Affordable Care Act - Who's on first?

As with most new government rules, they start out like Abbott and Costello’s “who’s on first”.  The Affordable Care Act is no exception. 

We have heard the term "exchanges" for a long time now. The federal government has come out with multiple notification documents that now use the term "marketplace" instead of “exchange”.   Did they tell anybody that they changed the terminology?  Are you kidding me…no….they just published new stuff using the new term.

They have come out with a model/template of a notice that will need to be given to employees informing them about the marketplace and employer coverage.

The question we don't have the answer to, is who will own the responsibility for these notices?

It IS clear that it will be the employer’s responsibility to disseminate notices to employees. That includes an initial notice as well as a COBRA rights notification that includes the marketplace (exchange) information.

What is NOT clear is who will provide the employer with those notices so that they can be disseminated them to employees. Will it be the insurance broker? or will it be the  health insurance provider? or neither of the aforementioned. Or will it be the employer’s responsibility to scour the Internet for the forms and decide when/if they should be disseminated?  Herein lies the “who’s on first” comparison.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has taken ownership yet.   Who knows if they ever will!

My personal opinion is that it should be the insurance broker’s responsibility to provide the forms, and accompanying instructions, to the employers.  No offense to any of the brokers, but when they sell a product (i.e. health insurance) they should be providing the service and expertise to support that product.

If you want to do some of your own research, you can find the forms, and additional information, on the federal government's Employee Benefits Security Administration web site at: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/

As an employer, I don’t think you can “afford” to be under informed!

 

New York State...at it again

New York State is at it again, or should I say still.....

I have a client who has multiple locations across New York State, with a couple hundred employees.  They have their own HR Director, but retained me to do a compliance audit.  As a result of that audit, even more controls were implemented than they previously had in place.  They really do try to do everything by the book, in addition to "doing the right thing". 

Recently they had an employee declare they were going to "go postal".  Yikes...pretty scary considering al the mass shootings that have taken place.  My client did the right thing and fired the employee immediately for misconduct.  Would anyone in their right mind think it was ok to go postal?  and threaten to?  There was a witness to the event, so it wasn't even as if somebody misunderstood them....they clearly said they were going to go postal.  And I don't think that means mailing a letter or a package.....

Of course the terminated employee thought they would file for unemployment.  Let's take a paid vacation here.  Our very intelligent business savvy unemployment folks granted him unemployment benefits.  What?  you have got to be kidding me.  Let's threaten to harm people, and have NYS pay us to sit home and watch the Today Show and Oprah.

So my client went to a hearing and lo and behold, the employee didn't show up.  Guess what?  Yup, you got it, they got unemployment anyway.  The ALJ (administrative law judge) ruled that the employee was terminated for reasons other than misconduct.  If threatening to go postal isn't misconduct, I don't know what is!! 

This person's co-workers, and customers, were somebody's family...mother, father, sister, brother...related to somebody, and the ALJ thought it was ok to threaten them? 

Perhaps the ex-employee should have shown up at the hearing, threatened to go postal in front of the ALJ, and then we could have seen how the ALJ reacted. Would he have thought it was ok if his life could have bee on the line? 

Where IS the common sense in this world?

Oh wait....the ALJ doesn't have to use common sense...he gets paid a salary anyway, and great benefits, including health insurance and retirement.  Why should he rule any differently?

Why, because it would have been the "right thing" to deny that idiot employee unemployment.  Let him learn a lesson.

Kathy

Next blog....let's talk about the Onondaga County Civil Service and how easy it is to get a job just because you pass a test.  Common sense gone again.....

Technical boring HR compliance, or is it?

I think sometimes people outside of the human resources arena look at HR people and say they are black and white boring people because they are the HR police, and how easy it must be.... just read the law and comply.

Some days that is true.  It's pretty boring having to post a gazillion posters just to comply.  However, that is not what true compliance is all about.  True compliance deals with making sure your actions, during every employee and management interaction, doesn't put the organization in jeopardy.  To really be compliant is not black and white in most cases.  It is about taking actions, as part of a process  and doing it in a fashion that you are protecting, not policing.

I get calls or emails frequently from clients who have a "situation" that they need help with.  Almost all of the time, it is not a simple answer.  We have to work through the process, probe and get more information, so we can come up with the best solution.

For example, a recent email I received said "I have a problem with an employee.  This employee was out on maternity leave and has been released to return to work on March 4, 2013.   She now wants to stipulate time she can work, which location she wants to work at, wants guaranteed overtime due to increased daycare. How is this possible? Am I within my rights to tell her to look for a job?"

Most of the above email can't be answered without probing further.  We need to determine the employee's history, what the employer has told/promised her (if anything), what the employer's policy says, and make sure we look at the demographics (age, race, etc.) to determine if there is potential discrimination.

The part that can be answered is "wants guaranteed overtime due to increased daycare".  The answer to that is no, we don't have to guarantee anything due to the employee incurring personal expenses.  That's the easy part.  The rest isn't so easy, so please don't ever think HR is a boring job because if we don't give the correct advice in this situation, the ramifications to the employer could adversely affect their bottom line by creating fines and other penalties for not considering all the laws our decision could be violating (or complying with).

Human resources IS fun and can be complex.  I love my "job"!!

Be a Good HR Consultant

So what makes a "good" human resources consultant?  If you are a HR consultant who is reading this, or a HR Consultant wannabe, or someone looking to retain the services of a HR consultant, think about it.  Think about all the facets that make up not just a good HR consultant, but what makes an exceptional HR consultant.  After all, clients deserve the best.

First, and I don't mean to offend anyone, I don't get how someone in their 20's can profess to be a HR consultant.  You can have your Masters from the best College around, but that doesn't prepare you for the rigorous world of HR consulting.

What prepares you is expert level experience and knowledge. You have to live it year after year.  Sometimes you can be in HR for 10 years and still not experience everything a client might ask you about.

Will being an HR expert keep you in business?  If you said yes, think again.

What will keep you in business is, in my humble opinion, three primary things:

1. Ethics.  You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror each evening without a bag over your head.  You have to be able to say "I am proud of what I did for my clients today." and "I am proud of the type of person I am."
2. Service.  Customer service IS numero uno.  When you are knee deep working on a project and the phone rings with a client call, they are NOT bothering/interrupting you; they are keeping you in business, and paying your mortgage.  Just because it is a Saturday morning, you are not off the hook to answer an important email.  Exceptional HR consultants, provide exceptional service, even on the weekends.
3. Results not methodology.  Your clients, and potential clients, want to hear (first) about what results you are going to produce for them, not what method you are going to use.  Results before methods.

I fall short on #3 and I need to work on that.  I want to be an exceptional human resources consultant, not just another human resources consultant, and I will be.  As I work on getting there, I do rest easy knowing I have mastered Ethics and Service.  Hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Have an awesome day, and thanks for stopping by.

Kathy