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  • 30 Jul 2020 10:07 AM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    Diversity officers are in demand across corporate America but are ...

    PUBLISHED WED, JUL 29 202012:40 PM EDT | Seema Mody

    KEY POINTS

    • Diversity officers across corporate America are under pressure to solve complicated, important and deeply sensitive issues related to race. 
    • While demand for diversity officers is rising, their success depends on a number of factors including their access to the boardroom and the C-suite. 
    • Financial compensation is another challenge faced by diversity executives.

    Diversity officers across corporate America are under pressure to solve complicated, important and deeply sensitive issues related to race — all while trying to consult employees and help their C-suite manage any blunders of the past.

    How do companies improve the diversity at the top? How do companies ensure executives aren’t using bias when promoting individuals? How do managers create an inclusive environment for all people of color? These are the type of questions diversity officers are addressing at major firms, and time is ticking for action. 

    “Often as a CDO [Chief Diversity Officer], you really have seven jobs in one. You’re PR, most recently a pandemic specialist. My number one job has been ‘counselor in chief,’ not only for our agencies in our networks, but certainly my fellow colleagues in diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Tiffany Warren, chief diversity officer at Omnicom Group, in an interview CNBC.

    Financial compensation is another challenge faced by diversity executives.

    Compiling data from 12 salary reports, Glassdoor found that the average salary for chief diversity officers is $127,239, which is less than the average pay of individuals who hold positions in the C-suite.

    “I think in general, chief diversity officers are underpaid mainly because it’s looked at as overhead and it’s not looked at as a strategic position,” Warren said. 

    Warren said she is hopeful that as corporations prioritize diversity initiatives, more attention will be placed on equity and compensation of those individuals who help businesses drive these efforts.

    While demand for diversity officers is rising, their success depends on a number of factors including their access to the boardroom and executives at the highest levels. 

    ″[CDOs] have to understand the strategy, they have to craft a strategy that aligns with the business and they need to partner with leaders across the firm. They also need to partner with the board so the board can help to really drive this across the firm,” said Kara Helander, chief inclusion and diversity officer for The Carlyle Group. She also is a member of CNBC’s Workforce Executive Council, a network of C-level HR and inclusion officers.

    Jacqueline Welch, chief diversity officer at Freddie Mac, agrees.

    “If you don’t have that front line view of, ‘OK, here’s the business, here’s what we’re trying to accomplish,’ likely you’ll develop things in a vacuum that aren’t value add,” said Welch, who is also a member of CNBC’s Workforce Executive Council.

    Both Helander and Welch said they do have that direct line of communication into their respective CEOs, which allows them to fulfill their broader objectives around diversity.

    Warren said she, too, reports to the CEO of Omnicom and regularly presents to the board.

    “I’m very connected to the board of directors. I present to them, I talk to them,” Warren said. “I’m included in many meetings. I do think that it’s important for the CDO to have a seat at the table, not to be shown the table and then told they can’t have that seat.” 

    Demand is rising for chief diversity officers across the U.S., with job postings for diversity and inclusion roles on Glassdoor up 55% since early June when the conversation around racial tensions — and corporate America’s response —took center stage.

    Major companies on the hunt for a CDO include IlluminaLevi Strauss, Silicon Valley Bank, among others, according to a review of LinkedIn and Glassdoor listings.

    Industry experts caution not to put too much emphasis on a company’s hiring of a CDO and instead track their progress in promoting people of color to senior management roles and address race-related issues.

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    Source: CNBC

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/diversity-officers-are-in-demand-at-us-companies-but-often-underpaid.html

  • 29 Jul 2020 3:33 PM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    After spending a May day preparing her classroom to reopen for preschoolers, Ana Aguilar was informed that the tots would not have to wear face masks when they came back. What’s more, she had to sign a form agreeing not to sue the school if she caught COVID-19 or suffered any injury from it while working there.

    Other teachers signed the form distributed by the Montessori Schools of Irvine, but Aguilar said she felt uncomfortable, although it stipulated that staff members would be masked. At 23, she has a compromised immune system and was also worried that she could pass the coronavirus on to her fiancé and other family members.

    Aguilar refused to sign, and a week later she was fired. “They said it was my choice to sign the paper, but it wasn’t really my choice,” said Aguilar, who’s currently jobless and receiving $276 a week in unemployment benefits. “I felt so bullied.”

    As employers in California and across the country ask employees to return to the workplace, many have considered and some are requiring employees to sign similar waivers, employment lawyers say. And many employees, mostly lower-wage and minority workers in essential jobs, are calling lawyers to complain about the waivers.

    “These are illegal agreements that are totally unfair to workers,” said Christian Schreiber, a San Francisco lawyer who represents Aguilar and other employees.

    The California State Legislature last year passed a law, AB-51, prohibiting employers from requiring employees or job applicants to sign away their right to pursue legal claims or benefits under state law. The law, which also prohibits firing any employee for refusing to sign, is being challenged in court by business groups.

