeff Lucas, PHR
Turnover Survey
Report Shipped:
Monday,
March 2
Professional &
Supervisory
Personnel
Survey
Questionnaire
Due:
Friday,
March 13
National Executive Compensation Survey – Deadline Extended to
February 27th
• Covers 47 executive-level positions broken out by industry and
geographic regions
• Gives you the opportunity to receive national data to better understand compensation level for your organization’s top levels
• Can help when recruiting talent outside of the local region or state
Non-Exempt Personnel Salary Survey – Deadline Extended to
February 27th
• Includes 160 positions spanning a wide range of non-exempt office/clerical and production/manufacturing positions commonly
found in organizations
• Salary data can help in union negotiations as well as identify potential risks for losing top-talent to competitors
Professional & Supervisory Personnel Survey – Deadline March
13th
• 130 positions exempt level positions from various departments
such as Accounting/Finance, Human Resources, Administrative
and Customer Service/Marketing, just to name a few
Below are important dates for surveys in the upcoming months. Please
make a note of them to help plan your schedule for future surveys. If
you have any questions regarding our survey information, please contact
Jeff Lucas, Survey Consultant at 888.237.9554 or by e-mail at
[email protected].
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 4
Date:
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Time:
8:30 am—3:00 pm
Lunch is included
Location:
ERA Cincinnati Office
1200 Edison Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio 45216-2276
Health and Wellness:
Improving Your Bottom
Line
The data is clear. Organizations
*Non-members Fee: $231.00
workplace safety, reduce time
pensation claims and re-
away from the job, reduce work-
turn-to-work time (days off
ers’ compensation claims and
due to injury)
reduce turnover. This program
•
to start or improve an existing
health and wellness program in
all applicable laws
•
Learning Objectives:
•
Design a wellness program
that is sustainable and
manages vendor relation-
cific goal having a real return on
investment (R.O.I.)
Ensure your program is
current and compliant with
knowledge, tools and rationale
your organization with the speSHRM CP/SCP PDCs: 5.5
PHR/SPHR/GPHR
Recertification Credits: 5.5
Improve workplace safety
and reduce workers’ com-
is designed to provide the
Member Fee: $165.00
•
with wellness programs improve
ships
•
Are you a healthy leader
(by example)...tips on improving your health
Recognize national health
trends and their effect on
•
Who should attend?
HR Professionals and business
leaders looking to design a new
wellness program or improve an
existing program.
Member Discount:
Register three or more people at
least 14 days prior to the program
to qualify for a 5% Group Discount.
•
your organization
About your instructor…
Realize the financial R.O.I.
Gary Mertz, SPHR, Associate
of wellness program
Instructor, leads this valuable
Improve employee recruitment, performance, en-
and informative program for the
Association.
gagement and retention
through wellness
•
Develop methods for gathering and tracking results
*Pre-payment is required for nonmember.
To register, e-mail
[email protected], call
513.679.4120 or online.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
Substitutions may be made at any time prior to the first class session.
No-shows or cancellations in writing within 2 full business days will be
charged.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 5
Date:
Thursdays, March 5, 12, 19, 26,
April 2, 9, 16 & 23, 2015
Human Resource
Management I
This comprehensive 24-hour pro-
Time:
gram provides an intensive over-
8:30 am—11:30 am
view of the key elements of the
•
Improve communication
and employee training
contemporary HR function. ParticLocation:
ERA Columbus Office
300 East Broad Street, Suite 550
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3774
Members Fee: $410.00
ipants are offered practical, usable
ideas and suggestions for handling
HR matters. The focus is on
learning “what questions to ask”
rather than trying to provide all
the answers in the ever-changing,
*Non-member Fee: $574.00
complicated HR field.
Learning Objectives:
About your instructor…
Dawn Hays, Esq., Director and
Counsel, Columbus Office. In
this role, she interacts with
members on a regular basis and
will walk participants through all
required statistical analyses in
this hands-on, learn-as-you-go
program.
Who should attend?
•
Identify and apply federal/
Current or future HR generalists,
state laws to your work-
managers and others overseeing
place rules and standards
HR functions.
