Beginning January 1, 2015, OSHA will begin enforcing new rules and requirements according to a recent article in Construction Equipment Guide. This new rule applies to companies that fall under Federal OSHA jurisdiction. (Do you know if your company falls under this category?)

This rule change stems from a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that 4,405 people were killed on the job in 2013. Under this new rule “employers will be required to notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours. Previously, OSHA’s regulations required an employer to report only work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Reporting single hospitalizations, amputations or loss of an eye was not required under the previous rule.”

Even employers who are typically exempt from reporting workplace injuries will be required to comply with this new ruling.

Additionally, OSHA has updated the list of industries that are required to routinely keep and complete injury and illness records. In the past, those that were exempt based on their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, they are now based on how relatively low their reported injury and illnesses are. Those employers with fewer than 11 employees will still be exempt.

Learn more:

Workplace Injuries by the Numbers

3 Barriers to Workplace Safety Programs 

True or false: You can’t do anything to manage your company’s unemployment tax rates?

If you answered true, you answered incorrectly. But take heart because:

1. Many other business owners would have also answered “true”
2. There is actually a lot you can do to manage unemployment tax rates

Unemployment Tax: It’s All in the Details

When it comes time to let an employee go, the best thing you can do to protect yourself from unemployment claims happens well before you want to terminate the employee and everything needs to be in writing. You’ll be much more likely to win the case if you provided your former employer with documentation like:

• Employee handbooks, signed by the employee
• Detailed job descriptions, signed by the employee
• Written warnings with employee sign-off
• Progressive disciplinary actions

How a PEO Can Help

PEOs like GMS take an active approach in managing risks related to unemployment claims. In the process, PEOs save you time, increase cashflow, and eliminate your liability. Best of all, you retain full control over your employees.

More specifically, GMS helps by:

• Writing employee handbooks and job descriptions for you
• Actively consult throughout the employee discipline and termination process
• Provide representation on your behalf at claims hearings
• Administering and reports all your company’s unemployment taxes

Your Next Step is Easy

Okay, so we started this post with a tricky question. Now it’s time to end it with an easy one.

True or false: It’s time to call GMS?

See! We told you that would be an easy one. Here’s our number: 330-659-0100

There are a lot of factors that go into determining what your business’s workers’ compensation rates will be. But the simple truth is this: the more claims your employees file, the higher your rate will be.

Fortunately, there are two strategies you can follow that will limit the amount of time and money you spend dealing with workers’ compensation claims.

Loss Prevention Strategies

They say that prevention is the best medicine. That holds true for workers’ compensation management, too!  Here’s a quick list of actions that you can take to reduce the risk of workplace injuries, and, therefore, claims:

Provide safety training programs

• Create employee safety manuals
• Clearly establish workplace safety guidelines
• Undergo regular workplace inspections
• Implement drug-free and drug–testing programs
• Implement  injury reporting procedures

Cost Containment Strategies

In the State of Ohio, if a company has a better safety record than the average company of  their industry,  the company may qualify for what’s called a group rating program.

In essence, all this does is gives a group of companies with good safety records the opportunity to qualify for workers’ compensation rate discounts. In some cases, companies can qualify for discounts of 50% with the group rating program.

If you’re not taking advantage of these strategies, the time to start is now. And if you’re not sure where to begin, give us a call at 330-659-0100 today.

You’re looking to hire a new candidate or thinking about promoting an employee from within your company.

But before you take a step further you want to run a background check. What are the legal requirements and information you need to be aware of as an employer before you start this process? We do our best to give you an overview on the process below.

Information requested for a background check depends on the employer and the job involved. For some jobs, a state or federal law requires the employer to conduct a background check. Working with children, the elderly, or people with disabilities are examples of jobs that require a criminal background check. 

What information is included in a background check? 

Many of the sources for a background check are public records created by government agencies. However, the detail of a background check can vary from a simple verification of an applicant’s Social Security number to a detailed account of the potential employee’s history and acquaintances. 

Some information that may be included in a background check are

• Driving records
• Vehicle registration
• Credit records
• Criminal records
• Social Security number
• Education records
• Court records
• Bankruptcy
• Character references
• Neighbor interviews
• Medical records
• Property ownership
• Military records
• State licensing records
• Drug test records
• Past employers
• Personal references
• Incarceration records
• Sex offender lists 

What information cannot be included in a background check?

According to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which sets national standards for employment screening, the following information cannot be reported*

After 7 years: 

• Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest, from date of entry
• Paid tax liens 
• Accounts placed for collection 
• Any other negative information (except criminal convictions) 

After 10 years:

• Bankruptcies

What effect has social media had on background checks?

Have you “Googled” yourself lately? If you haven’t, give it a try. Type your name in quotation marks in a couple of the major search engines and see what comes up.

In this information rich age, it’s more and more likely that employers will conduct this same search prior to bringing on a new hire. Some employers will even search social networking sites, like Facebook, for the profiles of applicants. This means an employee’s online reputation can be a factor in swaying the hiring decision– whether people are aware of it or not. 

So, we encourage everyone (employees and employers) to be aware of what they are putting out on the internet. Imagine your future employer, future employee, best friend or boss viewing the content- what would they think?  

What must employers do to be in compliance before requesting a background check? 

Before you get a background check you must:

• Tell the applicant or employee
• Get written permission from the applicant or employee
• Certify compliance to the company from which you are getting the applicant or employee’s information.