    Only a few employers have forced employees to sign liability waivers, at least partly because these waivers likely would be held unenforceable by courts, lawyers who represent employers say.

    “Courts don’t recognize them because of the unequal bargaining power between employers and employees,” said Isaac Mamaysky, a partner at the Potomac Law Group in New York City. “With so many unemployed, people would sign just about anything to get a job.”

    Another reason they are considered unenforceable: Workers who get sick or injured on the job generally are compensated through state workers’ compensation systems rather than through the courts, and state laws don’t allow employers to force employees to sign away their right to pursue workers’ comp claims, Mamaysky said.

    Companies may have the right to require nonemployees working on their premises to sign COVID waivers. When the New York Stock Exchange reopened in late May, it made floor traders sign a form clearing the exchange of liability if they contracted COVID-19. That was legally permissible because the traders were not exchange employees, an NYSE spokesman said. He declined to say whether any traders have become infected with the virus.

    The Las Vegas-based restaurant chain Nacho Daddy, which did require employees to surrender their right to sue over COVID-19, reportedly fired some who refused. Following negative media coverage, Nacho Daddy removed the language that waived legal rights and instead had employees agree to follow safety rules such as masking and social distancing. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

    Having employees agree to comply with safety rules is a more common and legally acceptable approach than waivers.

    “I suggest my clients go to this reasonable middle ground: Here’s what we promise to you, here’s what we want you to promise to us,” said David Barron, an employment lawyer with Cozen O’Connor in Houston.

    Business groups hope Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will make liability waivers unnecessary. He has proposed a Senate bill with broad liability protection for employers for five years against a range of coronavirus-related claims, and says he won’t back any COVID relief bill that doesn’t include such protections. President Donald Trump has said he supports the liability protection.

    At least 10 states already have enacted laws providing some form of immunity for businesses from lawsuits brought by employees and others who contract COVID-19. Similar bills are pending in about 10 more states, according to the National Employment Law Project. The California Assembly is considering a liability protection bill for public K-12 schools.

    Federal legislation to provide COVID liability relief for employers should protect only those that follow applicable health and safety guidelines, said John Abegg, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, which supports McConnell’s proposal.

    But even if McConnell is able to overcome Democratic opposition and pass liability protection as part of a new pandemic economic relief bill, that still wouldn’t shield employers from lawsuits claiming gross negligence or reckless or intentional conduct in failing to implement COVID-19 safety precautions.

    Across the country, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as companies like McDonald’s, Walmart and Safeway, have been hit with wrongful death lawsuits filed by families of employees who died from the virus. They typically cite egregious conduct that goes beyond ordinary negligence, potentially erasing any statutory liability relief.

    Nearly 50 COVID-related lawsuits have been filed relating to conditions of employment, including exposure to the coronavirus or the lack of protective equipment, according to data collected by the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth.

    In many states, alleging intentional misconduct also may allow workers harmed by COVID-19, and their families, to file lawsuits rather than go through the workers’ compensation system, and thus seek bigger damage awards.

    For instance, a suit filed in Alameda County Superior Court in June by the widow of a longtime employee of Safeway’s distribution center in Tracy, California, alleged that the company had concealed a COVID-19 outbreak from workers and informed them that personal protective equipment was not recommended, contrary to guidelines from federal and state authorities.

    “I don’t know of any jurisdiction that would allow a waiver against intentional misconduct,” said Louis DiLorenzo, head of the labor and employment practice for Bond Schoeneck & King in New York, who represents employers. “That would encourage misconduct.”

    Worker advocates argue that lawsuits like the one against Safeway should be encouraged — rather than blocked by waivers or immunity laws — to bring to light serious public safety problems. Cases against McDonald’s in Oakland and Chicago — in which workers claimed the restaurants had created a “public nuisance” by not taking steps to adequately protect workers and customers from COVID-19 — resulted in court orders in late June for those McDonald’s restaurants to implement safety measures such as masks, social distancing and temperature checks.

    “A very tiny number of cases are being filed by workers, and those cases are valuable,” said Hugh Baran, a staff lawyer at the National Employment Law Project. “These are the kinds of claims we should want workers to bring.”

    Schreiber said he contacted the Montessori school about Aguilar’s firing, and it offered to reinstate her without having her sign the waiver. But Aguilar declined, saying the school was putting teachers at risk by not requiring pupils to wear masks. The school then offered her six weeks of severance pay, which she is considering.

    By refusing to sign the waiver or accept her job back, she said, she was standing up for all the teachers at the school, many of whom have children and can’t afford to lose their job.

    “I liked my job and I needed the paycheck,” Aguilar said. “But making you sign these papers is telling you that whatever happens, they really don’t care.”

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    Source: Kaiser Health News

    https://khn.org/news/employers-require-covid-liability-waivers-as-conflict-mounts-over-workplace-safety/

  • 29 Jul 2020 3:31 PM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo

    Chris Hagan | Friday, July 24, 2020 | Sacramento, CA

    With state and federal worker assistance set to expire at the end of July, Gov. Gavin Newsom discussed efforts to extend protections for essential workers, but stopped short of further executive orders to lock in those measures. 

