R&R Insurance Blog

Having an attractive employee benefits option is more important than ever before. Attracting and retaining talent has become increasingly difficult and offering a quality benefits package can play a large role in the process.

In addition, you may want to protect your company from the risks associated with offering employee benefits. While employers have traditionally insured their employee benefits risks through an outside insurance carrier, the increased demand for employee benefits has resulted in an inflation of costs. Because of this, many employers have opted to cut out insurance carriers altogether and fund their group employee benefits risks with captives.

If you aren’t familiar with captives, let’s start with the basics. Captives are a form of self-insurance in which the insured owns the insurer. They are created and owned by at least one non-insurance company for the purpose of insuring the employee benefits risks of its owner.  A captive can offer significant savings and become a substantial long-term investment. However, they may not provide the same benefits for every company, and the return on investment may be low.

R&R Insurance has extensive experience in the world of employee benefits. We welcome the opportunity to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of captives with your organization.

Additional forms recommended to keep in the file:    

•    Alcohol & Drug Requirement Signature Page
•    Hazmat Training Certification
•    Signed Motor Vehicle Record Release

We advise to keep the items only as long as “legally” necessary and to implement a purging schedule.

Click here for additional trucking resources.

Learn more about how to protect your organization from the most commonly cited OSHA standards and frequently misunderstood safety practices.

Our complimentary seminars and webinars will breakdown requirements, FAQs. and provide materials to aid in your compliance. From cyber security and incident investigation, to the OSHA 300 Log and machine gaurding, we'll provide valuable information to help protect your business.

Follow the links below for more information on our:

• Webinars

Its hard to believe that 2016 has come and gone. With another year in the books, we took a look back at the top 5 most popular R&R articles of last year.

We hope you have a happy, healthy new year and look forward to serving you throughout 2017!

Follow the links below to view these articles.

1) Preparing for Changes to the Wisconsin Workers Compensation Act

2) Update on Wisconsin Cell Phone Laws While Driving 

3) Workers Compensation Audit Noncompliance Charge | Effective January 1, 2017

4) OSHA | New Electronic Recordkeeping Requirements

5) Criminal Hackers Targeting Payroll Data

According to OSHA, establishing a safety and health program in your workplace is one of the most effective ways of protecting your most valuable asset: your workers. Losing workers to injury or illness, even for a short time, can cause significant disruption and cost to you as well as the workers and their families. It can also damage workplace morale, productivity and turnover.

While beneficial, implementing these programs can be a daunting task. OSHA recommends the following steps to simplify the process and create structure for your program.

Getting Started:

1. Set safety and health as a top priority
2. Lead by example
3. Implement a reporting system
4. Provide training
5. Conduct inspections
6. Collect hazard control ideas
7. Implement hazard controls
8. Address emergencies
9. Seek input on workplace changes
10. Make improvements

Core Elements Needed:

1. Management leadership
   • Creates a culture of safety, facilitates trust, and reinforces the core elements
2. Worker Participation
   • Results in improved design, implementation and evaluation
3. Hazard Identification and assessment
   • Identifies and documents all known suspected hazards
4. Hazard Prevention and control
   • Prevents injuries using hierarchy of controls: engineering, work practices, administrative, PPE
5. Education and Training
   • Ensures all workers understand safe work practices, are familiar with hazards and know how to participate.
6. Program Evaluation and Improvement
   • Assesses program effectiveness and modifications as needed.
7. Multiemployer worksites: Communication and coordination for host employers, contractors and staffing agencies.
   • Ensures communication and coordination to protect all workers onsite.

Preventing workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths as well as the suffering and financial hardship these events can cause for workers, families and the employers is incredibly valuable. Businesses with Safety and Health programs typically see an improvement in product, process and service quality, improved workplace morale and employee recruiting and retention, and a more favorable image and reputation among the community.

For more information on the development or improvement of your Safety and Health program, contact a Knowledge Broker at R&R Insurance.

Information provided by www.osha.gov/shpguidelines.

As much as we all love the holidays, there can be a lot of stress that comes along with the joy and celebration. One of the stressors for many of us is driving, especially after a holiday party or celebration.

We found a helpful article on ‘Preventing a Holiday DUI,’ which provides great reminders on staying safe when behind the wheel. One of the important highlights is what to do if you find yourself on the road with an impaired driver. Here are a few great suggestions:

• Do not attempt to personally stop the driver.
• Give yourself plenty of distance between you and the impaired driver.
• Don’t ever try to pass a driver in this condition.
• Slow down, pull over, and get completely out of the way if you need to.
• If a car is coming head-on towards you, move to the shoulder, stop and flash your lights.

We hope you have a happy, healthy and safe holiday season with friends and family.

The Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau is now requiring a mandatory audit noncompliance charge (ANC). Effective January 1, 2017 any insured who does not comply with a workers compensation audit will be billed an additional two times the estimated workers compensation premium.

For Example:

$50,000 Estimated Annual Premium

+$100,000 Audit Noncompliance Charge

_______________________________________

$150,000 Total Amount Due

The intent of the charge is to provide uniformity in assessing a penalty. It is also an incentive for insureds to cooperate with the premium audit as required by the policy contract. Improved compliance with the audit process will lead to increased accuracy, as well as ensure rate accuracy and sufficiency.

