Employment Practices Liability Insurance

I wanted to share a story about one of my clients. He was expanding his IT staffing business and hired a female recruiter /salesperson. This salesperson was emailing and interacting with the client’s operations staff at their offshore operations center. The emails started to turn more and more inappropriate, in a sexual way. The client is not sure who initiated the inappropriate emails but he now sees himself on the other side of a sexual harassment lawsuit. Needless to say the legal costs are great and he is scared to let any of these employee go. There is an insurance product that can protect your company from this type of exposure, Employment Practices Liability Insurance (ELPI). EPLI covers a business against claims by workers of the company, that their legal rights have been violated. Protection is provided against many types of employee lawsuits, including claims of: Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Wrongful Termination, Breach of Employment Contract, and many others. The policies will reimburse your company against the costs of defending a lawsuit in court and for judgments and settlements. The policy covers legal costs if you win or lose the suit.

To prevent employee lawsuits, educate your managers and employees so that you minimize the problems in the first place. Create effective hiring and screening programs to avoid discrimination in hiring. Post corporate policies throughout the workplace and place them in employee so policies are clear to everyone. Show employees what steps to take if they are the object of sexual harassment or discrimination by a supervisor. Make sure Supervisors know where the company stands on what behaviors are not permissible. Document everything that occurs and the steps your company is taking to prevent and solve employee disputes.  Contact us if you would like to learn more about employment practices liability insurance.

Life Is Good When You’re a Hoosier

I recently had the extreme pleasure of reading a well thought out opinion column in the Wall Street Journal by the Republican Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels. Mr. Daniels shared his experience with Indiana state employee’s usage of Health Savings Accounts.

In review of the usage and cost savings, Indiana will stand to save $20 Million Dollars due to high enrollment in the HSA. An HSA is an outstanding addition to a company’s benefit plan and in the case of Indiana State workers in my opinion is successful due to high contribution rates provided by the government.

For example, the whole deductible of $2,750 is put into the HSA for the employee to use for any qualified medical necessity. For employees, “about 6 percent last year, who use their entire account balance, the state shares further health costs up to the maximum-out-of-pocket of $8000, after which the employee is completely protected.”
This generous level of contribution by the state is seldom seen in the private sector.  Our New Jersey Employee Benefits Specialists have implemented many HSA plans and usually the deductible is funded by the employer, but beyond that it is the employees responsibility to pay out of pocket for expenses or contribute themselves to the HSA plan.

I would like to see a wider adoption of HSA plans in the public and private sector. I hope the current administration in Washington makes consumer directed healthcare a bigger priority and looses the mentality that regular workers can not afford HSA plans due to the high deductibles present. The focus should be on providing incentives for employers to at least contribute to the HSA in the amount of the deductible since the savings on the premiums are so significant.

NJ Short Term Disability

We have had a few issues recently with regard to employees trying to figure out how to apply for NJ Short Term Disability. New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island are the only states that require employers to have this coverage. The NJ form (WDS-1) is available from the NJ State website. This form has all the detailed instructions for the EMPLOYEE to file a claim. The 3 part form needs to be filled out by the employee, employer and doctor. Submission is required within 30 days of the disability. We will make the form available on our website you can also contact my office for the form. As with most forms that deal with claim issues timely filing is most important.

What is a Co-pay?

One of our goals at CG Benefits Group is to help employees understand their benefits. Many employees are often confused about how various components of their health care work such as deductibles, co-insurance, and co-pays.

In the first of our series aimed at helping you understand your benefits, we will discuss what a co-pay is in health insurance plans and how to find out what your co-pays are.

A co-pay is a defined amount of money that is used by the insurance company to charge you for utilizing a service. Commonly you are charged a co-pay for doctor, specialist, and hospital visits. Typical co-pays can range from fifteen Dollars for a doctor visit to one hundred and fifty Dollars per day for a hospital visit.

If you are unsure about how much you co-pays are, then look on your insurance ID card. Most insurance carriers print the co-pays for your primary care physician and specialist visits on the ID card for convenience. If you insurance carrier does not list the co-pay, or if you would like to find out how much your co-pay is for other services, then you can call CG Benefits Group and speak to your assigned customer service representative at 888-242-4675.

DO I NEED WORKERS COMPENSATION?

I am asked this question thousands of times annually by small businessmen. Here are the rules, they apply if you own or operate a business in New Jersey. If you have an employee and pay wages you are required to obtain Workers Compensation. All Corporations operating in New Jersey must obtain workers compensation regardless if you have employees. Partnerships or LLC must obtain workers compensation if you have employees, owners for those entities can exclude themselves. If you cannot obtain coverage from an insurance carrier, the State will assign one to insure you. Rates are set by the State based on the employee’s duties. All rates will be the same regardless of the carrier. These are the basic rules, I would be glad to any question you might have about your business. Drop me a line alan@cgbins.com.