    During his Friday COVID-19 briefing, the governor focused on efforts to work with state legislative leaders on bills to extend some of his temporary executive orders. Those include expanded COVID-19 sick pay, worker compensation insurance for essential workers and eviction protections for renters. 

    As cases and death continue to rise — the state reported 9,718 news cases Thursday and a record 159 deaths — Newsom reiterated that Latino communities make up a large percentage of the state's essential workers and "disproportionately are being impacted by the virus." 

    Many of those essential workers have not received support to allow them to isolate or quarantine when they feel sick, he said. To combat that, the state is expanding its Project Roomkey program to help essential workers get hotel rooms or other housing to allow them to isolate from family members.

    Newsom also introduced a new handbook for employers around worker safety and testing. He said the state will also be starting a public awareness campaign aimed at educating businesses and workers about the new rules. 

    Many businesses have expressed confusion over the rapidly changing regulations around the stay-at-home orders. Newsom said he takes responsibility, and will work to make new regulations simpler and easier for businesses.

    "If I reflect back with objectivity … when we began to reopen the economy we focused so much on when. But we didn't focus on how, especially how to educate," he said.

    Still, Newsom said the state will be looking at "strategic enforcement of labor laws," but focus more on education than punishing businesses.

    Newsom did not announce any new protections for unemployed workers as the federal $600 of additional benefits are set to expire July 31, but said he had confidence in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi getting a deal done. He also hinted at an announcement next week around the state's embattled Employment Development Department, which has struggled to process 7 million first-time jobless claims since March 12. 

    The governor once again asked Californians to wear masks whenever they can't distance themselves from others. As the state moved into the weekend, he cautioned against unnecessary travel or gatherings.

    Overall, California now has more than 425,000 confirmed cases, surpassing New York for the most of any state earlier this week. The state had two days in a row this week with more than 12,000 new cases, both records.

    The state's positivity rate — the percentage of tests that come back positive — is at 7.5% over the past 14 days, and has stayed steady this week. Hospitalizations continue to increase but more slowly, while there was an 11% increase in ICU hospitalizations over the past 14 days.

    On Thursday, Bay Area Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer proposed new lockdown orders — with exceptions for essential trips for food and health care — in counties where the 14-day rate of positive tests exceeds 2% in either that county or its neighboring counties.

    Asked about the impact another wave of stay-at-home orders would have on small businesses, Glazer said the economy and public health are “handcuffed together.”

    “You can’t have one without the other,” he said. “No business is going to thrive unless we can kill this virus. I recognize the impacts a shelter in place has on people, but that really is the foundation for bringing our economy back.”

    But not every lawmaker has approved of Newsom's use of executive power. Republican Assemblymember Kevin Riley of Rocklin posted a 123 page document laying out all of Newson's executive orders, saying it "lays bare the anatomy of one-man rule."

    Newsom didn't announce any new executive orders on Friday.

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    Source: CapRadio

    https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/07/24/watch-live-gov-gavin-newsom-update-on-covid-19-for-july-24/

  • 29 Jul 2020 3:27 PM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)


    BY JARED LINDZON | 07-23-20

    With no kitchens to stock or in-person classes to offer, some employers are rethinking what perks they offer employees.

    Before Teampay was forced to close its Manhattan offices in early March, the company had a lot of the features you’d expect to find at a startup: a healthy snack bar and a much more popular unhealthy snack bar, coffee machines, and comfortable hangout areas where staff would gather for informal conversations.

    Each week the distributed spend management software company invited a guest speaker to host a lunch-and-learn. Every other week they hosted a demos-and-drinks night where the engineering team would show off its latest development over beer and cocktails, and each quarter the team would venture off for a surprise team outing.

    So when the coronavirus forced the company to send its staff home, CEO Andrew Hoag says he wanted to do what he could to continue offering a similar work experience from home. “We continued the lunch-and-learn and the demos-and-drinks,” he says. “For example, instead of us bringing a catered lunch into the office, we used our product to give every employee a $20-a-week delivery stipend so they could order lunch.”

    Teampay also offered staff a $500 stipend to put toward their home office setup and a more flexible work schedule so they could work around family responsibilities.

    Since COVID-19 forced many workers out of their offices, employers have had to choose between delivering traditional perks to employees’ homes, abolishing the in-person parts of their benefits programs, or reconsidering their approach to employee benefits altogether. As the world of employee perks evolves to meet the needs of a rapidly changing workplace arrangement, many of these changes are expected to become yet another part of the “new normal.”

    REDEFINING BENEFITS FOR THE COVID-19 ERA

    In a recent study by talent mobility platform Topia, the majority of respondents indicated that empowerment and trust were the most important factors that contribute to a “great employee experience,” followed by job training opportunities and technology. Only 16% of employees indicated that a “cool” office space, including perks such as free food and games, were a priority.