•
process/employee rela-
Member Discount:
tions/record-keeping re-
Register three or more people at
quirements
least 14 business days prior to the
program to qualify for a 5% Group
Discount.
•
*Pre-payment is required for non-
•
members.
Master the employment
Comply with Equal Opportunity rulings
Grasp compensation/
benefits administration
Dawn Hays, Esq.
principles
To register, e-mail
[email protected], call
614.538.9410 or online.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
Substitutions may be made at any time prior to the first class session.
No-shows or cancellations in writing within 2 full business days will be
charged.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 6
New Members
Avure Technologies, Inc. is located in Middletown, Ohio. Ms. Kristi Cain is
the HR Director.
These companies
have recently
joined ERA.
Thank you for
your trust and for
joining our
membership of
over 1300
Blair Technology is located in Covington, Kentucky. Mr. Phil Hamilton is the
President.
Caster Connection, Inc. is located in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Sally Hughes is
the CEO.
Dummen Group is located in Hilliard, Ohio. Ms. Michelle Batt is the HR Manager.
Engineered Profiles LLC is located in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Mike Davis is the
President.
Evenflo is located in Miamisburg, Ohio. Ms. Christina Walker is the Corporate
Director of Human Resources.
Sandvik ADC is located in Hebron, Kentucky. Mr. Danilo Angeli is the Operations Manager.
SimplicityRX, LLC is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ms. Amy Biedenharn is the
CEO.
organizations.
Special Presentation
Pay It Forward: All You Need to Know
About Prospective Premium
Are you fully aware of all the prospective billing changes? Do you know how
your rates will be impacted? Are you prepared for the new installment schedule?
Please join an Ohio BWC representative and Katie Mahon of the Matrix Companies to review the prospective billing changes for both private and public state
fund employers. The presentation should last an hour and there will be plenty
of time for questions throughout and after the presentation.
For Cincinnati, register here.
For Columbus, register here.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 7
Member Highlights
Welcome, new
members to ERA—
Thank you for
your membership!
Established in 1981 by John G
Hondros, under the name The Ohio
Real Estate Preparatory School,
Hondros Family of Companies was
born. Originally based on a test
preparatory curriculum, the school
quickly grew and began to offer
both pre-licensing and continuing
education courses for the fields of
real estate and financial services,
appraisal and home inspection.
Hondros Learning is a publisher of
highly focused educational tools,
including online courses, classroom
textbooks and exam prep products
for real estate, appraisal, mortgage
lending, financial services and
nursing industries. Their main goal
is student success through their
engaging and highly relevant educational offerings.
Visit their website
Spati Industries has been designing and building custom filtration
equipment and special machinery
for over 60 years. They specialize
in the construction of a complete
line of machines for filter production. Throughout the history of
this family owned company, Spati
Industries has provided “one of a
kind” designs made to their customers’ specifications to help meet
their particular needs.
McGohan Brabender, Inc. (MB) was
founded in 1972 by Patrick
McGohan as McGohan and Associates. McGohan and Associates
carved a niche as one of the first
independent life and health insurance agencies in the country. Over
time the focus narrowed to employee health benefits and in 1987
the company name was changed to
McGohan Brabender, Inc. when
Timothy Brabender joined the organization as a shareholder. Today, McGohan Brabender remains
independently owned with 16 active shareholders and has grown
into one of the largest Independent
Brokerage and Consulting Agencies
in the United States with 195 employees and offices in Cincinnati,
Columbus and Dayton. They represent more than 1,100 employers
with over a quarter million members. McGohan Brabender is nationally recognized for their innovative and forward-thinking approach
and has been named a top place to
work. That is because McGohan
Brabender creates a culture that
appeals to a quality and a welleducated group of employees.
Their workforce consists of former
insurance carrier executives, ancillary specialists, seasoned financial
analysts, veteran benefit brokers,
consultants and service professionals. In addition, McGohan Brabender retains the services of an
ERISA attorney who represents the
client directly.