• The ANC is not a premium surcharge. It is premium and is subject to premium tax.
• The ANC endorsement is not optional and is mandatory on all Wisconsin workers compensation insurance policies.
• The ANC endorsement will be treated the same as the WI Law Endorsement and the WI Cancellation and Non-renewal endorsement.
• There are no changes to the Wisconsin cancellation rate. Current term policies cannot be cancelled for nonpayment of the audit bill.

While compliance with the work comp audit has always been important, 2017 will prove to be more important than ever. For additional information on the ANC, contact a Knowledge Broker at R&R Insurance.

Is your organization looking for a way to streamline the audit process for safety and compliance? Do you struggle to create and maintain audits, surveys or questionnaires?

R&R’s Risk Management Center offers an easy-to-use, web-based solution to help manage the audit process from start to finish.

The Audit Track^® provides your organization with the tools you need to proactively manage workplace safety, employee training, IIPP/APP safety program development, and OSHA compliance tracking, reporting and analysis. The tool also allows managers to oversee safety audit, inspection and compliance reporting needs, as well as confirmation that all tasks are assigned, completed and recorded – ensuring your workplace remains safe and compliant.

Completely customizable to your organization, the Audit Track^® allows you to:

• Create custom audits for your organization or department
• Deploy in the field on any major mobile device
• Assign to any employee and track tasks, activities and results
• Access summary and detailed reports based on your criteria
• Track, achieve and demonstrate regulatory compliance
• Target and resolve revealed issues before they become incidents
• Proactively manage your workplace
• Set field audits and surveys to your unique reoccurrence
• Make automated auditing an integral part of your safety strategy
• Keep all Safety Audits, Inspections, Self Assessments and other workplace checklists up-to-date

For more information on R&R’s Risk Management Center and the Audit Track^®, visit www.myknowledgebroker.com/RMC or email Safety@rrins.com.

It has often been said that “the only thing that is constant is change” and certainly the recent political election results translate into more change. In that vein, we at R&R Insurance Services remain “constant” in our dedication to keeping our Benefits Practice clients informed of these changes…to be your knowledgebroker.

Of course, the biggest change we have seen in the world of benefits has been the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ACA, aka Obamacare). One of the main platforms of President-Elect Trump has been to “repeal and replace Obamacare.” In this current post-election and pre-inaugural stage, there are many prognostications about what the future may be. So, what about “repeal and replace?” We would like to share some thoughts with you as best we can and at this point in time to address questions you may have:

1. Soon after President-Elect Trump is inaugurated on January 20th, Congress could “repeal” Obamacare through “reconciliation” (only requiring a vote of 51 in the Senate). Among the challenges will be addressing the 19 million+ individuals who would lose coverage through the Exchanges with approximately 85% of them currently receiving federal assistance. Another major issue that will need to be addressed is that Medicaid expansion goes away with repeal in 31 states where enrollment increased by 16 million.
2. “Replacement” cannot be accomplished through the “reconciliation” process unless additional spending cuts are made in the budget. Therefore, “replacement” could most likely occur in a second legislative stage. How long this will take is a question.
3. Through the “reconciliation” process that would “repeal” the ACA, the reduction of funds for Medicaid and Exchange subsidies could be delayed for some time (6 – 18 months?) in order to avoid the problems mentioned above in #1.
4. The Republicans will need to have bipartisan support in the Senate to get to 60 votes. Some Democrats might be motivated to collaborate as the 2018 mid-term election will have 25 Democrat seats up for re-election in the Senate.
5. As for what “replacement” might involve, there are numerous considerations. The Trump platform has consistently promoted expansion of HSA-based coverage and selling of insurance across state lines. Additionally, President-Elect Trump himself stated that he would like to see certain parts of Obamacare retained such as coverage of pre-existing conditions and coverage of adult children to age 26. If there are any individual tax credits that might be introduced for individual medical coverage, we may see, as the “Cadillac Tax” is repealed along with the rest of the ACA, a limitation or cap on the amount that an employer can deduct for health and welfare expense to provide a revenue stream.

Once your Workers Compensation policy has expired, you can expect to be contacted by your carrier. You will be receiving either a letter or a phone call, asking for your actual payroll numbers so that they can “true up” your premium.

Despite the importance of the audit process, many policyholders simply ignore this request due to the seemingly cumbersome nature of audit paperwork. Although most carriers handle this situation differently, when this happens the carrier is then forced to arbitrarily assign a final payroll, which is generally not to the policyholders favor.

However, this process will all change on January 1, 2017 when the WCRB (Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau) will mandate that every carrier add an endorsement charge to your Workers Compensation policy called “Audit Noncompliance Charge” or ANC. 

The intent of this endorsement is to create uniformity in how carriers arbitrarily assign payroll in the absence of actual payroll data. As of January 1, 2017 the charge will be 2 times your estimated premium. This will be very costly for those policyholders who choose not to return the audit paperwork. Therefore, while it has always been important to complete the audit paperwork, starting January 1^st it will now be even more critical.   

For more information on the changes to Workers Compensation policies coming in 2017, contact a Knowledge Broker.