Tag employer headaches

Wouldn’t it be great if employers could make all their employee problems go away? Make them “Somebody Else’s Problem”?

We believe that when the Employee Leasing industry chose “PEO” as their new, politically correct moniker, they chose the wrong letters. We think they should call them Employer SEP’s – where the Employee Problems become Somebody Else’s Problems. When an employer and a PEO form a business partnership, defined by the Client Service Agreement (CSA), many of the risks and responsibilities are transferred (in whole or in part) to the PEO and are no longer the employer’s headache.

Will Tenney talks about the choice of the letters “PEO”

Some of the headaches that can be shifted or at least alleviated include:

Payroll Tax Liabilities

Since the employees are now employees of the PEO for tax purposes, and registered on the PEO’s FEIN, IRS payroll tax audits are not as much of a threat anymore. In most cases the client isn’t even involved. The PEO is audited, shows their records and it’s all over. In rare cases, a PEO might have to produce information supplied by the client, but this happens so seldom you might call it a Payroll Unicorn.

Workers’ Comp Claims

The PEO will be the employer of record, so they will be responsible for paying all workers’ comp premiums, and involved in negotiating the claims. In most states, the experience modifier will stay with the PEO, and the client will not be adversely affected in the future by past claims. In addition, the PEO has safety expertise, training and written programs to put in place to reduce the frequency and severity of claims.

Unemployment Claims

Similar to workers’ comp, this becomes the responsibility (and liability) of the PEO, who is the employer of record. The State Unemployment Tax Act rate (SUTA rate) of the PEO is the SUTA rate that gets affected (in most states. There are some exceptions) and the client can maintain a clean record. In addition, the PEOs are much more experienced at handling and negotiating claims and experience has shown they are much more effective at removing false claims.

Employee Lawsuits for Employment Practices

Again, since the PEO is the employer of record, some or all of the liability shifts to the PEO in these cases. This could include:

• Sexual Harassment
• Wrongful Termination
• Discrimination
• Unfair Hiring Practices

… to name but a few.

If you would like to make some of your employer problems become Somebody Else’s Problem, please feel free to use the contact form below, or call us at 407-490-2468

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More and more states are legalizing prescription cannabis (for medical use.) This has got people to thinking about how this can affect workers’ comp “Drug Free Workplace” programs.

Tuesday November 4th marks a landmark day in Florida as (by early polls) this amendment shows signs of passing by an overwhelming margin.

PEO Pros would like your input on the situation. Please use the contact form at the bottom of this post to give us your opinion, feedback, etc.

We found one very interesting article published by Mountain Land Rehabilitation, (excerpts shown below).