Visit their website
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 8
Safety Spotlight
The power, strength and harmony of
an organization lies within the unity of
all employees working toward a single
goal. That goal is to produce the highest quality product, service, etc., for
the lowest production cost. That principle will propel the highest market
demand and therefore a sound and
solid business foundation. All this said,
the company doors stay open, the payroll is met and the employees continue
to be gainfully employed.
Billy Ring
Progressive
Discipline
AKA Chain of
Discipline
When personnel issues arise, such as
insubordination, misconduct, unsafe
acts and the like, there is an impact on
the business principles described
above. Starting with initial business
elements, personnel rules and regulations must exist. Review and update
of those rules and regulations by qualified persons, at least annually, must
ensure they are current. Review of
such rules and regulations is a substantial undertaking to perform thoroughly, according to commonly accepted practice.
When an employee is permitted to be
less than productive it impacts the entire organization. A prime example is a
team of sled-dogs pulling a sled. When
all dogs are pulling equally, maximum
efficiency rules. When one dog slacksoff, all others will be affected immediately and the drain will continue as the
distance plays out.
Discipline, though necessary in these
instances, can be unpleasant under the
best of conditions. It is almost impossible to enter the disciplinary process
without employee resentment, anger
and frustration building, all the way
through.
The ultimate question is, have all employees had orientation on the importance of safety, including rules and
procedures and how a functioning safety culture improves all aspects of workplace life? Next in importance, has
management set the safety example
each and every time, all the time?
Has the employer enforced safety rules
impartially, fairly and equally whenever
safety violations occurred?
Or, is one employee or the other, exempt from the enforcement process?
It is this very oversight that, without
fail, will destroy disciplinary credibility
in an organization. This is especially
true if any member of management is
permitted to, “Skate free and clear”,
when found to be guilty of such a safety violation.
Every employer must have the means
to advance each step of the disciplinary
process as safety violations continue to
occur. Chain of discipline should be a
set of progressive measures as each
violation occurs. Further, each disciplinary procedure must increase in severity up to and including termination as
violations continue. Even if a chain of
discipline exists, is followed and enforced, an employer must have the
ability to go directly to termination if a
safety offense justifies it.
A disciplinary process must have the
blessing of legal counsel to insure its
validity if tested in an arbitration or
court. If the disciplinary process follows the terms and conditions of a union contract, then there must be no
conflict of the process as described
therein.
The major point of failure in disciplinary matters is almost always, the employer failing to get ALL the facts!
Second, only to that is bias, conflict of
interest and an incomplete findings
document prepared by an unqualified
person.
I suggest each employer invite their
legal counsel to brief their management team on the common oversights
by employers while engaged in disciplinary matters. What’s the old saying,
“Forewarned is forearmed“.
If you would like Billy Ring’s assistance
with your safety program or to have a
safety audit, contact Carol Reubel at
888.237.9554 or
[email protected].
Article provided by Billy Ring, an Associate Instructor.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 9
Columbus Training
Human Resource Management I
(new 8 week format)
will take place on
Thursdays, March 5, 12, 19, 26,
April 2, 9, 16 & 23
8:30 am—11:30 am
Employment Law Update and
Review will take place on
Tuesday, March 17
8:30 am—4:30 pm
Communication Skills for
Teamwork will take place on
Tuesday, March 31
8:30 am—3:00 pm
ERA Special Events
Legal Breakfast Briefing -
"Wage and Hour Trends"
Elizabeth “Libby” Simmons
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP
8:30 am - 9:30 am
ERA Cincinnati Office
Member Fee: $25.00
Non-member Fee: $35.00
To learn more or to register, click here.
Cincinnati Training
Employment Law Update and
Review will take place on
Tuesday, March 10
8:30 am—4:30 pm
Delivering Performance Appraisals and Feedback will take place
on Thursday, March 12
8:30 am—3:00 pm
Exceptional Customer Service
will take place on
Tuesday, March 17
8:30 am—3:00 pm
Leadership Skills for Group
Leaders II will take place on
Wednesdays, March 18 & 25
8:15 am—3:45 pm
Health and Wellness: Improving
Your Bottom Line will take place
on Tuesday, March 24
8:30 am—3:00 pm
ADAAA Essentials will take place
on Wednesday, March 25
8:30 am—11:30 am
To register for classes,
e-mail [email protected]
or call 888.237.9554.
