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Navigating the Exchange for Small Business Owners and Employees

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Many small employers do not offer health insurance and are wondering what to do for themselves and their employees before January 1st, 2014 rolls around.  Small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) are not subject to the employer mandate and thus do not receive a penalty for not offering health insurance.  However small businesses owners and employees are considered individuals and thus are subject to the individual mandate. If either of the aforementioned individuals do not […]

What’s salary got to do with it?

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Having a hard time finding or keeping great employees? Offering an appropriate rate of pay is key to finding and keeping great employees. Keep losing great employees to the competition; or worse, no one is applying for your job openings? Reviewing the rate of pay may be a good place to start. Make sure the rate offered is in an appropriate range to target the employee you are looking to land. If you want an […]

Replace Oregon Workers’ Compensation with a single payer health insurance system?

This entry was posted in HR News and tagged Affordable Care Act (ACA) on

I remember when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law and one of the questions that came up was, ‘Would the ACA replace workers’ compensation?’ The logic behind the question was if everyone has health insurance, then they really do not need medical benefits from workers’ compensation.  Similar logic was raised in a version of a recent bill in Oregon’s last legislative session, HB 2922.  The bill states, “SECTION 26.  { + (1) The Affordable Health […]

Documentation

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How to Document Be timely – don’t try to “build a case” after the fact; Stick to the facts; What you see or hear – what would be on a video tape; Include the full story; be accurate and specific; If handwritten, write legibly in ink; Sign and date all documents; Document consistently. Documentation Outline State the job performance problem – be specific.     What is the problem? When did it first occur?     How […]

Social Media in the Workplace

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Social Media, the means by which individuals may post personal messages, photos and videos to the web, has exploded as a means of electronic communication.  Whereas this efficient, ever-present medium has magnified the concept of in the moment connectivity and communication, its impact on workplace policies as well as how organizations conduct business correspondence and advertising has becoming encompassing.  The challenges that businesses experience with social media usage involve maintaining policies on what employees share […]

Will the Affordable Care Act raise or lower workers’ compensation rates?

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While doing research for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) I stumbled upon an article about workers’ compensation.  As a Risk Manager my first love is naturally workers’ compensation so I eagerly dived into the Rand Corporation’s study entitled, The Impact of Health Care Reform on Workers’ Compensation Medical Care.  In my experience, conventional wisdom among my peers in Risk Management is that employees with health insurance have lower workers’ compensation claim losses.  I share this […]

Health Insurance Exchange Notices – Who is enforcing their distribution?

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By October 1st, 2013 health exchange notices are required by law to have been distributed to all employees.  These notices to employees either explain the health insurance the employer provides or, if the employer does not offer coverage, refers employees to their state’s health insurance exchange to purchase insurance. Examples of employee notices are available – If you are a Cardinal client we will be assisting with this requirement. Getting a notice out to a large […]

Part-Time Employees; Fewer Hours but Equal Rights

This entry was posted in HR News and tagged Affordable Care Act (ACA) on

With the upcoming Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation some employers have been opting to drop a percentage of their employees to part-time status to avoid paying hefty health insurance fees for not offering coverage as they would for full time employees. Employers should be careful not to become under the impression that part-time employees can be terminated or treated differently than full time employees. The Department of Labor does not have a distinction between the […]

Labor Trends – Affordable Care Act

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Working at Cardinal has afforded me the opportunity to interact with business owners all over Oregon. In the last few months I have noticed some trends related to the upcoming employer mandate requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. To provide some background the employer mandate is a $2000 penalty per full time employee per year (note the first 30 are tax exempt) which only affects large businesses, those with 50 or more […]

Cover Oregon – Health Insurance Exchange Update

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Last week the Oregon Insurance Division released a sample of proposed health insurance rates for the upcoming health insurance exchange.  These are suggested rates only and it is not clear if or how much they may change.  When reviewing the web page from the first link below note that in all three coverage levels each carrier is offering the same amount of coverage.  Next take a look at the pricing for each of the three […]