    “The pandemic has highlighted an extreme shift in what we are all looking for from a work experience,” says Jacky Cohen, Topia’s vice president of people and culture. “It’s an opportunity to rethink the term ‘benefits’ in general and really think about what companies offer to their employees in the new world of the distributed workforce.”

    In recent months employers and HR departments have also been turning their attention toward the perks that employees are more likely to need to get through this turbulent period, says Natalie Baumgartner, chief workforce scientist for employee engagement platform Achievers. “It’s definitely forcing organizations to ask the question ‘What’s most important? Where do we put our dollars? And what’s most valuable to our employees?'” she says. “The things that fundamentally support our well-being need to come first.”

    Those perks, according to Baumgartner, include mental health resources, flexibility, and monetary incentives.

    SHIFTING PRIORITIES—AND BUDGETS

    “[Employers and HR departments] are changing their behaviors,” says Baumgartner. “What direction they’re changing depends on the financial viability of their company, the strategic direction—do we need to be literally together moving forward—and just their value system, which drives a lot of these decisions.”

    Baumgartner adds that in the midst of an economic crisis many companies have had to tighten their belts and eliminate some of the benefits that they previously offered. For example, many are reducing benefits related to continuing education and employee training in the face of an uncertain economic future. “It was something that was offered by organizations as a massive perk—getting a higher education, going to business school. In many cases that’s gone by the wayside,” she says. “It’s something organizations simply can’t justify in this state of financial unpredictability.”

    A REMINDER OF SIMPLER TIMES

    While employees are seeking more meaningful perks such as mental health resources and greater flexibility, there is still a demand for traditional perks that can offer consistency and comfort in uncertain times.

    Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, New York-based Stadium provided a service that allowed office workers at a company to order food from several different restaurants on the same order, meaning colleagues didn’t have to agree on a lunch spot. Since the outbreak, cofounder and CEO Shaunak Amin has launched another business, SnackMagic, that allows remote staff to receive personalized snack boxes at their home office anywhere in the country.

    According to Amin, the custom snack delivery company has doubled every two weeks since its launch just over two months ago. “There aren’t many tools or services that are built for the remote setting,” he says. “Based on the initial interest we’ve seen, I think it’s here to stay.”

    While Amin admits that snacking isn’t a top priority for most companies in the midst of a global pandemic, the cost of a few treats is minimal compared to what they would otherwise spend on stocking office kitchens, and the gesture goes a long way. “It makes the employee feel like the employer cares, not just for me but also for my family, because often the kids are picking the snacks,” he says.

    NEW OFFICEMATES, NEW PERKS

    Another major shift in the delivery of workplace benefits is the intended recipient. Prior to the pandemic, perks were primarily targeted toward employees, with family members occasionally added as a secondary recipient to health plans and other benefits.

    “The biggest change we’re seeing with COVID is this understanding that no employee operates in isolation,” says Daniel Freedman, the cofounder and co-CEO of BurnAlong, a digital corporate wellness platform. “That’s the biggest shift that we’ve seen; families are central.” 

    BurnAlong offers a digital platform that allows users to receive one-on-one or group training sessions with hundreds of health and wellness providers, with classes ranging from traditional fitness to mindfulness and meditation to rehabilitation for medical conditions. Freedman says that the platform has doubled its client list since last year, with more than a quarter of all classes now dedicated to emotional support.

    “That’s everything from parenting classes, arthritis, diabetes, adaptive workouts for people with disabilities, sleep, anxiety—and this mirrors what you’re seeing with a heightened focus on mental health and loneliness,” he says.

    Some of the most popular options are also geared toward nonworking members of the household, such as virtual summer camp programs for kids. “If your spouse, your partner, your parent, your kids are struggling, that affects your productivity. So when it comes to health and wellness, every company is looking at how to deliver programming and support for families as well,” he says. “We even have pet workouts—workouts that people can do with their dogs. It’s all about meeting people wherever they are and with whoever their loved ones are.”

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    Source: Fast Company

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90528761/employers-are-reconsidering-workplace-benefits-for-remote-workers

  • 29 Jul 2020 3:18 PM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    IRS Increases Premium Tax Credit Eligibility and Affordability Cap ...

    JULY 27, 2020 JOANNA KIM-BRUNETTI

    The IRS updated indexing adjustments for certain provisions under IRC Section 36B in Revenue Procedure 2020-36. See RP 2020-36. In particular, the initial and final premium percentages listed in the “Applicable Percentage” Table in Internal Revenue Code Section 36B(b)(3)(A)(i) were adjusted for the 2021 calendar year as follows.

    Household income percentage of Federal poverty line: Initial percentage Final percentage
    Less than 133% 2.07% 2.07%
    At least 133% but less than 150% 3.10% 4.14%
    At least 150% but less than 200% 4.14% 6.52%
    At least 200% but less than 250% 6.52% 8.33%
    At least 250% but less than 300% 8.33% 9.83%
    At least 300% but not more than 400% 9.83% 9.83%

    This Applicable Percentage Table provides a sliding scale range of percentages within an applicable tier of household income to calculate an individual’s premium tax credit.