Can we continue to have a drug-free work place policy?
• Absolutely. In fact, some states specifically permit you to do so.
If an employee is using medical marijuana, is he/she responsible for notifying the employer he/she is using medical marijuana?
• No. (PEO Pros thinks that this will be changed in Florida, as use of medical marijuana will probably be proscribed in sensitive job capacities, such as driving, operating heavy machinery, or other critical positions.)
Does federal law trump state law?
• Yes, in most cases. However that is a continuing issue of debate.
Can we take adverse action against an employee who is legally using marijuana?
• Yes, with some state-specific exceptions.
How will this affect the Department of Transportation (DOT) Drug Testing program?
• It won’t at all. The DOT has issued a statement noting that there will be no impact to federal programs.
What happens if an employee who has a prescription for medicinal marijuana has an accident at work?
• This will depend on the specific state, along with the details within your workplace policy. Marijuana cannot be prescribed (with very limited exceptions). The use of marijuana can only be recommended by doctors. You may also be able to deny Workers’ Compensation benefits in states that allow you to do so.
Will Workers’ Compensation insurance cover the injury or will that be an exclusion due to the employee being under the influence? If not covered, will the employee have a legal claim due to his usage being tied to a medical need?
• So far nothing has changed in the Workers’ Compensation world with regards to marijuana use. Some states have specified that insurance does not have to cover medical marijuana.
Can any physician prescribe medical marijuana for any medical condition or are prescribers and conditions limited?
• Medical marijuana cannot be prescribed in any state (with one exception used in very limited instances). The use of marijuana can only be recommended in such states that allow for medicinal use. Each state law outlines who is able to make the recommendation and under what qualifying conditions.
We have staff in multiple states. What is the best way to standardize policies across the board?
• Due to the way state laws differ and are ever changing, you simply can’t standardize a policy across the board.
What if an employee lives in a state where marijuana is legal, but works in a state where it is not?
• Typically employers have the right to include the screening for marijuana in their drug-free workplace policy, but this can vary by state law. In general, employers are not required to impose legal marijuana standards in states where the personal use of marijuana is illegal.
Will a candidate’s state-issued marijuana drug card be proof enough that he can legally use the drug?
• This will depend on the criteria in each state. The recommendation card is only the result of the individual qualifying under state criteria.
How long does marijuana stay in your system?
• This will depend on many different factors, including but certainly not limited to: the frequency of use; potency of substance; method of ingestion; personal metabolism; and the method used for screening. The recent use of marijuana can be best detected via oral fluid (approximately 1-12 hour detection time window). Other screening methods include urine (approximately 2-30 day detection time window) and hair follicle (approximately 2-90 day detection time window).
How will legal marijuana use by employees impact our insurance rates?
• In most states, you cannot have insurance pay for marijuana. However, that doesn’t address the other health-related impacts that may or may not affect health insurance rates

Please give us your comments below.

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What can possibly go wrong with a small business?

Why would a small business need a professional HR partner?

Isn’t that a waste of time and money?

No one wants to fine us do they?

Our lead agent, John Will Tenney, appears below in a candid video discussing this situation:

Business owners, if you’ve ever asked yourselves these or similar questions, consider the recent judgment handed down in Georgia where a business was fined 1.7 million dollars for I-9 violations. That’s right, $1,700,000. If that’s not a significant amount of money to you, there is no reason for you to keep reading.

What is an I-9 Form?

The Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 is a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) form. It is used by an employer to verify an employee’s identity and to establish that the worker is eligible to accept employment in the United States. (*1)

The form requires documents that establish both identity and employment authorization. The USCIS defines these documents in three “columns” on the form: A, B and C.

Column A are documents that establish both, and if one of these can be documented, there is no need to go to the other two columns. Examples of a column A document are:

• Passport
• Permanent Resident Card
• Alien Registration Receipt Card
• Employment Authorization Card (*2)

Column B are documents that establish identity only and include:

• Driver’s license or identification (ID) card issued by a state or outlying possession of the United States, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color and address
• ID card issued by federal, state or local government agencies or entities, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color and address
• School ID card with a photograph
• Voter’s registration card
• U.S.military card or draft record
• Military dependent’s ID card
• U.S.Coast Guard Merchant Mariners Document (MMD) Card
• Native American tribal document
• Driver’s license issued by a Canadian government authority

Acceptable Column B Documents for persons under age 18 who are unable to present a document listed above:

• School record or report card
• Clinic, doctor or hospital record
• Day-care or nursery school record (*3)

If a Column B document is presented, a Column C document must also be provided to establish authorization to work in the USA.
Examples of Column C documents are:

• U.S. Social Security account number card that is unrestricted. A card that includes any of the following restrictive wording is not an acceptable List C document:
  NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT
  VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH INS AUTHORIZATION
  VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION
• Certification of Birth Abroad issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form FS-545)
• Certification of Report of Birth issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form DS-1350)
• Original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a state, county, municipal authority or outlying possession of the United States bearing an official seal
• Native American tribal document
• U.S. Citizen ID Card (Form I-197)
• Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form I-179)
• Employment authorization document issued by DHS. Some employment authorization documents issued by DHS include but are not limited to the Form I-94 issued to an asylee or work-authorized nonimmigrant (e.g., H-1B nonimmigrants) because of their immigration status, the unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327), the Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561), or the Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570). A form I-797 issued to a conditional resident may be an acceptable List C(8) document in combination with his or her expired Form I-551 (“green card”). For more information about DHS-issued documents please contact customer support. (*4)

How Can Your Business Avoid I-9 Problems?

