Tag PEO services

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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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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We are a provider of master policies to PEOs, Payroll and Staffing Companies for Workers’ Compensation Insurance.

Convenient Links for PEO Owners:

• Our Agency Alliances
• Latest PEO Insurance updates (master policies)

There are several viable options for PEO owners in today’s comp market, including:

• Guaranteed Cost programs
• High deductible programs
• Captive Loss Funds
• Offshore Loss Funds
• “Rent-a-captive” Segregated Portfolios

If you would like to hear more about our PEO master policy options for workers’ comp please contact us using the form below:

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While there are many advantages to having a PEO manage your workforce, many times it is troubles with Workers’ Compensation Insurance that brings the client to a PEO.

Is it better to be with a PEO? To have a professional partner to assist you with risk management? We of course, have a bias, but here is another point of view. This is an excellent article written by Antony Kelly
Antony Kelly’s Article

Here are some excerpts we particularly liked:
“Simply put, traditional workers comp coverage will require a small business owner to make an upfront deposit, based on an estimate of their gross annual wages. The company will send quarterly information to the insurer, who then calculates the bill and requests payments. Since these are all estimates, however, an audit is required, including a reconciliation process that will help bring the numbers together. Unfortunately, if the deposits and quarterly estimates do not cover the total amount due, the company is mandated to reimburse the carrier at the end of the year. This could potentially be a substantial cut to the small business person’s cash flow. Interestingly enough, payments that extend beyond the balance may roll over into next years beginning balance; nice for the carrier, bad for the business owner. ”

“PEO companies not only provide you with pay as you go workers compensation but also outsourced benefits and a variety of resources that help you comply with employment related issues and administrative paperwork. In fact, many businesses under 100 employees should be able to significanly reduce their in-house administrative burden through the use of a PEO, which provides additional value over traditional and pay as you go workers comp plans. ”

Thank you to Antony Kelly for writing this article, and to Shane Underwood for finding it.

People ask us when they need a PEO, or even why?

Hard question to answer with anything other than “Maybe you don’t!”

Our staff can spend a lot of time telling you why you should have a PEO, and you can probably find some of that on other parts of this site. For fun though, and maybe for educational purposes, we asked them, “When DON’T you need a PEO?” Well they tossed it around the bullpen and surprise surprise, they came up with at least 7 scenarios when a PEO is not called for.

Here’s some situations they gave us when you DON’T need a PEO:

1: You don’t have any employees
2: You have employees but they cause no problems and create no risks
3: You are a government entity who cannot be sued
4: You are a very large company with an internal legal and HR department
5: You are a very large company with annual workers’ comp premiums in excess of $250,000. (In this case you should have your own, custom comp solution, such as a captive or a self funded plan. Ask us about that)
6: You are a short term company, not likely to be around for a while
7: You will never want to sell your company, or facilitate an easy ownership transfer

Can you think of some others? Please let us know!

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Florida is the birth place of PEOs, so there is rarely a problem finding a match for your specific needs here.

PEO Pros is an independent broker, not affiliated with any one PEO but has contracts and agreements with over 125 choices. Doesn’t it make sense to let the Pros find the best match for you?

PEOs in Florida can provide the following services to name a few:

• Payroll Service in Florida
• Workers’ Comp in Florida (or Florida Workers’ Comp)
• Assistance with Unemployment Insurance in Florida
• Assistance with Health Insurance in Florida

We have PEO partners in the following locations:
Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Sarasota, Bradenton, Ft. Myers, Port Charlotte, Panama City, Ft. Walton Beach, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Destin, Orange County, Lake County, Osceola County, Seminole County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County and Polk County; just to name a few.

Here is an article that explains a little more about PEO Services: Why Use a PEO?

If you would like to get some more information on a quote, please use the form below:

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Information Concerning

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

How Did You Find Us?

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.”

This article was published in “The PEO Insider” in January 2010. Reproduced here by permission. If you click on the images they may just give you a clearer view.

The PEO Insider was doing a special issue on brokers and called on me. I was flattered of course! I know we do some brokering but there are many larger “broker houses” than ours. Stephanie Oetjen, the feature editor, told me that I was considered to be a “high visibility broker, with a significant internet presence.”

Well who could resist that kind of schmoozing. After several edits and sessions with Stephanie this was the finished product.

Page 1 of The PEO Insider article January 2010

Page 2 of The PEO Insider article January 2010

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.