    The Revenue Procedure also adjusts the percentage for plan years beginning 2021 to 9.83%. This is the percentage under IRC Section 36B(c)(2)(C)(i)(II) that is determinative of “affordability” to comply with the ACA Employer Mandate. Under this Mandate, if an employer fails to offer “Affordable” coverage to employees, the employer risks being subject to penalties under IRC Section 4980H.

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    Source:  The ACA Times

    https://acatimes.com/irs-issues-revenue-procedure-identifying-applicable-percentages-to-determine-eligibility-for-premium-tax-credits-and-affordability/

  • 28 Jul 2020 9:46 AM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    Colleagues using tablet PC in textile factory

    Yolanda Lau - Forbes Councils Member | Jul 27, 2020,08:10am EDT

    The future of work is the liquid workforce, and as such, the role of human resources must evolve to meet today’s challenges. Yet, many HR leaders are only engaged in areas related to their full-time workforce and aren’t involved in the planning and management of the liquid workforce. 

    Here are some things to keep in mind as you rethink your HR role.

    Automation Is The Future Of Work

    A recent McKinsey report predicts that automation will result in many occupations — such as administrative assistants and bookkeepers — shrinking through attrition and reduced hiring. Millions of Americans will need to be retrained and redeployed during the coming automation age. 

    HR will need to take the lead in helping to develop a digitally ready workforce that can adapt to the changing needs of each company. But this workforce will also look very different from today’s — companies are migrating toward a blended workforce that includes full-time workers and liquid workers. HR leaders need to reconsider how they develop and retain the best talent. To do this, they need to fully understand the direction of their companies and the types of talent and skills needed to support that direction. 

    Digitalization Is The Future of Work

    As HR leaders shift from managing full-time employees to managing talent, they will need to embrace digitalization. For HR, Gartner noted that digitalization is changing everything. With a blended workforce, your talent acquisition processes and systems must evolve to encompass traditional hiring and on-demand skills sourcing. 

    In many companies, HR leaders are not involved in overseeing the contingent or liquid workforce. Often the procurement or purchasing department takes the lead, resulting in an emphasis on cost over talent sourcing or management. 

    HR leaders need to develop a talent network that encompasses internal and external talent and focuses on identifying, matching and developing the skills that the company needs at any given time. As part of developing that talent network, HR must build relationships with global online talent marketplaces.

    Shifting To A Talent-Based Workforce

    As HR leaders rethink their workforce strategy, they need to assess where using the liquid workforce makes sense. What skills does the company have within its full-time workforce? What skills will it need in the near future? Are these long-term or short-term needs? Will the demand for these skills vary over time? HR leaders should assess these factors to determine where the liquid workforce should be integrated into their strategic workforce plan. 

    As the blended workforce grows, HR needs to reconsider not only how and where talent is sourced, but how to manage that talent. Organizations must have rigorous contracting and onboarding processes in place for their liquid workers. These processes protect the company, aid in meeting compliance requirements, and enable the rapid on-ramp of liquid workers. Also, a consistent onboarding process helps liquid workers instantly feel like part of the team and hit the ground running on projects.

    Managing Performance With A Liquid Workforce

    The skills required to engage with and manage a liquid worker are similar in many ways to those required with full-time employees. However, the “how” and “what” of using those skills are very different since liquid workers are entrepreneurs who are working in partnership with an organization. People managers will need support and training from HR to adapt their styles to partner most effectively with their liquid workers. HR leaders should encourage the sharing of best practices for working with liquid talent across the organization.

    Performance management also needs to be rethought with a blended workforce. Having a performance management system with your liquid workers is essential. Every engagement with a liquid worker should be evaluated and assessed against performance metrics and goals. Evaluations should be maintained in your talent database. 

    Similarly, retention strategies need to be redeveloped for a blended workforce. Consider how to reward high-performing liquid talent. For example, some organizations offer performance bonuses, equity or back-end profit participation.

    Modern companies are shifting to a more blended workforce where liquid workers represent a greater and greater share of the workforce. HR needs to take the lead on the workforce strategy and plan not only for full-time workers, but also for liquid workers. Liquid workers are human resources and, as such, should be part of the strategic remit of HR leaders rather than co-mingled and lost among vendor spending. It’s time for the role of HR to evolve and truly encompass all human resources.


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    Source: Forbes

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2020/07/27/rethinking-the-role-of-human-resources-in-the-future-of-work/#779fb5715008

  • 23 Jul 2020 8:58 AM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)


    MARKIAN HAWRYLUK  |  July 22, 20201:00 PM ET

    Izzy Benasso was playing a casual game of tennis with her father on a summer Saturday when she felt her knee pop. She had torn a meniscus, one of the friction-reducing pads in the knee, locking it in place at a 45-degree angle.