Are your I-9s filled out properly? Could you handle a USCIC (formerly the INS) audit today?

If you’ve though about making this “Somebody Else’s Problem” perhaps you should contact us and let us find a Professional HR Partner, a PEO, to take this problem away from you. Please use the form at the bottom of this screen to contact us.

References:
(*1) Wikipedia
(*2) USCIS Website List A Documents
(*3) USCIS Website
(*4) USCIS Website List C Documents

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Can making a mistake in hiring or firing an employee cost you money? Your business? Your personal possessions?

What do you think in this litigious society?

You may be expecting an insurance agency to recommend getting Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) and it’s not a bad idea, but how about avoiding the need for it as much as possible in the first place?

Is it possible to know the right way to do everything with employees? Possible, but easy? No. It would certainly require staying on top of all the latest laws, practices and codes. Sounds like a lot of research to us.

Wouldn’t it be easier to have it be Somebody Else’s Problem?

Entering in to PEO relationship may be an easier (and safer) solution. After all, it is their job to handle all the employee issues related to employment. In most cases their EPLI policy offers you, the employer, some coverage as well.

Here is a brief story from one of our clients:

“A few years ago we had an employee who was not performing satisfactorily. We didn’t know what to do. She was very well liked and a personal friend of ours. We tried to talk to her but she told us what ‘we wanted to hear’ and still failed to do her job satisfactorily.

We decided to call our PEO. After a very relaxing call we asked ourselves, ‘Why didn’t we do this before?’ After all, they are professionals aren’t they?

They handled it very well. They called our employee and asked if she knew what her job duties were. She listed them fairly accurately. They asked her if she could complete those tasks in the next two weeks. She said yes. They scheduled a phone meeting at the end of the two weeks. They went down the list with her and asked her if she had completed the tasks. Not surprisingly, she hadn’t completed more than a couple. They asked her ‘What should we do?’ She said ‘I guess I shouldn’t be at this job’ and they offered her a chance to resign rather than be terminated for cause. She took it.

When she handed in her resignation to us she told us that the PEO did a great job and she apologized for wasting our time. We took her out for a farewell lunch and she told us she already had a new position lined up. In fact, she entered a new career that suits her better and we are still friends. FOrgive us for stealing someone else’s tag line but:

‘That was easy’

Thanks to PEO Pros for putting us with such a Professional Employer Organization.”

If you want to have less stress and a more comfortable relationship with your employees, consider asking us to match you with the right PEO.

At PEO Pros, we are your professional PEO matchmakers. Use the contact form below for more information.

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Can things go wrong for an employer? Of course. What can an employer do to ease the pain When Things Go Wrong?

Proper preparation can prevent problems. Having a professional partner can help solve problems.

Having a professional employer organization on your side can help prevent problems be the difference between making or breaking during an employee crisis. Things can go wrong. Things can go wrong with employees and administration, too. There are times having an experienced and professional group on the same team as the employer can help clean up the mess.

Some of the problems that can cripple a business that goes solo are:

Payroll/Tax errors.
No business owner is happy to receive letters from the IRS. Wouldn’t it be great if this could become Somebody Else’s Problem? Wouldn’t it be an advantage if all the employees were on someone else’s Federal ID number?

Workplace injuries.
It happens. Employees can get hurt on the job. What are the procedures? How does an employer avoid legal issues? Workers’ Comp Insurance is expensive for a reason. Doctors, Lawyers and Hospitals love comp claims, since there are no co-pays, deductibles or limits. How can employer make this problem “go away”? How does an employer keep the workers’ comp insurance premiums from rising? How do they avoid costly, end of year audits?

