November 2012 Newsletter

Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Most managers are familiar with the existing I-9 form.  This form is currently used to validate the fact that a potential new hire has a valid right to work in the United States.  Managers are probably also familiar with the documents that are presented by new employees, to complete that form.   Recently some changes have been made, and you may see some documents that you have not seen before.

On June 15, 2012, the Obama Administration approved a program for children of undocumented workers currently living in the United States.  This action temporarily eliminates the possibility of deportation for these individuals.  As of August 2012 over 82,000 workers have applied for DACA relief.

DACA residents are also called “Dreamers”.  This comes from the Dream Act that is currently pending, but has never been approved by Congress.

There are four ways this initiative may impact a Four Point HR Client:

  1. You may have DACA applicants.  In this case the individual may have applied for DACA approval.  Until the individual can produce their Employment Authorization Document (EAD) they are not eligible for hire.  (Of course, no client manager would ask for these documents until the employee is ready to complete the I-9 form.)
  2. A newly hired employee may present an Employment Authorization Document(EAD). (This document is found on the I-9 list of Acceptable Documents, under column A – item #4.)This individual may have a new name or identity.  There is no problem hiring this individual–and again, the client manager would not ask for I-9 information until the employee’s first day at work.  (However, any background check should be completed on all names presented by the applicant.)
  3. A current employee may step forward and tell a manager that they are applying for DACA.  If this should occur, please contact Kathryn Schene, Human Resources Director at Four Point HR at 727-504-9796.
  4. A current employee may come forward and say:  I have new work authorization papers.  Here is my new identification.  All client managers should continue to employ this individual.  If you have questions, please contact Kathryn Schene.

We have been asked to advise all managers that these scenarios may not impact your business. However, if you believe you have paperwork or documents that are not valid, please contact Four Point HR before you ask any questions of the applicant.

Finally, for those of you that are aware that the I-9 form has expired, please note that we have been asked to continue using this form until a new form is announced.  This should also serve as a reminder that all I-9 forms must be turned in to Four Point HR the day the employee begins work for your organization.

Moving This Year? 10 Helpful Tax Tips

If you moved–or are planning to move–this year to start a new job you may be able to deduct certain moving-related expenses on your tax return. You may be able to deduct these expenses even if you kept the same job but moved to a different location.

1. Expenses must be close to the time you start work. Generally, you can consider moving expenses that you incurred within one year of the date you first report to work at a new job location.

2. Distance Test. Your move meets the distance test if your new main job location is at least 50 miles farther from your former home than your previous main job location was from your former home. For example, if your old main job location was three miles from your former home, your new main job location must be at least 53 miles from that former home.

3. Time Test. Upon arriving in the general area of your new job location, you must work full-time for at least 39 weeks during the first year at your new job location. Self-employed individuals must meet this test, and they must also work full time for a total of at least 78 weeks during the first 24 months upon arriving in the general area of their new job location. If your income tax return is due before you have satisfied this requirement, you can still deduct your allowable moving expenses if you expect to meet the time test. There are some special rules and exceptions to these general rules. Call us for more information.

4. Travel. You can deduct lodging expenses (but not meals) for yourself and household members while moving from your former home to your new home. You can also deduct transportation expenses, including airfare, vehicle mileage, parking fees and tolls you pay, but you can only deduct one trip per person.

5. Household goods. You can deduct the cost of packing, crating and transporting your household goods and personal property, including the cost of shipping household pets. You may be able to include the cost of storing and insuring these items while in transit.

6. Utilities. You can deduct the costs of connecting or disconnecting utilities.

7. Nondeductible expenses. You cannot deduct the following moving-related expenses: any part of the purchase price of your new home, car tags, a drivers license renewal, costs of buying or selling a home, expenses of entering into or breaking a lease, or security deposits and storage charges, except those incurred in transit and for foreign moves.

8. Form. You can deduct only those expenses that are reasonable for the circumstances of your move.

9. Reimbursed expenses. If your employer reimburses you for the costs of a move for which you took a deduction, the reimbursement may have to be included as income on your tax return.

10. Update your address. When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service to ensure you receive mail from the IRS. Use Form 8822, Change of Address, to notify the IRS.

Source:  Forrestall, Galeano, & Li CPAs

Staying Safe In Adverse Weather: Important Flood Safety Information

Floods can be serious catastrophes and they are one of the most common hazards in the United States. Floods can be caused by a variety of factors, including a sudden accumulation of rain, rising rivers, tidal surges, ice jams and dam failures.

Workers who have to respond to flooded areas face the greatest risks from floods, but all workers can help protect themselves by preparing evacuation plans and learning about the hazards commonly associated with floods.

Planning
Having an evacuation plan in place before a flood occurs can help avoid confusion and prevent injuries and property damage. A thorough evacuation plan should include:

  • Conditions that will activate the plan
  • Chain of command
  • Emergency functions and who will perform them
  • Specific evacuation procedures, including routes and exits
  • Procedures for accounting for personnel, customers and visitors
  • Equipment for personnel
  • Review the plan with workers

If you are located in an area that is susceptible to flooding, you should monitor NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio or television stations for information about flood watches and warnings. If you receive information about the possibility of flash flooding, be prepared to move to higher ground immediately. In all cases, you should be prepared to evacuate before water levels rise and potentially cut off evacuation routes.

Equipping

  • Get emergency supply kits and keep them in shelter locations

Training and Exercises

  • Ensure that all workers know what to do in case of an emergency.
  • Practice evacuation plans on a regular basis.
  • Update plans and procedures based on lessons learned from exercises.