2015 Employment Law
Update and Review
Staying abreast of the latest changes in employment law is critical to
remaining the consummate HR professional. Please join ERA for our annual
Employment Law Update and Review.
Instructor: Specially selected
Cincinnati - March 10, 2015
experts from several prominent
Columbus - March 17, 2015
local Association member law
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
firms.
Member Fee: $190.00
Non-member Fee: $266.00
Continental Breakfast: 8:00 am
To learn more or to register, click here.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 10
ERA Staff
Members
TAMMY BENNETT
DAN CHANEY
BARBARA ENGLAND
JENNIFER GRAFT
PATTI GROGAN
DAWN HAYS
BRANDI HELTON
MONIQUE KAHKONEN
LORI LEWELLEN
JEFF LUCAS
JULIE MAIER
Maximize Your Workers’
Comp Group Rating
Discount
Have you considered the possibility
of paying medical-only workers’
compensation claims out of pocket? The Ohio Bureau of Workers’
Compensation allows you the option to do just that through the
$15K Medical-Only Program. The
program allows employers to pay
any medical-only claims out of
pocket (up to $15,000 per claim)
to keep the claim from impacting
their experience.
The $15K Medical-Only Program
can provide the following benefits:
Thursday, March 5
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Cincinnati Office, register here.
Wednesday, March 11
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Columbus Office, register here.
•
Provides real premium savings, including the possibility of increased grouprating discount level
Ohio Safety Congress 2015
CAROLYN POTTER
•
CAROL REUBEL
APRIL RISEN
JERRY YINGLING
Pay It Forward: All You Need to
Know About Prospective Premium
Removes medical-only
claims costs from your premium calculation
TABETHA PFAFF
MARY SOLOMON
Save These Dates:
•
RALPH NEAL
JESSICA PARSONS
For a free projection of the impact
this program would have on your
policy and premium, contact Katie
Mahon, Matrix Risk Management
Consultant, at 513.351.1222 or by
e-mail [email protected].
Flexibility to keep small
medical-only claims from
eating up your group rating
discount
When choosing to utilize the $15K
program there are two important
things you need to consider:
•
Bill re-pricing
•
Medicare reporting
To see the full savings of the program all medical bills should be repriced at the BWC rates, Matrix
provides this service to clients. It
is also necessary to report to Medicare to avoid hefty BWC fines and
keep double payments from occurring.
March 31-April 2
Article provided by The Matrix
Companies, an ERA partnered Service.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 11
ERA BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
PAST CHAIR*
Lynn M. Mangan,
Sr. Vice President, Client Services
Paycor, Inc.
CHAIR*
Katharine Weber,
Attorney at Law
Jackson Lewis, LLP
Vice-CHAIR*
Mark Hausfeld,
Vice President
C. W. Zumbiel Company
TREASURER*
Tiffany White,
CPA, Principal
Clark Schaefer Hackett
SECRETARY*
Jennifer M. Graft,
President & CEO
Employers Resource Association
DIRECTORS
Chuck Aardema,
Sr. VP, Human Resources
AdvancePierre Foods
Rob Daly,
CEO
Sugar Creek Packing Co.
Bob Garriott,
VP, Information Systems
KAO Corporation
Jill Snitcher McQuain,
Executive Director
Columbus Bar Association
Keith Rummer,
Sr. Vice President, Chief Human Resources & Administrative Officer
Phillips Edison & Company
Bill Thiemann,
Client Leader, Chief Relationship
Officer
Kolar Design
*Executive Committee Members
Exclusive Offer for
ERA’s Non-Profit &
Public Entity Members
For years, state unemployment tax
systems have pooled taxes paid by all
employers in the tax system to fund
each state’s unemployment compensation programs. In practice, this means
employers end up paying unemployment benefits for companies that require more unemployment compensation than their share of the tax payments.
