Government Affairs Summit
Program
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Keynote: Lt. Governor Becky Skillman
Updates and What’s in the Pipeline for 2008?
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Indiana Legislature
Federal Legislature
Regulatory - Homeland Security, Social Security,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Judicial Branch
Executive Branch
SHRM Advocacy
Tips for HR to advocate
Steve Kellam and Rob Aspy, SPHR, Co-Chairs, Government Affairs
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State Government
August 29, 2007
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115th General Assembly (2007)
234 new laws
583 bills introduced in the Senate
837 bills introduced in the House
HR areas of particular interest (bills introduced):
• Unemployment Compensation (7 bills)
• Health Care Costs or Insurance.
(40 bills: 14 in Senate; 36 in House)
Websites of particular HR interest:
• www.in.gov/legislative/
• www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/
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Senate Enrolled Act 94
(Landske, Kenley, Bowser)
[Language change effective on passage]
The general assembly finds the following:
• [To] persons with a disability [from
“disabled”]
• [To] "Persons with disabilities" means all
persons who by reason of physical or mental
disability [from “mental defect”]
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Senate Enrolled Act 372
(Simpson)
• The department [of insurance] shall study the
current preauthorization practices and
procedures used by insurers and health
maintenance organizations. The department may
also study standardization (and) whether the
practices and procedures… require the
establishment of standards to ensure uniformity,
timely response, and the provision of reasonably
sufficient.
• Before November 1, 2007, the department shall
report to the legislative council in an electronic
format the department's findings.
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Not Pass after Third Reading
HB 1008
Brown C , Brown T , Welch
• Requires establishment of a project for a
health care management program and a pilot
project for small employers to obtain health
care coverage for employees
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House Enrolled 1027
(Day, Micon)
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Minimum wage increase
Ties the amount of Indiana's minimum hourly wage to
the same as federal minimum hourly wage.
• $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007
• $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008
• $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009
First increase to the minimum wage in nearly 10 years
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House Enrolled Act 1092
(Avery)
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Military service benefits.
Establishes an unpaid leave of absence of up
to 10 working days for the spouse, parent,
grandparent, or sibling of a person ordered to
active duty in the United States armed forces
or the National Guard
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House Enrolled Act 1378
(Van Haaften, Crouch)
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A policy of accident and sickness insurance
provides coverage for hospital, medical, or
surgical expenses;
may NOT contain a provision excluding or
limiting the insurer's liability under the
policy for a loss sustained or contracted in
consequence of an insured's intoxication or
use of a narcotic.
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Not Pass HB1397
Ruppel, Bischoff, Koch, Tincher
• Prohibits the adoption or enforcement [by an employer] of
a policy or rule that prohibits or has the effect of
prohibiting an individual who has a valid state issued
permit to possess a firearm…that is: (1) locked in the
individual's motor vehicle while the motor vehicle is in or
on the [employer’s] property; or (2) stored at a location in
or on the [employer’s] property that is secure and allows
the individual to check the firearm in and out when
entering and leaving the person's property.
• Excepts possession of a firearm: (1) on school property or a
school bus; (2) on certain child care and shelter facility
property; (3) on penal facility property; and (4) when
permitted under federal law
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Weapons at work update
• Passed five states (Oklahoma was first)
• Defeated in eleven states (including Indiana)
National SHRM’s statement:
• Business is responsible for workplace safety.
• Business should make its own decision to
allow weapons or not on its property.
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House Enrolled Act 1678
(C Brown)
This bill began use of ‘hospital’ only if facility
has an emergency room. Expanded into:
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Enrolled Act to provide small employers
(two to 100 employees, and not self-funded)
a tax credit if provide a qualified wellness
program. Plus more…
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NOT PASS beyond Committee
HB 1680
C Brown
• Universal health care. Creates a plan of health
insurance to provide primary coverage to
every resident of Indiana
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State Legislative Crystal Ball
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Weapons Bill
Health Care
Workers Compensation
Tax Credits for Wellness Programs
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Federal Government
August 2007
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Recent Congressional Activity
• HR1257 20 April 2007 – the Shareholder Vote
on Executive Compensation Act passed the
house 269-134. The bill seeks to increase
shareholder input on executive compensation
decisions made by boards of directors.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• HR493 25 April 2007 – The Genetic
Information Act of 2007 (GINA) passed by a
420-3 vote by the house. Prohibits employers
and health insurers from making employment
decisions or adjusting benefits solely on the
basis of an individual’s genetics. It is likely to
pass and be signed.