    Although she suspected she had torn something, the 21-year-old senior at the University of Colorado Boulder had to endure an anxious weekend in July 2019 until she could get an MRI that Monday.

    "It was kind of emotional for her," said her father, Steve Benasso. "Just sitting there thinking about all the things she wasn't going to be able to do."

    At the UCHealth Steadman Hawkins Clinic Denver, the MRI confirmed the tear, and she was scheduled for surgery on Thursday. Her father, who works in human resources, told her exactly what to ask the clinic regarding her insurance coverage.

    Steve had double-checked that the hospital; the surgeon, Dr. James Genuario; and Genuario's clinic were all within her Cigna health plan's network.

    "We were pretty conscious going into it," he said.

    Isabel met with Genuario's physician assistant on Wednesday, and the following day underwent a successful meniscus repair operation.

    "I had already gotten a ski pass at that point," Isabel said. "So that was depressing." But she was heartened to hear that with time and rehab she would get back to her active lifestyle.

    Then a letter arrived that portended bills to come.

    The patient: Izzy Benasso, a 21-year-old college student covered by her mother's Cigna health plan.

    The total bill: $96,377 for the surgery was billed by the hospital, Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, Colo., part of HealthONE, a division of the for-profit hospital chain HCA. It accepted a $3,216.60 payment from the insurance company, as well as $357.40 from the Benassos, as payment in full. The surgical assistant billed separately for $1,167.

    Service provider: Eric Griffith, a surgical assistant who works as an independent contractor.

    Medical service: Outpatient arthroscopic knee surgery to repair the meniscus.

    What gives: The Benassos had stumbled into a growing trend in health care: third-party surgical assistants who aren't part of a hospital staff or a surgeon's practice. They tend to stay out-of-network with health plans, either accepting what a health plan will pay them or billing the patient directly. That, in turn, is leading to many surprise bills.

    Even before any other medical bills showed up, Izzy received a notice from someone whose name she didn't recognize.

    "I'm writing this letter as a courtesy to remind you of my presence during your surgery," the letter read.

    It came from Eric Griffith, a Denver-based surgical assistant. He went on to write that he had submitted a claim to her health plan requesting payment for his services, but that it was too early to know whether the plan would cover his fee. It didn't talk dollars and cents.

    Steve Benasso said he was perplexed by the letter's meaning, adding: "We had never read or heard of anything like that before."

    Surgical assistants are not medical doctors, but serve as an extra set of hands for surgeons, allowing them to concentrate on the technical aspects of the surgery. Oftentimes other surgeons or physician assistants — or, in teaching hospitals, medical residents or surgical fellows — fill that role at no extra charge. But some doctors rely on certified surgical assistants, who generally have an undergraduate science degree, complete a 12- to 24-month training program and then pass a certification exam.

    Surgeons generally decide when they need surgical assistants, although the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services maintains lists of procedures for which a surgical assistant can and cannot bill. Meniscus repair is on the list of allowed procedures.

    A Sky Ridge spokesperson said that it is the responsibility of the surgeon to pre-authorize the use and payment of a surgical assistant during outpatient surgery, and that HealthOne hospitals do not hire surgical assistants. Neither the assistant nor the surgeon works directly for the hospital. UC School of Medicine, the surgeon's employer, declined requests for comment from Genuario.

    Karen Ludwig, executive director of the Association of Surgical Assistants, estimates that 75% of certified surgical assistants are employed by hospitals, while the rest are independent contractors or work for surgical assistant groups.

    "We're seeing more of the third parties," said Dr. Karan Chhabra, a surgeon and health policy researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School. "This is an emerging area of business."

    And it can be lucrative: Some of the larger surgical assistant companies are backed by private equity investment. Private equity firms often target segments of the health care system where patients have little choice in who provides their care. Indeed, under anesthesia for surgery, patients are often unaware the assistants are in the operating room. The private equity business models include keeping such helpers out-of-network so they can bill patients for larger amounts than they could negotiate from insurance companies.

    Surgical assistants counter that many insurance plans are unwilling to contract with them.

    "They're not interested," said Luis Aragon, a Chicago-area surgical assistant and managing director of American Surgical Professionals, a private equity-backed group in Houston.

    Chhabra and his colleagues at the University of Michigan recently found that 1 in 5 privately insured patients undergoing surgery by in-network doctors at in-network facilities still receive a surprise out-of-network bill. Of those, 37% are from surgical assistants — tied with anesthesiologists as the most frequent offenders. The researchers found 13% of arthroscopic meniscal repairs resulted in surprise bills, at an average of $1,591 per bill.

    Colorado has surprise billing protections for consumers like the Benassos who have state-regulated health plans. But state protections don't apply to the 61% of American workers who have self-funded employer plans. Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, which helps consumers dispute surprise bills, has seen a lot of cases involving surgical assistants, said Adam Fox, director of strategic engagement.