In 1972, an amendment to the Federal
Unemployment Tax Act allowed:
Our Exclusive Program for Nonprofits
ERA is offering an exclusive unemployment insurance funding alternative for
501(c)(3) non-profits in partnership
with Matrix Unemployment Services
and Ohio Indemnity Company. The
new service will offer:
•
Savings up to 50%
•
First dollar coverage
•
501(c)(3) Non-profits
•
Budget certainty
•
Public sector employers
•
Professional claims management and hearing representation
•
Group refund opportunity
The option to opt out of its state unemployment insurance program to finance
their own unemployment obligations
independent of the state unemployment tax system. Instead of paying a
set amount of unemployment tax to
the state every quarter based on payroll and claims history, the employer
reimburses the state only for unemployment claims the state pays out to
its former employees. This can
amount to significant savings because
non-profits typically pay more in unemployment taxes than the state pays
out for the non-profit’s former employees. Many non-profits over the years
have saved thousands upon thousands
of dollars by becoming a “reimbursing”
employer as defined by the state.
There are factors to consider before
opting out. If your organization is
forced to lay off staff, the unemployment costs can easily exceed what the
organization would have otherwise paid
in unemployment taxes. However,
there are programs, such as ERA’s Unemployment Savings and Group Refund Program, which mitigate and
transfer the unexpected risk to an insurance company.
About Our Partners
ERA is partnering with Matrix Claims
Management and Ohio Indemnity Company to offer this exclusive program to
our members.
Matrix Claims Management
Matrix Claims Management is a national unemployment cost control service
company committed to bottom-line
results. Matrix professionals have
been providing unemployment claims
and tax management services across
the country for over 25 years.
(Continued on page 17)
PAGE 12
February 2015 ©ERA
2015 - Another Year for
Employer Health Care
Coverage Decisions
Monique Kahkonen, SPHR,
SHRM-SCP
The vast number of employers have
already spent time, energy and resources preparing for the employer
mandate deadline of January 1, 2015
in order to identify opportunities to
avoid tax penalties, make changes to
health coverage, adopt cost-cutting
strategies and, in general, respond to
financial pressures, new regulations
and innovations.
Now that this hurdle has been cleared,
employers, supported by their HR
team, have an opportunity to go further and find more cost-saving opportunities from a number of health benefit trends that many anticipate occurring in 2015:
•
A shift to self-insurance
among small and mid-sized
employers
•
A rise in high deductible
health plans to avoid “Cadillac
Tax” penalties
•
Expanded reliance on reference based networks
•
Continued feasibility of private
exchanges
Here are key opportunities and watchouts as you consider these options:
Self-Insurance
A number of companies of all sizes are
opting to self-insure. With selfinsurance, employers pay for individual
employee health claims out of cash
flow rather than as a monthly fixed
premium to a health insurance carrier.
Costs are based on actual plan member health care use, which makes selfinsuring cost-efficient and more effective than commercial plans.
Among its biggest selling points, selfinsurance is exempt from the many
new federal health insurance tax under
the new health care reform legislation,
which will be onerous for the commercial plan market. Also, self-insured
companies do not have to offer the
government-mandated Essential Health
Benefits (EHBs), which allows them to
tailor benefits to the needs of a company and the demographics of its workers.
What’s more, the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) does not subject self-insured
health plans to the jurisdiction of the
states, while fully-insured plans must
comply with the varying coverage
mandates, insurance statutes and regulations of the 50 states. Self-insured
plans continue to be exempt from state
mandates and regulation by virtue of
ERISA’s pre-emption of state action in
connection with self-insured health and
welfare benefit plans. Also, for the
most part, self-insured plans are not
subject to litigation in state courts or
the appeal and complaint procedures of
the insurance departments of each of
the states.
High-Deductible Health Plans
The Cadillac Tax, a 40 percent tax on
employers that provide high-cost
health benefits to their employees, is
scheduled to take effect in 2018. The
concept is to reduce health care usage
and costs by encouraging employers to
offer plans that are cost-effective and
engage employees in sharing in the
cost of care.