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Recent Congressional Activity
HR2206 25 May 2007 signed into Law
President Bush. It amended the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) to raise the current
minimum wage (24 July 2007 $5.85 per hour,
24 July 2008 $6.55 per hour and 24 July 2009
$7.25 per hour).
• Contained a $4.84 billion tax relief for small
businesses. It is called the Work Opportunity
Tax Credit (WOTC) – provides for tax credits
for hiring individuals from one or more of nine
targeted groups – through August 2012.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• HR800 June 2007 – Senate voted no to
consider the Employee Free Choice Act.
SHRM members sent 9,200 letters to Senate
members. The legislation would enable
unions to sidestep workers’ current right to a
federally-supervised, private ballot election
and, instead, allow unions to collect a majority
of signed authorization cards during union
organizing drives.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• S1639 June 2007 - Comprehensive
Immigration Reform Act – Senate decided not
to continue debate.
• S1753 9 July 2007 Senators Harkin and Smith
introduced the Healthy Workforce Act. The
bill provides incentives to employers for
offering wellness programs.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• HR1424 18 July 2007 - Paul Wellstone Mental
Health and Addiction Equity Act passed out of
the House Education and Labor committee.
Legislation would required group health plans
that include mental health coverage to treat
mental illnesses and physical illnesses the
same, in terms of deductibles, hospital stays
and co-payments.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• HR1585 July 2007 Amendment approved by
House to the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2008 to expand the Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to provide leave for
military families to deal with exigencies arising
from a call to duty. Bill remains under
consideration. The Senate as a part of the
passing of the Children’s Health insurance Bill
HR976 adopted two amendments that would
expand FMLA to family caregivers of injured
service members.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• 24 July 2007 – Congress is considering
changing the definition of employees or
independent contractors. SHRM testified
before the House Education and Labor
committee on this issue.
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Recent Congressional Activity
• HR2831 31 July 2007 - The Ledbetter Fair Pay
Act passed the House. (Party line votes from
Indiana Reps). If this bill passes the Senate
and is signed it would overturn the Supreme
Court decision of May 2007, where limits are
place on the time workers have to file claims
against employers for pay discrimination to six
months. The bill places no limits on time.
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Bills of Interest
• HR 1540 – Civil Rights Tax Relief Act of 2007 –
Back pay for job-related harassment or
discrimination taxable at the rates effective
during the years such pay was earned. Remains
in committee
• HR1542 /S910 – The Healthy Families Act –
Requires employers with 15 or more employees
to provide seven days of paid sick leave to fulltime (30 hours) workers. Remains in committee
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Bills of Interest
• S1136 – Survivors’ Empowerment and Economic
Security Act – Employers with 15 or more
employees to provide 30 days of job-protected,
unpaid leave to employees to address issues
relating to domestic violence. In committee
• HR1338/S766 – Paycheck Fairness Act – Amend
Fair Labor Standards Act to provide more
effective remedies of victims of discrimination in
the payment of wages on the basis of sex. In
committee
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Bills of Interest
• HR 298 – Flexible spending Accounts Growth
and Opportunities Act of 2007 – Will allow up
to $1,000 in unused funds in FSA to carry over
to the next year.
• HR506 – The Health Partnership through
Creative Federalism Act – Bill provides grants
to states for health coverage for the
uninsured.
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Bills of Interest
• S334 – The Healthy American Act –
Comprehensive Health Care Reform requires
all individuals to purchase health insurance.
Subsidies provided to low income families.
