Will Obamacare Encourage Small Employers to Discriminate Against Older Workers?

I just got our renewal for our small group for January 1, 2014.  Affordable Care Act my a$$.

We have (scratch that, HAD) a pretty rich plan, not quite Cadillac, and not anything close to a union type plan, but the boss cares about his staff in that he wants to provide them with a good plan.  Well, of course, that one is not going to be offered by the insurance company anymore.  But I can keep my plan if I like it, right Mr. President?

So our renewal percentage increase is kind of abstract because the plans don’t match up, but we can still compare the costs to last year.  Yeah, they went up.  A LOT!!!!

So the two plans that are comparable are both about 13% higher than the one we had, there is a worse one for 3% or I can completely change companies for less, but there are fewer doctors available in that network.  Talk about some crappy choices!

All of that aside, we are now rated by age bands.  For a small business, that is a big deal.

We are a small group, so we were totally community rated.  A mid-sized group is usually half community rated, half experience rated.  Once you get over about 200 employees you can usually be totally experience rated.   

So my oldest staff member is going to cost me about $850 a month for single coverage.  My youngest staff member will be about $290 a month.  As a small business person, how can I not take this huge difference into consideration when hiring?  Of course you are supposed to hire based on skills and ability to perform the essential functions of the job.  I get it. But a $500 a month difference is a lot for one employee.  

What a mess?  Don't even get me started about how I am supposed to budget for this.

  

The Do's and Don'ts of Salary Negotiation

YAY!  You got the job!  Congratulations!  Suddenly the joy turns to fear.  Here it comes, you are at that scary moment in the process - time to talk money.  Cue the anxiety and questions that start scrolling in your mind:

• Do I ask a lot so they think I am worth it?
• Are they going to low-ball me?
• If I say a number that is too low I am shooting myself in the foot?
• If I say something too high they may change their minds and ask me to leave.

Don't stress.   As we do for all other aspects of our lives, a little research and some preparation will make for a smooth conversation.

DO - Research, research, research!  You can find many tools on line to help you figure out a general salary range for your profession and location.  Sites like Salary.com or Indeed.com provide calculators for various cities and different professions.  They may not always be right on, but you will at least have some idea on where you should be when the time comes to start a salary negotiation. 

DO - Use your professional networks.  You may have used some of these same networks to help you find the job that you have just been offered.  Make a salary range question part of your initial conversation with others in your profession.  Asking for a range or budget amount allows people to be a little more open with information.

DO - Use your own experience.  Only you know what you were making before.  You can gauge your value based on your new city compared to the old city, your old position compared to the new position.  Of course if you have been in your profession for awhile, you will already have an idea of what you are worth.  You may also be able to find more specialized information about salaries by searching for local surveys on-line.  Your own job search might provide you with good information too.  Some companies advertise the range to be offered for the open position.

DO - Establish your floor number.  You need to know how low you can go.  Unless the job is your life's passion, it is still just a job, and another one will come along soon.  If you take a job that you know will be frustrating if you aren't getting paid what you deserve, you may come to regret that decision and perhaps resent the people at the organization. 

DO - Evaluate the offer as a whole.  Keep in mind that as a military spouse, you may not have a need for the health plan that is offered.  Some organizations may offer a cash-in-lieu of health insurance option, but if they do not you may be able to negotiate more salary because you won't be taking the insurance.  You are not likely to make the equivalent dollar amount translate to salary, but one to two hundred dollars a month would not be out of the range of most cash in lieu programs.  There are also other considerations like: your commute, cost of child care, lunches out and dry cleaning.

DON'T - Have unrealistic expectations. Maybe you were making six figures at your fancy office in Washington DC, but Fallon, Nevada is not going to offer you the same opportunities.  It may be time to focus on expanding your knowledge base and experiences.

DON'T - Assume just because your rent tripled, your salary will too.  While cost of living does have some bearing on salaries, there is not a direct correlation.  BUT, you have two or three more years of experience since the last time you changed jobs, so that should help.

DON'T - Be afraid to ask.  Everything is negotiable, salary is not the only thing on the table.  If the vacation accrual schedule isn't what you had hoped for, it doesn't hurt to ask for some additional days off.  Since it doesn't directly compute to a dollar figure, the company may be more likely to say yes to that request before they would say yes to an increase in salary.  But,

DON'T - Demand.  And don't take the negotiations too far.  One time back and forth is enough.

In our current economic situation, there were a lot of candidates for this job and YOU are the one they picked.  They want you and respect you enough to listen to a reasonable counter offer.

You Give Us All A Bad Name: When HR Departments Suck

I see them on TV, I read about them in Legal Updates, they are out there.  Bad HR Departments.  In the business world management mistakes are abundant, but it is so much more disheartening to my profession when laws and policies are broken by those assigned to uphold them.  We know better, or at least we should.