(Continued on page 13)
PAGE 13
February 2015 ©ERA
(Continued from page 12, 2015 - Another Year for Employer Health Care
Coverage Decisions)
In response, a growing number of
companies now offer high-deductible
health plans (HDHPs) in order to encourage employees to be more costaware when choosing an expensive
and potentially unnecessary treatment
or procedure – and make better choices in general. Typically, the HDHP is
tied to some form of personal health
care spending account and an employer contribution that can be used toward
the deductible.
Referenced Based Pricing
Reference Based Pricing (RBP) is
healthcare industry jargon for a health
plan that sets a cap on benefits for a
given medical service. This cap is
called the reference price, typically
Medicare pricing plus a percent. If the
cost of the medical service exceeds the
reference price, health plan members
must pay the difference out of pocket.
Reference-based pricing has been used
for some time in the pharmacy benefits
world to drive consumers to use lowercost generic drugs.
For example, a discrete procedure such
as a total hip or knee replacement
might be a good fit for reference-based
pricing. An employer could set, say, a
$30,000 cap on an uncomplicated replacement and provide employees with
a list of providers that have prenegotiated that rate. Enrollees who
choose to go elsewhere would pay the
difference.
The goal of a Reference Based Pricing
program is to give health plan members a strong incentive to seek out cost
-efficient care. Since there is no proven correlation between cost and quality, your employees can receive highquality, low-cost care by making these
costs transparent to them. For more
details, see the related article on page
14.
Private Exchanges
A private exchange is fundamentally an
online marketplace for an organization’s employees, allowing them to pick
and choose health care and other benefit options suitable for their needs –
much like an online 401(k) platform.
Given a menu of different health insurance options, life insurance options,
medical and dental insurance, employees have numerous selections from
which to design their personalized baskets of benefits for themselves and
their families.
Essentially, the strategy with private
exchanges is for employers to set their
spend on health & welfare benefits at a
specific dollar amount for each employee (i.e. a defined contribution); so, by
capping dollars spent, employers hold
the line on their expense of these benefits while turning over the specific decision making on design to their employees. They will no longer have to
produce a plan that will fit all employees’ medical and other benefit needs.
As a partner with you, ERA will continue to provide you cost containment
resources and support to enable you to
retain and recruit top talent while remaining competitive in 2015 and beyond.
PAGE 14
February 2015 ©ERA
Harnessing Your
Healthcare Costs
ReferenceBased Pricing
As the cost of healthcare continues to
increase, employers continue to seek
effective solutions to control the expense
of healthcare benefits while providing
valuable offerings to their employees.
Traditional healthcare options such as
HMO/PPO and High Deductible Health
Plans utilizing PPO networks are proving
to be ineffective cost containment solutions in the long run. The consistent cost
increases when an employer renews their
health benefits coverage often lead to
additional cost-shifting in the form of
greater employer contributions, higher
deductibles and higher coinsurance –
sometimes making access to affordable
healthcare a challenge for their
employees.
Whether an employer selects a fully insured plan or any of the forms of selffunding, reliance on PPO networks can be
an obstacle to implementing impactful
cost containment strategies: Provider fee
-for-service reimbursement formulas
used by PPO networks are a function of
discounts from billed charges.
A different approach to healthcare benefits is Reference-Based Pricing, where
providers are reimbursed on a cost-plus
basis using a commonly accepted reference such as Medicare. Medicare bases
provider reimbursement on the actual
cost plus a moderate profit margin.
Medicare is typically the basis because it
is one of the most commonly used
“references” and most providers routinely
accept it. Additionally, Medicare Plus
pricing is consistent, defensible, arguably
fair and most importantly transparent.
Reference-Based Pricing gained Federal
approval in May 2014. The Departments
of Labor and Health & Human Service
both approved Reference-Based Pricing
plans as reasonable methods to ensure
access to quality providers.
How does Reference-Based Pricing
translate to healthcare cost containment for employers and employees?
In an apples-to-apples analysis of actual
healthcare claims from 31 different Cincinnati employers conducted by third party administrator, Custom Design Benefits
in 2015, the average PPO discount was
32% of the “billed charges” with a high of
58% and low of 18%. A ReferenceBased Pricing plan based on Medicare
plus 40% would have generated an average 61% discount off the same billed
charges.