Disputes between Employees.
What are employers allowed to do? How do you handle a fight? How do you terminate a bad employee without incurring risk? How do you avoid an unemployment claim? How can you minimize the damage?

Employment Practices.
Is everything being done right? In compliance? Are there any potential lawsuits sitting out there? How can employers protect themselves from employee lawsuits?

Bad Employees
What can employer do to get rid of a bad employee without opening the gates for wrongful termination? What are the documentation procedures? Is there counseling required? Who knows the answers?

These are challenging questions. Is having a PEO an answer for all of them? Maybe. It depends a lot on the employer, the PEO and the relationship defined in the Client-Service agreement. Do you need an expert to help you select a PEO that matches your needs? That’s where PEO Pros comes in.

If any of the problems listed here sound familiar, or keep you up at night, perhaps you should contact us using the form below, or give us a call at 800-788-8343.

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Why would anyone expect to find all their payroll, workers’ comp insurance and HR answers from one PEO?

Would you buy a suit that didn’t fit? So why expect one PEO to do it all?

Many business owners are frustrated that they can’t find the right payroll, workers’ comp or PEO solution that matches their business. Some small businesses feel “swallowed up” in the machine of a large, national payroll company. Larger businesses find that a local PEO or payroll provider just doesn’t have the experience, service or access to products that they need. There is no “One Size Fits All” in business.

Do any of these comments sound familiar?

• “My PEO doesn’t offer the services I need”
• “Nice fancy PEO website, but I know I am paying for it”
• “All we need is workers’ comp and payroll, why are we paying for all this other stuff?
• “We keep getting denied for workers’ comp coverage”
• “We’re tired of calling a machine. We want to talk to a person!”
• “Our rep? You mean this month’s rep? We’ve had 6 different reps in 6 months”
• “I wish my insurance agent could help us with more than just insurance”

Perhaps you might need a Custom PEO Solution. We may be able to help. Tell us what is missing. Please feel free to contact us using the form below.

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PEO Services Workers Compensation Pay As You Go Comp Services Construction General Liability Health Insurance Broker/Agency Alliance Other Business Insurance Agent Appointment Other

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Please tell us more about your business? What do you do? Your line of business?

Comments - for PEO services it would be helpful to know how many employees you have, what states do they work, what do they do, and an rough idea of what your payroll is and how often (weekly, bi-weekly, etc)

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Shown here with strategic partner Jason Irving of Urban Recruiters Staffing, PEO Pros CEO John Will Tenney has written an article for Google Knols discussing the history of PEOs and how they differ from Staffing Companies.

“We get asked this question all the time.” Tenney tells us, “It’s not a simple answer. I expect this will only be the first of a few articles discussing it. For example, with a recovering economy such as we are in today, Staffing makes a lot more sense for business owners that are cautiously expanding their business.”

Here is the link to the Knol. Your comments and reviews are welcomed.

Excerpt: “In many ways, PEOs and Staffing companies are similar, but in fact they cover the opposite ends of the HR spectrum. In this article, John Will Tenney of PEO Pros explains the history and formation of PEOs, and a little of the differences and similarities between PEOs and Staffing.”

When is a worker an employee and when is a worker an independent contractor?

Employers worry that they may have an independent contractor that is actually an employee. Please remember this important fact: There is no such thing as a 1099 employee.

The worker is either an employee, requiring tax withholding and an issued W-2, or they are an independent contractor.

Things change from state to state. We are asked this question quite often by our payroll consulting clients, not only here in Orlando, but throughout the state of Florida and even nationwide.