HR Professionals walk a fine line between serving the company and serving the employee.  Fine line doesn’t even do it justice.  It is a faint, barely visible, thin gray line.  We are advocates for our staff members, within the bounds of the corporate policies and procedures and legal protections.  We should be advocates for our staff, even if they don’t know they need us.

          

Following is a recent account of a series of interactions with an HR Department that clearly didn’t have its employees’ best interests at heart.

An employee for a Texas based banking institution (one of the oldest and largest in the state) was fired and the reason given was that it just wasn’t working out.  The at-will doctrine says that that is an OK reason for termination, but HR should have known better; perhaps asked a question or two before letting the axe fall.

This employee had just passed his one year anniversary with the company.  There had been multiple absences for illnesses throughout his time there.  But the illnesses and injuries were not only real but quite obvious, including surgeries and casts, physical therapies and doctor’s notes.  It wasn’t a case of a faker.  HR should have known that this employee was eligible for protection under FMLA.  The termination happened after a four day absence from work for an infection for which he had a doctor’s note.  And on his last day they made him finish a project before firing him at 4 o’clock.  So he did good work, the manager didn’t like the time away, regardless of the reason.

After he was previously given a written warning for absences he asked if there was a process or platform through which to dispute the reasons for the write up, the HR Manager just shrugged.  To top it all off, the information sent to him in his COBRA letter was unlawful.  Dates were wrong, time frames given were wrong.  This HR Department was all kinds of wrong!

Was this employee the type of person we want on our staffs?  His work was really good, he was just frequently ill.  So yes, and no.  Could have accommodations been extended as long as the essential functions of the job are done?  Absolutely, it’s kind of the law!  Should HR have known that FMLA protections were in order?  Yes, again with the law.  Does the company have a potential discrimination suit on their hands?  Oh yeah!!!!

Unlike line managers or other department heads the relationship between HR staff and the termed employee lives on.  And sometimes on and on and on.  Health insurance, retirement accounts, dates of employment, job descriptions, W-2’s, the list is long for reasons to stay in contact.  The relationship really has to change to one of advocacy for that former employee.  They don’t know what they don’t know about ending employment with you and beginning it somewhere else. 

So HR, on what side of the thin line do you come down?  Since it is your job to protect the company from litigation, I have to say it should be both.  What is best for the organization?  What is best for the employee?  Just because the employee didn’t ask for FMLA doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have gotten it.  When you are about to terminate someone, a thorough analysis of the situation should be conducted.  Even a previous write up doesn’t protect you.  The situation may be quite different, especially when there is a service milestone. 

Aside from evaluating each situation your HR staff really should have a better answer than a shrug!  And a COBRA letter with inaccuracies is just plain negligent.  It doesn’t have to be done in a hurry and it only has a few things that have to be changed for each person.  If you are the HR Manager that deals with terminations you need to know your COBRA law and letters inside and out.  There is no excuse for getting that wrong. 

So all of you HR Directors out there – PLEASE make sure you know what your staff is doing!  And for all of you CEOs out there – PLEASE make sure there is a solid training system and budget for your HR staff.  A big, fat discrimination lawsuit will cost WAY more than a conference or two.

Employer Benefits -- The Military Spouse Perspective

So you have landed that job and you are so excited to be there!  And then you sit down with Human Resources on that first day and they give you the fire hose treatment of policies and benefits.  As if your life as a military spouse isn't already full of initials and acronyms, now you get more at work.  So here are a few things you want to know, but are afraid to ask.

What does vesting mean?

Vesting refers to how much of the employer contribution to your retirement plan you get to take with you when you leave the job.  Any money that you contribute to the plan is yours; there is no time commitment for that money.  The money that the company puts in may be subject to a vesting schedule.  One type of schedule is called graduated.  For example, you may be vested in 20% of the employer contributions after your first anniversary, 40% after your second, and so on up to 100% vested after five years.  Some companies have a cliff vesting schedule, where if you leave before your two year anniversary you don't get to keep any of their contribution, but if you stay until after that two year mark you keep 100% of their contribution.  The reason this is important to consider is because you know that you will likely have to PCS in two to three years, you know that you will not be able to take all of your employers contributions with you.  So if the employer is taking a hard line on salary negotiations because they have such a good retirement contribution you need to keep that timeline in mind.

What are my health care options?

The hiring manager or human resources representative will tell you about the type of health plan(s) the company offers.  Even though you may have TRICARE you should pay attention to these options, particularly the cost of the premiums for the plan.  It is another piece of information to help you with your salary negotiation.  Some companies have a cash-in-lieu of health care option, usually between $100 and $200 per month.  The dollar amount will not be the equivalent to the cost of the premium, it likely won't even be half.  If they don't offer such an option then use the fact that you may not need medical coverage to try to get the salary bumped up.  If you do choose to take the company sponsored health plan, then that plan will be the primary coverage for you and TRICARE will become a secondary payer. 