In the aftermath of a flood, workers may be involved in a variety of response and recovery operations. The following are general guidelines that may be applicable to workers involved in assessing and/or cleaning up the damage to their worksite. However, some operations, such as utility restoration, cleaning up spills of hazardous materials, and search and rescue, should only be conducted by workers who have the proper training, equipment and experience.

Driving during Flood Conditions
It’s important to be careful when driving during flood conditions. Nearly half of flood fatalities are vehicle-related. Six inches of standing water is enough to stall some cars, a foot of water can float a vehicle, and two feet of moving water is enough to sweep a car away. If the water level is rising around your vehicle, you should abandon the vehicle. Be wary of unknown road conditions. Do not try to cross-flooded roadways if you do not know the depth of the water.

Employer Responsibilities and Workers’ Rights
Each employer is responsible for the safety and health of its workers and for providing a safe and healthful workplace for its workers. Employers are required to protect workers from the anticipated hazards associated with the flood response and recovery operations that workers are likely to conduct.

Source: OSHA at www.osha.gov

The Power Of Listening To Both Sides

It is quite easy to get caught up in a story, issue or crisis that is being presented by a colleague or . Too often, in the workplace, the information given is perceived as the truth. After all, perception is reality for that individual. However, there are always two sides to every story. It is rare to find a black and white situation with no grey areas.

A truly effective Manager, or Human Resource officer, will remember that what they are initially hearing is just one side and may be laced with emotion. There are questions that will run through their minds as they are listening. Is the story 100 percent accurate? What about the other side? How much emotion is being emphasized here? They are also aware that both sides cannot possibly be 100% exact when telling their side of the story.

There are those Managers who take one side at face value without questioning, or contemplating, the other side. Worse, they sometimes act on the information presented making the alleged offender guilty as charged. As you can imagine, this creates an uneasy workplace. Not only will it affect the morale of this individual who is charged, it could also cause negativity to spread like wildfire. Not to mention, it is sometimes easy to identify where the complaint came from. You are not doing the employee, with the grievance, any justice by having them subject to anger, disgust or make them an outcast in any way. No conscientious company wants to deal with the fallout of what failing to listen to all sides can cause.
Following are some simple guidelines that will give any Manager the power to listen to all sides off a conflict.

Know that the complainant perceives the events one-sidedly and will pay attention to certain details and ignore others.

  • Ask if the employee has tried to resolve their issue with the offender.
  • Listen with an open mind and have the employee stick to the facts and leave emotion at the door.
  • Request a specific example(s) if appropriate.
  • Let the employee know that you will be discussing the issue with the other party. The same guidelines would apply when seeking information from the other side but be prepared for defensive responses.

In the end, you may have to pull the two parties together for an open discussion and to resolve the conflict. Ultimately, the manager should act as a mediator and not as an official with the goal to be to teach employees to work out issues between their fellow workers. This process will go a long way in achieving a peaceful, well flowing workplace.

Say It How You’d Like To Hear It

Everyone needs feedback to stay focused, on course, motivated, and to keep improving.  Over the course of a day, we may be the one requesting or providing formal or informal feedback in email and telephone conversations with colleagues, vendors and clients. Opportunities for feedback occur throughout the day and may include coaching, staff meetings, training, team projects, performance appraisals, client requests, compliments and complaints. When offering feedback, consider saying it in a way that you’d like to hear it yourself.

Phrases that encourage dialogue include:

  • Tell me about it
  • Want to talk about it
  • Give me an example
  • Sounds like a challenge
  • What else can you tell me
  • Can you give me an example
  • Sounds interesting
  • Describe to me how
  • Let’s discuss that
  • Tell me why you think so
  • How can I help you
  • What solutions have you considered

Phrases that stifle thinking include:

  • We’re too small for that
  • It’s too complicated
  • You don’t understand our business / department
  • We have too much to do now
  • I’m too busy
  • I have a better idea
  • That won’t work here
  • It’s against our policy
  • We’ve tried that before and it didn’t work
  • We don’t do it that way
  • Our clients won’t do that
  • Sounds expensive

Keep these phrases in mind as you respond to each other and to clients – even when you’re busy, or the request seems excessive, or you’ve covered the ground before. Strive to give responses that you’d like to receive if you were the originator of the conversation or request or project.

Payroll Corner

Four Point HR will be closed Thursday November 22nd and Friday November 23rd in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Banks will be open on November 23rd for those who have a Friday pay date. We at Four Point HR wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

AMPLIFY YOUR COVERAGE

Effective November 01, 2012, Lincoln Financial Group is pleased to add EPIC Hearing Service Plan (HSP) to your dental coverage. This new offering is provided as a value-add benefit to members covered by Four Point HR Dental PPO or Indemnity plan. EPIC HSP is a specialty program dedicated to providing quality hearing care and hearing aids, at no additional premium cost to members.

Dental members, dependents, and their extended family members can take advantage of the services and discounts offered.

  • Services for hearing tests and hearing aids provided at a negotiated fee with a 20% to 50% savings on name brand hearing aids
  • Audiogram provided at no cost, if results indicate hearing aids are needed and purchase through the EPIC HSP (retail value of $70 to $125)
  • One-year supply of batteries provided with purchase of hearing aid, plus a battery fulfillment program with a 35% lower cost than retail than retail stores.

Contact EPIC Hearing Services at 888-899-1459 for more information. You might like what you hear.