Here is a list of questions the state of Florida uses to determine the status of a worker:

A “Yes” answer for the following questions indicates that the worker is an employee:
1. Does the business provide instructions to the worker about when, where and how he or she is to perform the work?
2. Does the business provide training to the worker?
3. Are the services provided by the worker integrated into the business’ operations?
4. Must the services be rendered personally by the worker?
5. Does the business hire, supervise and pay assistants to the worker?
6. Is there a continuing relationship between the business and the worker?
7. Does the business set the work hours and schedule?
8. Does the worker devote substantially full time to the work of the business?
9. Is the work performed on the business’ premises?
10. Is the worker required to perform the services in an order or sequence set by the business?
11. Is the worker required to submit oral or written reports to the business?
12. Is the worker paid by the hour, week or month?
13. Does the business have the right to discharge the worker at will?
14. Can the worker terminate his or her relationship with the business any time he or she wishes without incurring liability to the business?
15. Does the business pay the traveling expenses of the worker?

A “Yes” answer for the following questions indicates that the worker is an Independent Contractor:
16. Does the worker furnish significant tools, materials and equipment?
17. Does the worker have a significant investment in the facilities?
18. Can the worker realize a profit or loss as a result of his or her services?
19. Does the worker provide services for more than one firm at a time?
20. Does the worker make his or her services available to the general public?

Confusing? Yes. Is it risky? Yes it is. The federal government and the IRS are under a directive to reduce the abuse of the 1099 classification. Make sure your contractors are truly independent contractors. If you are unsure, you may want to check with an expert.

If you would like further information from us please call 800.788.8343 or use the form below:

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Are you an employer who would like to have one point of contact to deal with all of your insurance problems? Are you tired of having to “look up” which agent handles that particular issue?

Would it make sense to you to have one point of contact to deal with all those headaches? Would it make your life easier to make one phone call and let someone else handle it? We like to call it the “SEP” solution, where it becomes Somebody Else’s Problem.

PEO Pros, and our alliance partners, can help you in these areas:

• Business Owner Packages (BOPs)
• Workers’ Compensation
• General Liability
• Professional Liability
• Employment Practices Liability (EPLI)
• Group and Individual Health Plans
• etc

Health Insurance in the Future. What is this going to mean to my business?
Many employers are asking themselves:
Is this new health bill going to cost me a lot of money?
It is important that you get the facts on how it will affect you. Smart employers are asking experts:

• What options are available?
• Is my business compliant with the new bill?
• Are my employees going to be covered?
• Will I avoid expensive fines?

We have experts available to review your situation. Can we help in all cases? Probably not. Can we help you? Why not contact us and find out?

Sometimes it’s possible to get a better health plan or group benefits through a PEO. Sometimes it’s not. Would you like to be aware of the options available to you?

Our agents are well versed in the confusing world of health options.

It’s very possible you can benefit by having us as a professional partner in this area.

Convenient Links for Business Insurance:

• General Liability Insurance
• Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Southeastern Data is one of the most unique businesses in Central Florida. From their website:

“Since 1996 Southeastern Data has provided recycling & remarketing of of all types of computers & electronic equipment. We offer pickup service across the nation and to a number of locations outside of the country.

Southeastern Data is an expert at recycling all forms of electronics and equipment. We also offer wholesale pricing of refurbished and new-old-stock items at our warehouse location in Oviedo, Florida. Our warehouse is open to the public Monday-Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. with other hours available by appointment.”

Allan Jackson, owner and CEO tells us “I wish I’d known about PEOs when I got started. I could have avoided a lot of headaches in our first year of business associated with managing payroll and taxes, but the real benefit early on would have come from expert help with basic HR issues such as unemployment and workers comp insurance. The time and money that I used to spend on that is now completely focused on the business. It’s been a huge upgrade! I also can’t say enough about PEO Pros in helping me find the best PEO solution for our needs at every step in my company’s evolution. My best advice for moving to a PEO relationship would be to make PEO Pros your first call.”

We are also clients of Southeastern Data. We have purchased all of our office computers and other tech items from their high quality collection of previously owned equipment.