Employers taking advantage of a Reference-Based Pricing plan are able to pass
on those savings to their employees in
the form of affordable, rich plan designs
that reduce out-of-pocket expenses. Providers appreciate the predictability of
reimbursement and the elimination of
collection efforts for the patient’s portion
of the high-deductible health plan.
In response to your request for help with
benefits cost containment, ERA is partnering with Custom Design Benefits to
offer you TrueCost, a Reference Based
Pricing plan. Launched in Cincinnati in
2011, TrueCost enables direct contracting
between hospital systems and employers
- eliminating of the PPO middle-man.
While results vary by employer, TrueCost
clients are experiencing annual renewal
rate plan cost increases between 0% and
2%, compared to renewal increases of
between 12% and 15% with traditional
PPO plans.
How can you get more information?
Learn more about Reference-Based Pricing and other effective benefit cost containment strategies by attending ERA’s
upcoming Benefits Forum - Harnessing
Your Healthcare Costs on Thursday,
March 19th from 8:30 am to 10:00 am.
Click here to register.
If you want to learn more about TrueCost
prior to the March program, contact Peter
Landesman at Custom Design Benefits at
513.598.2900 or at
[email protected].
PAGE 15
February 2015 ©ERA
NLRB Strikes Again
Tammy Bennett, Esq.
Employees Can
Use Company
E-mail for Union
Activities
Recently, the National Labor Relations Board created a new rule that
overturned a long-standing precedent about the use of Company email systems for union activities.
In 2007, the NLRB ruled that companies could restrict the use of email systems for union activities,
including, among other things,
campaigning and organizing, provided that the restriction applied
universally to all non-business use.
In December 2014, however, the
NLRB reversed this rule and created a new one.
The new rule allows employees to
use company e-mail systems for
protected concerted activity, i.e.,
union activities, during non-work
time. This means that if the company assigns an employee an email address for purposes of performing his/her job duties, the employee is permitted to use the
company’s e-mail to communicate
with co-workers about workplace
concerns, union organizing, strikes
and any other terms and conditions
of employment.
In light of this ruling, employers
should carefully consider alternative methods for internal business
communications. In other words,
the best defense is to limit the assignment of company e-mail provided that another feasible means
of communication is available. For
this reason, employers may consider whether the use of an intranet
for internal communications is a
viable option. Further, employers
should also limit the assignment of
e-mails to employees on a jobrelatedness basis.
If you have any questions, please
contact an HR consultant or attorney or our hotline at
888.237.9554.
PAGE 16
February 2015 ©ERA
Measuring Employee
Engagement and
Satisfaction
Carol Reubel, SPHR
Introducing
ERA’s Enhanced
Employee
Survey - Join
Us for a Free
Webinar to
Learn More
A Hay Group study says that companies with engaged employees
have 2.5 times more revenue than
competitors with low engagement
levels.
Don’t miss out! Reserve your place
to learn how you can improve
productivity through engagement
by clicking on the time of your
choice:
A Corporate Leadership Council
study found that highly engaged
employees are 87% less likely to
leave their companies than disengaged employees.
March 12 at 1:00 pm EST
March 18 at 8:30 am EST
Ready to find out if your employees
are engaged or merely complacent? Learn more about ERA’s enhanced employee survey that applies new analytics to separately
measure satisfaction and engagement and known “drivers” of engagement. Join Carol Reubel, VP
of HR Consulting Services, for a 60
minute webinar on Thursday,
March 12th or Wednesday, March
18th where she’ll discuss:
•
Differences between engagement and satisfaction
•
How new engagement analytical measurement helps
a company determine the
level of engagement in the
overall company, as well as
in specific groups
•
Keys to driving engagement
•
Followed by a Q&A session
If you’d like to learn more prior to
the event, please contact Lori Lewellen in Columbus or Carol Reubel
in Cincinnati.
