HR Strategies, LLC
Monthly Strategies
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Proposed 43% Workers
Compensation Increase
The Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau
(DCRB) is asking the Delaware Insurance
Commissioner for a proposed 43% increase in
workers' compensation rates. I am sure you and
your organization are opposed to this increase.
What can you do to prevent this from happening?
Please write a letter to the Delaware Insurance
Commissioner on your company letterhead to
express your opposition. There will be a public
hearing on November 20th followed by the
Commissioner issuing a final order.
Send your letter to:
The Honorable Karen Weldin Stewart
Insurance Commissioner
Delaware Department of Insurance
841 Silver Lake Boulevard
Dover, DE 19904
Below are some items that may affect your business
if the increase is implemented and you may want to
include the applicable items in your letter.
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I'm a business owner operating in the State of
Delaware.
The proposed DCRB 43 % workers
compensation rate increase poses a serious
threat to my operations.
With the cost other business needs increasing,
including materials, health care and labor, the
proposed increase would be devastating.
An increase of this magnitude would require me
to lay off hard working, honest and loyal
employees.
The last thing our state needs are more
unemployed people
Now is not the time to force business owners
like myself to have make these choices.
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Volume 9, Issue 10
November 1, 2012
The proposed increase would hamper growth
within the State as well. Any business that
currently does or plans to do business in
Delaware would give serious thought to what
the increased cost of workers' compensation
could mean for them.
This decision that you are required to make, if
passed as proposed, will adversely affect the
State and all who do business within it for years
to come.
What is Mini COBRA?
Mini COBRA is a state COBRA expansion program
that extends health insurance coverage to employees
in firms with fewer than 20 workers who are not
covered by COBRA, the federal law. The local
state programs are referred to as Mini COBRA or
state continuation plans. There are 39 states that
have signed into legislation to provide programs
and they vary from state to state in duration,
restrictions and eligibility from the coverage
provided to workers under the federal law.
Delaware’s new mini COBRA law requires small
employer group health policies issued to groups that
have 1 to 19 employees, on a typical business day
during the preceding year, to provide continuation
coverage for members of the group whose
employment terminates or they lose coverage. This
applies to small employer group health policies
issued on or renewed after June 21, 2012 and is
currently scheduled to expire on January 1, 2014.
The new Delaware law requires those employers to
offer mini COBRA to all employees and /or eligible
dependents who have been continuously insured
under a group policy during the three months prior
to a qualifying event, and who lose coverage under
the policy due to a qualifying event. Qualifying
events include, but are not limited to: termination
of employment, reduction in hours, divorce, or a
dependent’s status change due to age.
Page 2
Employers will have 30 days to notify eligible
employees when a qualifying event has occurred.
Those employees and/or eligible dependents have
30 days from the notification date to enroll in mini
COBRA. Coverage under mini COBRA may be
continued to a maximum of nine (9) months or until
December 31, 2013, when the mini COBRA law
expires, and is contingent upon the payment of
premiums and your maintenance of the group health
insurance policy.
Employers will be responsible for compliance,
administering this law and collecting the premiums
from their employees. Similar to federal COBRA,
employers may charge up to 102% of the group
rate, of the insurance being continued, to help cover
the cost of their administration tasks.
New Hire Compliance
Delaware employers of four (4) or more employees
are required to:
Notify employees in writing at the time of hire:
1. Rate of Pay
2. Day, hour and place of payment
3. Employer’s fringe benefits policies
Notify employees in writing of any reductions in the
rate of pay, and any changes in the day, hour or
place of payment or benefits.
Furnish each employee with a pay statement
showing:
1. Amount of wages due;
2. Pay period covered by the payment;
3. Amounts of deductions (separately specified)
which have been made from the wages;
4. Total number of hours worked in pay period (for
employees who are paid at an hourly rate).
Religious Accommodation
Employers must reasonably accommodate
employees' sincerely held religious beliefs or
practices unless doing so would impose an undue
hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious
accommodation is any adjustment to the work
environment that will allow the employee to
practice his or her religion. Flexible scheduling,
voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments,
lateral transfers and modifications to workplace
practices, policies and/or procedures are examples
Monthly Strategies
of how an employer might accommodate an
employee's religious beliefs.
Nine Tips for Office Celebrations
With the holiday season fast approaching, below are
nine tips you might want to consider as you make plans:
1. Be honest with employees. Make sure your
employees know your workplace substance abuse
policy and that the policy addresses the use of
alcoholic beverages in any work-related situation
and office social function.
2. Post the policy. Use every communication vehicle
to make sure your employees know the policy. Prior
to an office party, use break room bulletin boards,
office e-mail and paycheck envelopes to
communicate your policy and concerns.
3. Reinvent the office party concept. Why have the
typical office party? Try something new like an
indoor carnival, group outing to an amusement park
or volunteer activity with a local charity.
4. Make sure employees know when to say when. If
you do serve alcohol at an office event, make sure
all employees know that they are welcome to attend
and have a good time, but that they are expected to
act responsibly.
5. Make it the office party of choice. Make sure there
are plenty of non-alcoholic beverages available.
6. Eat...and be merry! Avoid serving lots of salty,
greasy or sweet foods which tend to make people
thirsty. Serve foods rich in starch and protein which
stay in the stomach longer and slow the absorption
of alcohol in the bloodstream.
7. Designate party managers. Remind managers that
even at the office party, they may need to implement
the company's alcohol and substance abuse policy.
8. Arrange alternative transportation. Anticipate the
need for alternative transportation for all party goers
and make special transportation arrangements in
advance of the party. Encourage all employees to
make use of the alternative transportation if they
consume any alcohol.
9. Serve none for the road. Stop serving alcohol
before the party officially ends.
If alcoholic beverages are provided at office social
functions, state laws regarding their use and resulting
legal responsibilities should be consulted and addressed.
If your organization would like to learn more about the
items in this newsletter, please feel free to contact Tricia
Clendening at 302.376.8595 (office) or 302.373.1784
(cell) or Tricia@hrstrategies.org. Please contact us if
you would like to be removed from our Monthly
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