What is an FSA?

FSA stands for Flexible Spending Account.  These accounts allow you to take money out of your check pre-tax in order to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses and child-care expenses.  At the beginning of the year you can elect a certain dollar amount to go in to the account, once you incur an expense you send in a claim form and a receipt and you get your money that you paid in to the account back and you have not paid taxes on it, so it is like a 20-30% discount depending on your tax bracket.  The catch to these accounts is that you have to use the money that you elect to put in to them or else you lose the money.  For example, I put $300 in to my medical FSA to buy new glasses and then I never get around to getting my eye appointment by the end of the year.  Unless I can come up with $300 of other out-of-pocket medical expenses (co-pays, deductibles, dental work), then I lose that money.  Talk to your HR department about specific dollar limits for the medical FSA.  These accounts are really good money savers as long as you have a handle on how much your out-of-pocket costs are.

So what questions do I ask?

Hopefully many of these questions will be answered in your orientation, so you should try to take some notes because there is likely to be a lot of new information on those first couple of days at work.  So pay special attention to the following:

• Recognized holidays - Not all companies recognize federal holidays like President's Day or Veteran's Day, though schools and day cares may be closed on those days so you may have child care issues.

• PTO (paid time off) or Vacation and Sick pay - Many companies have gone to a combined bucket of PTO days rather than vacation and sick days. Either way, make sure you find out how those days are earned and when you can start using them.

• My next raise - How often are salaries evaluated? And what are they evaluated on, timing, merit, production? Is there a bonus structure and what criteria have to be met for those, a manager's discretion or on performance measures?

• Probationary period - What does it mean to this company? Can I use vacation during this time? Do my benefits not starts until it is over? Do I get a review in 90 days? Is there a potential for an increase at the end of the period?

• Potential for flexibility - If your spouse is doing work-ups or is deployed, he or she may not be available for household or child care emergencies. Is your new employer understanding that you are essentially a single parent? What are the options for working from home or staggering hours to help you run your household more efficiently?

• FMLA - This is the Family Medical Leave Act and does provide some protections for military spouses, but the rules are very specific. Make sure you ask your HR person if your new company qualifies under the Act.

What are your crazy stories??

One of the companies I worked for had a sub-company that was a temp agency. TONS of good stories come from temp agencies!!! Here are just a few…..

We did drug testing there and the number of stories from the nurses that ran that department. My favorite is the one where the guy was taking a long time in the bathroom. When he finally came out there was a growing white spot on his jeans and he smelled of bleach. His urine still came back positive for drugs but was all kinds of messed up (and stinky). So it turns out that sneaking Clorox into the bathroom to bleach your drug pee totally doesn’t work. Spilling it on yourself in the process doesn’t help either.

There was the woman that must not have been able to find a pen when she filled out her time sheet. She also couldn’t find a pencil, a crayon, a marker or even an eyeliner. So she filled out her time sheet with nail polish.

There was a company that really wanted to hire a certain person, they got him set up in the system but he didn’t have his documents authorizing his right to work. You have to have the documentation within three days of starting or the employer can not continue to employ you. Well the HR Specialist tried for three days to get this guy to bring in his paperwork. He was told he couldn’t continue to work and to come to the office to pick up his check. Well he came in and would not produce any paperwork. He sat across from her just staring at her. He didn’t say a word but she felt very threatened. She eventually asked him if he got his check would he leave and never come back. He nodded. So she handed him the check and we never saw him again. Scary!

I also worked for a hospital group. We didn’t drug test our employees. I don't think we had any particular problem with drug use. At least nothing that came to my attention. But still, I am not sure why the powers that be didn't want one in place. Any thoughts?


So what are your funny, crazy, sassy HR stories? 

How I Got Started

I’ve been in Human Resources for about 15 years now, and ever since I started down this career path, I have been surprised at the negative reaction from people about HR. I love it, it is perfect for me. I think everyone should love it! But they don’t and I have slowly learned why. Some of us do a bad job, and it gives us all a bad reputation. So read my blog, marvel at some of the ridiculous stories, and try to learn to love it.

I don’t imagine that when you ask a child what he or she wants to be when they grow up, that they ever say “I want to be a Human Resources Manager!” Yeah I didn’t either. I had no idea what I wanted to be. I had some admin type jobs and did fine at them, but it was obviously not going to be a career. So one day I was placed as a temp employee as an admin assistant in an HR Department. My path was clear from there. It was a big enough company that HR was spread out in to different specialties and lots of people so I got a good example of the different aspects of the department. Between that and a great boss that became a true mentor, I finally knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. What a good feeling!


Throughout the years I have had co-workers both good and bad. But even if I didn’t think they were that good at their jobs, I still took away good lessons from each of them. And the combination of all of their influences have made me, professionally, who I am today.