Employer mandates included
• HR 1645 – Security through regularized
Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act –
Immigration Reform
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Bills of Interest
• S41 – Research Competitiveness Act – Simplify
and make permanent the research and
development tax credit.
• S239 – Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act of
2007 – Data breach bill
• S1038 / HR1748 – Workforce Health
Improvement Program – Allows employer to
deduct the cost of subsidizing or providing offsite fitness center benefits for their employees. A
wellness benefit would not be taxable income for
employees.
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Bills of Interest
• HR853 – Wellness and prevention Act –
Employers receive up to $200 tax credit per
employee that joins the wellness program.
• S1141 – Automatic IRA Act of 2007 – Requires
employers with more than 10 employees and
in business for more than 2 years to provide
each employee the option to save for
retirement through payroll deposit IRAs in
exchange for tax credits up to $250.
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Bills of Interest
• S1178 – Identify Theft prevention Act – Data
Breach Bill
• S495 – Personal Data Privacy Security Act of 2007
– Privacy of data bill
• HR1280 – Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries
Act of 2007 – Extend exclusion from gross income
for employer provided health care coverage to
certain eligible beneficiaries, including domestic
partners and their dependent children.
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Federal Legislative Crystal Ball
• Good Support
– Genetic Bill – Good support
– FMLA additions for Service Member Families
• Probably Not
– Ledbetter bill becomes law
– Immigration Bill of substance passes
– Employee Free Choice Act
– Mental Health Act
– Health Care Additions
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Regulatory Agencies Update
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Homeland Security announced two actions
on unlawful hiring or continued employment
of unauthorized workers
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Social Security to look at process to issue its
numbers to prevent identity theft and
fraudulent use
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EEOC Trends
• Race and color discrimination (most charges)
• Sex discrimination (2nd most charges)
EEOC Priorities and Initiatives:
• Systemic discrimination
• E-Race (Eradicating Racism And Colorism from
Employment)
• www.youth.eeoc.gov (Youth @ Work Initiative)
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New EEOC Enforcement
on Disparate Treatment for Caregiving
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Caregiver defined as employee who provides care
(not the caregiving professionals.)
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An action likely to deter a working mother from
filing a future EEOC complaint might be less likely
to deter someone who does not have substantial
caregiving responsibilities. A schedule change in an
employee’s work schedule may make little
difference to many workers, but may matter
enormously to a young mother with school age
children.
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Caregiving disproportionately affect working
women generally…more pronounced among some
women of color, particularly African American
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New Caregiver: EEOC’s training examples
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_caregiving.html
Stereotypes of mothers
• Yael returned from maternity leave. She asked to use lunch to
breastfeed her child at the child’s day care center. The
supervisor began tracking Yael when left and returned from
lunch. Admonished when late. Other employees who left the
site during lunch were not similarly monitored. Yael reported
her supervisor to a higher-level manager who stated
“personality conflict.”
Yael filed an EEOC charge on sex-based harassment. The
investigator determined Yael was subjected to a hostile work
environment based on sex and that the employer was liable.
• Opposite situation, too: unlawful if for benevolent reasons.
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New EEOC Enforcement
on Disparate Treatment for Caregiving
Stereotypes of men as “bread winners” can
further lead to gender-based stereotyping,
unlawful assumptions about working fathers
and other male caregivers. Sometimes,
employers deny male employees
opportunities that have been provided to
working women or subject men who are
primary caregivers to harassment or other
disparate treatment.
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New Caregiver: EEOC’s training examples
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_caregiving.html
Hostile work environment charged (time off)
Eric, an elementary school teacher, requested unpaid leave
for the upcoming school year to care for his newborn son.
Although the school allows up to one year of unpaid leave
for various personal reasons, including to care for a
newborn, the Personnel Director denied the request. Eric
pointed out that women were granted childcare leave. The
Director said, “That’s different. We have to give childcare
leave to women.” He suggested that Eric request unpaid
emergency leave, limited to 90 days.
Violation of Title VII. The employer denied a male
employee a type of leave, unrelated to pregnancy, granted
to females.
