Employers must offer health insurance or be subject to penalties.

Employers must offer health  insurance that is affordable and provides minimum value to their  full-time employees and their  children up to age 26 or be subject to penalties.

This is known as the employer mandate. It applies to employers with 50 or more  full-time employees, or full-time equivalents, and will be phased  in during 2015 and 2016 based on employer size. Employees who work 30 or more  hours per week are considered full-time.

To learn more, click here.

Starting in 2015, all employers are required to report the following to OSHA

Safety & Health

OSHA has developed an updated record keeping rule. The rule was effective on January 1, 2015 and requires that establishments in states under Federal OSHA jurisdiction must comply with the new rule as of the effective date. Starting in 2015, all employers are required to report the following to OSHA:

• All work related fatalities-Within 8 hours of finding out about them.
• All work related inpatient hospitalizations of one or more employees-Within 24 hours.
• All work related amputations, with or without bone loss-Within 24 hours.
• All work related losses of an eye-Within 24 hours.

For any inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye, Employers only have to report if the action occurs with 24 hours of a work related incident. Employers have three options to report the event and are required to:

• By phone to the nearest OSHA area office during normal business hours.
• By telephone to the 24-hour OSHA hotline at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).
• OSHA is developing a means of reporting events electronically, which will be available soon.

When reporting the event to OSHA, be prepared to provide as much information, in detail about the event being reported. Information regarding this new requirement is available in detail on the OSHA website at www.osha.govor you can contact Jess Carrillo, Safety & Risk Manager at Fortune Business Solutions.

Human Resources
Giving thanks for good performance 

Employees respond to recognition and rewards

According to U.S. workers, the most common form of recognition their employer provides is salary increases based on merit (39 percent). Less than a third (31 percent) said that direct supervisors express verbal or written appreciation, and only about 1 in 4 (24 percent) reported that their organization uses performance-based bonuses or promotions as a form of recognition. These were some of the findings of a survey released by the American Psychological Association (APA) Center for Organizational Excellence.

Employees who said that recognition practices are fair, that direct supervisors provide recognition effectively, and that they value the recognition they receive reported a variety of positive outcomes. They reported higher levels of job satisfaction, a greater likelihood to work harder because of the recognition they receive, stronger motivation to do their best, and a greater sense of feeling valued. In addition, employees who received recognition more recently also reported higher levels of satisfaction, motivation, and work effort.

Additional findings from the survey include:

• More than a quarter of working adults (28 percent) said that written or verbal appreciation from their direct supervisor is important, but when it comes to the types of recognition that working Americans say are important to them, money tops the list. Six out of 10 employees (62 percent) cited merit-based salary increases as important, followed by fair monetary compensation (47 percent), performance-based bonuses (43 percent), and promotions or advancement (38 percent).


• Men and women reported that recognition in general is equally important to them (87 percent), but men were more likely than women to report being satisfied with their employer’s recognition practices (54 percent vs. 46 percent), to believe that recognition is provided fairly in their organization (52 percent vs. 42 percent), and to say their supervisor provides recognition effectively (56 percent vs. 47 percent).


• Although 4 in 10 employees reported working remotely at least sometimes (30 percent sometimes, 5 percent often, 6 percent always), no significant relationships were found between employees working remotely and their satisfaction with recognition or how long they plan to stay with their current employer.

Source: BLR

2015 Update: Upgrading our payroll and benefits systems

Over the past year Fortune has invested a great deal of time in upgrading our payroll and benefits systems. The areas that we are concentrating on are the areas that affect our clients’ bottom line as well as creating improved efficiency. The specific areas in which we are focusing are as follows:

HRPyramid Vision

(Rollout will start July 1, 2015) 

· Single integrated platform with payroll, human resources, benefits administration and online new hire processing
· 100% Browser based
· Granular access control
· Web-Services enabled
  Cloud delivery

Online New Hire Processing

(Available immediately)

· Efficient New Hire Processing
· Integrated e- Verify processing
· Integrated background screening
· Workflow engine and notifications ensure timely processing
· Employee initiated life event processing

Online Benefits Enrollment

(Available immediately)

· Seamlessly integrated with Payroll and Imaging
· Enhanced benefits setup
· More efficient and accurate enrollment

ACA Compliance

· Any clients that have more than 50 full time employees and do not offer health insurance should contact us so we can share with them the compliance pack we have developed to protect them from any penalties in the future.

Read more about the FICA taxable wage base has increased from $117,000 to $118,500 in 2015. The SUTA wage limits are listed below:

Visit: http://www.fortune-hr.com/Email/021715.html

We've Landed in the Tampa Bay Business Journal!

 

Click on photo to enlarge.

House Approves Permanent Small-Business Tax Break

The House voted Thursday to make permanent a tax break allowing small businesses to write off up to $500,000 in new equipment purchases.
While the move adds to momentum for congressional efforts to extend a range of now-temporary tax breaks, it also sharpens a conflict between the House and Senate over whether to extend the breaks permanently or temporarily.
Thursday's vote was 272-144, with several dozen Democrats joining Republicans to support the measure.

The expensing provision gives small businesses the ability to write off equipment purchases up front, rather than depreciating them over a period years. The amount has been set at $500,000 since 2010, but without congressional action would fall to about $25,000 for 2014.

The Wall Street Journal. - Read full article here.

Senate panel praises HHS candidate, grills on ACA

WASHINGTON — Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President Obama's nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, appears on track for confirmation after a Thursday hearing in which she was praised by Democratic and Republicans senators.  

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, called her a friend. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called her "dynamic." Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said she had a reputation for "competence," but continued, "You are going to need it."  Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., praised her, saying "I support her nomination and I will vote for her. She comes with a portfolio of experiences" that qualify her for the job.  

Burwell, now director of the Office of Management and Budget, still faced criticism by Republicans for the Affordable Care Act, which she will have to administer as HHS secretary.

Read more:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/08/senate-praises-hhs-candidate-grills-on-aca/8844123/

Consumers who opt not to enroll in health insurance plans to face growing penalties

As Americans continue to get a grasp on the Affordable Care Act amid cancelled policies, mandate changes and shopping through the Marketplace, many of them are opting not to enroll in healthcare plans in 2014 and pay a $95 penalty for not having health insurance.

While Jennifer Richardson, marketing and outreach coordinator for the Athens Neighborhood Health Center, understands why some people want to wait to enroll in healthcare policies this year, she warns residents not to make paying the penalties a yearly habit as it could end up costing them hundreds of dollars.

 



“The penalty is minimal this year to give people extra time to sign up for health insurance, but if you continue to prolong it it’s going to cost you a lot of money that you could have used to pay toward a premium for health coverage,” Richardson said.

Deadline to sign up for a healthcare is March 31. Anyone who has not signed up for health coverage by then will be charged a penalty.

The penalty in 2014 will be calculated one of two ways and the consumer will pay whichever amount is higher, Richardson said. Either 1 percent of the annual household income or $95 per person for the year. If there is a child in the home under the age of 18 the penalty will be $47.50 for that child.
The penalties increase next year to 2 percent of the yearly household income or $325 per person. The penalty for children will be $162.50.

Another increase, 2.5 percent of annual household income or $695 per person, is expected for 2016.
The spike in the penalty each year is to encourage people to sign up for health insurance instead of going without and just paying a fee, Richardson said.

Read the full article HERE