    Resolution: Initially, the Benassos ignored the missive. Izzy didn't recall meeting Griffith or being told a surgical assistant would be involved in her case.

    But a month and a half later, when Steve logged on to check his daughter's explanation of benefits, he saw that Griffith had billed the plan for $1,167. Cigna had not paid any of it.

    Realizing then that the assistant was likely out-of-network, Steve sent him a letter saying "we had no intention of paying."

    Griffith declined to comment on the specifics of the Benasso case but said he sends letters to every patient so no one is surprised when he submits a claim.

    "With all the different people talking to you in preop, and the stress of surgery, even if we do meet, they may forget who I was or that I was even there," he said. "So the intention of the letter is just to say, 'Hey, I was part of your surgery.' "

    After KHN inquired, Cigna officials reviewed the case and Genuario's operative report, determined that the services of an assistant surgeon were appropriate for the procedure and approved Griffith's claim. Because Griffith was an out-of-network provider, Cigna applied his fee to Benasso's $2,000 outpatient deductible. The Benassos have not received a bill for that fee.

    Griffith says insurers often require more information before determining whether to pay for a surgical assistant's services. If the plan pays anything, he accepts that as payment in full. If the plan pays nothing, Griffith usually bills the patient.

    The takeaway: As hospitals across the country restart elective surgeries, patients should be aware of this common pitfall — and realize it's a fee they may have no recourse but to pay if their state doesn't have protections against surprise billing.

    Chhabra said he's hearing more anecdotal reports about insurance plans simply not paying for surgical assistants, which leaves the patient stuck with the bill.

    Chhabra said patients should ask their surgeons before surgery whether an assistant will be involved and whether that assistant is in-network.

    "There are definitely situations where you need another set of hands to make sure the patient gets the best care possible," he said. But "having a third party that is intentionally out-of-network or having a colleague who's a surgeon who's out-of-network — those are the situations that don't really make a lot of financial or ethical sense."

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    Source: NPR

    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/22/891909610/knee-repairs-use-of-surgical-assistant-leads-to-a-costly-surprise-bill?ft=nprml&f=1001 

  • 23 Jul 2020 8:01 AM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    Namely 

    Jun 22, 2020, 07:00 ET

    NEW YORK, June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Namely, the leading HR platform for mid-sized companies, having recently analyzed aggregated data from its popular time and attendance management functionality, today released its findings regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on "paid time off" (PTO) requests. In January and February 2020, PTO requests stayed almost exactly the same as they did in 2019. As stay-at-home orders became mainstream in March 2020, Namely's platform saw a year-over-year decline in PTO requests (36 percent of employees requested off in March 2019 versus only 27 percent in March 2020); yet, the average length of requests was longer. In April 2020, employees requesting PTO plunged to 18 percent on average versus 38 percent during the same month in 2019. By May 2020, as restrictions started to lift, PTO requests were on the rise again, although still significantly lower (24 percent of employees requesting off) than in May 2019 (38 percent of employees requesting off).

    According to a 2019 study by WorldatWork, 37 percent of employees do not use their allotted paid time off each year. To encourage utilization of this critical benefit, some organizations have established a "use or lose" policy. With so much uncertainty in today's workplace, a clearly stated vacation policy with an automated approval process helps employees feel empowered to take the time they've earned.

    Industry analyst Madeline Laurano, Founder of Aptitude Research, commented, "COVID-19 has disrupted almost every aspect of work-life balance, from work-from-home to homeschooling. While it might feel like taking paid time off doesn't make sense right now, unplugging during the summer months can help employees manage the burnout of these pandemic times. In fact, it can actually result in improved productivity and employee engagement."

    Namely's CEO Larry Dunivan added, "With travel restrictions in place, it might seem counterintuitive to take time off; however, taking a break from work can be restorative. Giving managers visibility into schedules in advance and communicating the ground rules to everyone ensures employees can leverage their PTO benefits. In helping employees achieve some of those restorative benefits, Namely added two company holidays and offered summer hours in July and August to encourage employees towards this objective."

    Namely tracks PTO request data annually and compares the current year against the previous year. PTO – as in vacation requests – is tracked separately from longer-term leave requests. Data was normalized for fluctuations related to COVID-19.

    For more information about Namely's time and attendance software, including online time tracking, mobile/geo-fenced time tracking, scheduling and reporting, please visit https://hubs.ly/H0rHvSb0.