PAGE 17
February 2015 ©ERA
(Continued from page 11, Exclusive Offer for ERA’s Non-Profit & Public
Entity Members)
On average, one mismanaged unemployment claim can cost an employer
between $5,000 and $7,000. A few
mismanaged claims or missed deadlines can snowball and have a significant financial impact upon your organization.
Save Time.
Managing unemployment claims is the
key to minimizing state unemployment
tax rates. State unemployment laws,
regulations and interpretations differ.
It makes sense to hire professionals to
protect your interests and minimize
your costs.
Serve Your
Ohio Indemnity Company
Community.
Since 1989, UC Assure, a product of
Ohio Indemnity has helped thousands
of 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations
leave the state tax system behind so
they could continue to serve their communities.
Save Money.
UC Assure provides a safe and secure
insurance alternative to the state unemployment tax program that allows
501(c)(3) non-profits and public employers save money and serve their
communities. With our innovative solutions, your unemployment insurance
cost is determined by rating your organization’s individual claims history
and future expectations, not by pooled
averages and other limitations.
UC Assure is a product of an industryleading, fully licensed and admitted
insurance company, Ohio Indemnity
Company (OIC), a company that has
provided specialty insurance products
to all 50 states plus District of Columbia for nearly 60 years.
Why Choose ERA’s Unemployment
Savings & Group Refund Program
There are a variety of other options
you may see in the marketplace. With
many of these other options, nonprofits are ultimately responsible for
the entire organization’s unemployment liability.
This often causes non-profits to find
themselves without sufficient financial
reserve levels to accommodate their
unemployment claim obligations. In
these situations, the risk and liability
lie with the non-profit organizations.
With ERA’s new program, your organization can benefit from unparalleled
coverage of your unemployment program and take on minimal liability in
the event of unemployment compensation claims. This not only safeguards
your organization’s future, but also
makes budgetary planning a little easier today.
Regardless of your current unemployment status (State Unemployment Insurance Taxpayer, Trust, Reimbursing), you owe it to your organization
and the people you serve to find out
more about the ERA Unemployment
Savings & Group Refund Program.
If you have any questions about this
information or want to know more
about this new ERA Non-Profit Savings
Program contact Ken Kruse at
513.351.1222 or by e-mail at
[email protected]
Article provided by The Matrix
Companies, an ERA partnered
service.
February 2015 ©ERA
PAGE 18
Employers Resource Association
Cincinnati: 1200 Edison Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45216-2276
Phone: 513.679.4120 | Fax: 513.679.4139
Columbus: 300 East Broad Street, Suite 550
Columbus, OH 43215-3774
Phone: 614.538.9410 | Fax: 614.538.9420
Toll free: 888.237.9554
www.hrxperts.org
Do you need more information about a service or program offered by ERA?
Would you like to talk to one of our experts in a particular specialty?
Here’s a list of some of our most popular services, and the main contact person for each of them.
In Cincinnati, please call: 513.679.4120 | In Columbus, please call: 614.538.9410
Cincinnati
Columbus
Hotline ·········································
Dan Chaney
Lori Lewellen/Barb England
Administration & Posters ·············
April Risen
April Risen
Compensation & Benefit Services·
Monique Kahkonen
Monique Kahkonen
Affirmative Action Plans···············
Carol Reubel
Lori Lewellen
HR On-Demand Services ··············
Carol Reubel
Lori Lewellen
Employee Engagement Surveys ···
Carol Reubel
Lori Lewellen
Recruiting ····································
Carol Reubel
Lori Lewellen
Training & Development ··············
Ralph Neal
Dawn Hays
Assessments ································
Patti Grogan
Patti Grogan
Compliance Services ····················
Tammy Bennett
Tammy Bennett
Reference Center ·························
Dan Chaney
Lori Lewellen
Roundtables ·································
Dan Chaney
Barb England
Salary & Benefits Surveys ············
Jeff Lucas
Jeff Lucas
Custom Surveys ···························
Jeff Lucas
Jeff Lucas
Membership ·································
Jessica Parsons
Jessica Parsons
Julie Maier
Julie Maier
Register For Training Today! See Page 9 For Upcoming Classes.