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New Caregiver: EEOC’s training examples
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_caregiving.html
Hostile work environment charged (disparate treatment)
After Adam (supervisor) learned that the wife of Martin (his
employee) had severe multiple sclerosis, Martin was removed
from team projects. Adam said coworkers did not think Martin
could complete his work “considering his wife’s medical
problems.” Adam began requiring Martin to follow company
policies that other employees were not required to follow:
requesting leave at least a week in advance except for
emergencies. Martin complained several times to upper
management; the employer did nothing.
Martin filed an EEOC charge. The investigator determined that
the employer was liable for harassment on the basis of Martin’s
association with an individual with a disability.
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Judicial Branch
US Supreme Court (future session)
• Case to decide if co-worker testimony is to be excluded
from a jury trial to prevent prejudice against the
employer
(Past Decisions:)
• US Supreme Court ruled on June 11th that domestic
service exemption applies to agency home health
employees
• 5th Circuit (Police case that determined paid
administrative leave might sometimes be an adverse
retaliatory action.)
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Judicial Branch
• Employee fired after complaining about
employer-sponsored spiritual practices prevailed
on his religious discrimination claim in a case
before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• A Federal district court ruling overturns
controversial immigration ordinances enacted by
the city government of Hazleton, PA. This sets a
precedent for striking down local laws on this
issue that have been recently passed.
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Judicial Branch
• US Supreme Court Decision - May 2007
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
– Landmark case in employment law. The case
revolved around the statutory time limit for filing
an employment discrimination claim under Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act, which requires
employees to bring such claims within 180 days of
the alleged unlawful employment action.
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Executive Branch
• 27 June 2007, DOL issued a report on the request
for information on FMLA. The report has 11
Chapters with information submitted on areas
such as the definition of a serious health
condition, unscheduled intermittent leave,
employee rights and responsibilities, the medical
certification and verification process, and the
substitution of paid leave. Nothing at this time
has been done to resolve the conflicting
interpretations in these and many other areas.
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Executive Branch
• 2 July DOL’s Office of Labor-Management
Standards issued a final rule on revisions to
the Form LM-30 for officer and employees of
labor organizations who receive payment from
employers and businesses. The new rule may
impact Form LM-10 used for employers.
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Executive Branch
• August 2007 – Presidential candidates
continue to debate health care and
immigration reform. These are two of the top
issues being discussed in pre-election
positions.
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SHRM Activism
• SHRM provides information and
recommendations to members
• Our system of government depends on
individual input from ordinary citizens to work
at its best
• Call, email, or send letters to your Federal or
State Senators / Representatives
• Call, email, or send letters to the Federal or
State Executive Department
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Resources
• Information and links are available on the
Indiana SHRM State Council website:
www.indianashrm.org
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How to network with legislators?
How to network with reporters?
www.shrm.org/chapters/resources/Workingw
theMedia_Webcast.ppt#286,1,Slide 1
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Magic Element…Relationship Building
• What is Media Relations? (Proactive)
• Cardinal Rules (such as be knowledgeable of
current events and industry trends)
• What is newsworthy? Remember, news that is
local, timely, unusual/interesting, about
people or surprising.
• Know your story (Three key messages)
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Magic Element…Relationship Building
• How to write a press release
• Pitch letters
• Talking to the media
- Prepare
- Keep language clear and simple
- Use relevant examples
-Brand your message
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Magic Element…Relationship Building
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Message Delivery Tips
- Use “flag” statements to call attention to
your message
a. The most important thing…
b. The single thing…
c. The bottom line is…
d. The key thing is…
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Magic Element…Relationship Building
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Message Delivery Tips (Continued)
“Bridge” to your message
a. Let me put it into perspective…
b. What that means is….
c. Let me give you some background
information…
d. What’s important to remember…
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Magic Element…Relationship Building
• Interview Tips (what clothes to avoid)
• Body language Tips (use open gestures, etc.)
• Practice, breathe and relax
Remember that you are speaking on behalf of
your organization.
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Thanks!
Questions?
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