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    Source: Namely

    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/as-restrictions-lift-and-summer-approaches-will-employees-take-their-vacation-time-301080597.html

  • 21 Jul 2020 9:01 AM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)


    AUTHOR: Jim Stinson | PUBLISHED - July 16, 2020

    Dive Brief:

    • J.B. Hunt agreed to settle a February 2019 lawsuit alleging California drivers were misclassified as independent contractors (Duy Nam Ly, et al. v. J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. No. 2:19-cv-01334 (C.D. Calif. July 6, 2020)). The drivers' filing seeks approval for the settlement, which would award 312 drivers an average of $20,000. The total value of the settlement was pegged at $6.5 million by law firm Marlin & Saltzman.
    • In the most significant claim, J.B. Hunt allegedly failed "to reimburse for necessary business expenses" under California labor law, but the drivers also alleged failure to give breaks and failure to meet minimum pay levels. The claims came after J.B. Hunt allegedly put the drivers under Intermodal Independent Contractor Operating Agreements (ICOA), which asserted drivers were responsible for paying their expenses.
    • The case hinged on the drivers' claim that J.B. Hunt misclassified them, a huge labor policy issue in California. The lawsuit turned into a mediation and ended as attorneys for both sides agreed they did not want the case to drag on for years, according to the filing.

    Dive Insight:

    The J.B. Hunt case could have turned into a major application of the California Supreme Court's decision, Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, an April 30, 2018, ruling. The decision rocked California employers, who were thus instructed to classify persons as independent contractors only if they met three criteria.

    Those criteria became known as the "ABC test." California companies, from trucking firms to hair salons, could classify workers as independent contractors if: 

    (A) The worker is free from the hirer's control and direction in connection with the performance of the work while under the contract for the performance of such work.

    (B) The worker performs a job that is outside the usual scope of the hiring entity’s business.

    (C) The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.

    The drivers claimed they did not qualify to be listed as independent contractors, yet were denied meal and rest breaks, as well as minimum pay. The alleged expenses claimed exceeded $17 million, according to the filing.

    It was not the first time J.B. Hunt has disputed California labor policy. In February 2018, J.B. Hunt asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the state's meal-and-break law. Under California law, employees must get a 30-minute food break if they work more than five hours a day. Employees who work more than 10 hours a day must receive a second 30-minute food break, according to Shouse California Law Group.

    J.B. Hunt said California could not override federal law, which does not require meal or break periods. And on this point, California labor law has been hotly disputed by the California Trucking Association (CTA), which has sued to nullify AB5's effect on trucking.

    In May, 13 industry groups and trucking firms signed on to four amicus briefs in support of the CTA in the AB5 lawsuit. Proceedings are ongoing in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The main argument against AB5 by trucking officials is that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 prevents states from legislating policy "related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier … with respect to the transportation of property."

    J.B. Hunt officials did not immediately return a request for comment. The drivers will go to court on Aug. 17 in a Los Angeles federal court to seek approval of the agreement.

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    Source: HR Dive

    https://www.hrdive.com/news/JB-Hunt-settlement-lawsuit-truck-driver-misclassification-contractors-California-July-2020/581735/

  • 21 Jul 2020 8:47 AM | Bill Brewer (Administrator)

    AUTHOR

    Hailey Mensik

    PUBLISHED

    July 17, 2020

    Dive Brief:

    • An estimated 48 million non-elderly people in the U.S. could be part of a household in which someone loses a job due to COVID-19 between April and December, according to an analysis from the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As a result, more than 10 million people may lose employer-sponsored health insurance during that time.
    • Some 3.3 million people are expected to regain insurance by being added to another family member's policy while 2.8 million people will enroll in Medicaid.
    • Another 600,000 people are expected to enroll in the individual market through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace. Still, 3.5 million people are expected to become uninsured.

    Dive Insight:

    Despite some gains in June, the U.S. unemployment rate is hovering around 11%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This February, the U.S. unemployment rate was 3.5%.

    The latest findings predict ongoing pandemic-related job losses will lead to widespread loss of coverage, using projections on employment losses by industry, state, and demographic characteristics regularly published by the U.S. Department of Labor.

    Of the 48 million expected to lose a job during the period, about 34% of the workers and family members experiencing job loss within the family had insurance through another family member's job, while 27% were covered by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program prior to the pandemic. 

    Roughly a fifth of the group received insurance tied to the job they lost due to the pandemic. A smaller share were covered in plans through the non-group market, other public programs or were not insured. 

    Researchers also found that higher percentages of people will lose their coverage in states that did not expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. Some 13 states, including many that have seen a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, have yet to expand Medicaid, including Florida and Texas.

    The report estimates 34% of people losing employer coverage will become uninsured in Medicaid expansion states, and that number will hike to 55% in non-expansion states.

    "The economic disruption caused by COVID-19 is a test of the safety net health insurance programs created under the Affordable Care Act," the study said. Unemployed workers who lost their employer-sponsored coverage may become eligible for one of the two major subsidized coverage programs established by the ACA: the Medicaid expansion for people with low incomes, and the ACA marketplaces.

    It's the latest in myriad reports attempting to quantify the very real affects of the pandemic on the number of insured. 

    recent study from Families USA estimates 5.4 million Americans have lost coverage amid the pandemic between February and May, while Kaiser Family Foundation estimates 27 million Americans lost coverage between March and May.

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    Source: HR Dive

    https://www.hrdive.com/news/10-million-could-lose-employer-sponsored-coverage/581818/

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