IN THE NEWS

By Peter Newman, Ogletree Deakins

If you are a non-union employer, prepare your organization for the expected passage of the EFCA early in the Obama administration. Quickly passing the EFCA in 2009 is organized labor’s No. 1 priority and President Obama was an early supporter of this Act. The EFCA will make revolutionary changes to national labor policy. Most disturbingly, it will replace secret ballot elections for determining whether employees in a bargaining unit want union representation with a card check procedure.

In addition, EFCA would significantly strengthen the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) remedies for unfair labor practices. Most importantly, in cases involving the discharge of employees for seeking union representation, the NLRB would have the authority to award the equivalent of treble damages. Although no one can predict what version of the EFCA ultimately will pass, employers must put themselves in a position to launch their union-free campaigns before a union targets them for a card signing campaign.

Steps every non-union employer should take now:

• Designate an EFCA Response Team to monitor EFCA developments, to understand how organizing may be directed at your employees, to develop a written response plan, to access the risk of union organization and to create an implementation action calendar.
• Adopt and communicate a basic, union-free policy to your employees that emphasizes the importance of employees being able to deal directly with management.
• Assess and regularly reassess your company’s vulnerability to a union organizing campaign and promptly address any identified weaknesses in the areas of wages, benefits, working conditions, bad supervisors, etc.
• Train your managers and supervisors to watch for signs of unionization and educate them about the importance of your company’s union-free status to its continued success.
• Educate your managers and supervisors about unions: what they can and cannot do for employees and the real costs of being a union member (initiation fees, dues, assessments and fines, etc.).

With the recent changes in three different areas of federal law, it’s a good time for employers to review their human resource policies and procedures. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the ADA Amendments, the new FMLA regulations and the proposed (EFCA) all may have a direct impact on your company or organization. Although 2009 looks like it will be a hectic year, you can reduce the pressure on yourself and your organization by implementing the preventive checklist discussed above. Remember, as Benjamin Franklin once said, “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”

Pull-Out

EFCA will also make three radical changes to the collective bargaining process:

1. It would require negotiations over an initial contract to begin within 10 days after the union makes a request for bargaining;
2. It would require mediation (by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)) if after 90 days the employer and union are unable to reach an agreement; and
3. If, after 30 days of mediation, the parties remain unable to agree, the terms of the initial contract would be determined by an arbitration board established by the FMCS, not the parties.

La Porte Occupational Health, affiliated with La Porte Regional Health System, recently became known as Workforce Health. “Our new name encompasses all of the services we now provide, such as occupational health, EAP, wellness and ergonomics/ injury reduction programs and does not limit us geographically,” said Director of Workforce Health Mark Savage.

Workforce Health provides solutions for businesses to become healthier and productive, offering a one-stop shop for their occupational health, productivity management and wellness needs. Services are offered in Michigan City and La Porte. The clinics provide the following services: treatment of work-related injuries with worksite physical therapy available, drug and alcohol testing, employee wellness programs, EAP, work-related physicals, vaccinations and department of transportation compliance and physicals.

Goshen Health System has been ranked the top healthcare organization in the nation for “Overall Job Satisfaction,” according to newly-released data from HR Solutions International, Inc. Goshen exceeded HR Solutions’ National Healthcare Normative Data in all 18 categories measured, according to Murat Philippe, Principal Consultant for HR Solutions.

Goshen Health System Colleagues participated in the HR Solutions’ survey in December 2008. Those colleague responses were compared to more than 350,000 respondents nationally, with the results placing the health system at the top of HR Solutions’ National Healthcare Database.

In addition to the health system’s ranking as number one in overall job satisfaction, no other health care organization nationally scored higher in the following categories: concern for patient care, productivity and efficiency and promotions and career advancement.

cut health care costs while continuing to deliver high-quality health care to employees and their families on all IU campuses, according to a news release.

“For the past several years, we have seen health care costs increase by 8 to 12 percent a year across the university,” IU President Michael McRobbie said. “These dramatic increases are threatening our ability to continue providing our employees with comprehensive and affordable access to highquality care.”

During the 2008-09 fiscal year, IU will spend approximately $146 million on healthcare benefits for its 17,300 full-time employees and their families and more than $7 million on healthcare benefits for more than 4,400 graduate assistants. For every $1 that IU pays for employee salaries, it spends an additional 20 cents for employee health care coverage.

McRobbie said current projections show that IU’s health care costs for employees could rise to more than $200 million, or nearly 10 percent of IU’s budget, in just four years if nothing is done to contain costs.

A committee will consider creative health care benefit changes that are intended to lower the rates of increase in health care costs in both the immediate future and over a longer term while sustaining and improving the health of employees and their families at all eight IU campuses. The committee is expected to complete its work in six months and its recommendations will be shared with the university community.

A free workshop designed for employers to improve workplace productivity and reduce costly injuries will be held in Columbus this June. Entitled, “Innovative Cost Saving Solutions to Rising Worker’s Comp Costs,” the one-day workshop will provide business leaders, plant managers, human resources and safety managers with assessment tools that will help save them on worker’s compensation costs. Advanced Consulting and Ergonomics is coordinating the workshop, one of several to be held across the state this year, in order to help employers better understand current practices and implement innovative programs that will enhance the bottom line.

Workshop topics will include the impact of the ADA Amendment on accommodations and hiring, functional job descriptions, office ergonomics, safety management systems and decreasing injuries and recordables. The Columbus workshop is at Ivy Tech Community College from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST June 16. For additional information and to register, contact Regina Wethington at 317-390-5590 or at rwethington@advancedpt.com.

Nineteen percent of employers responding to a new Hewitt Associates survey are planning to stop offering health benefits over the next three to five years, nearly five times as many as the 4 percent that said they were planning an exit strategy last year, according to a story in Business Insurance.

For those employers planning to continue to provide health benefits, keeping employees healthy has become the primary workforce issue in 2009, up from the No. 2 position in 2008, according to Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt’s survey, “The Road Ahead: Emerging Health Trends 2009.”

Among the survey’s findings: more employers are targeting specific health conditions, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, depression and diabetes and 60 percent of executives said the federal government should take the lead in health reform, while 33 percent said the federal government and the states should share responsibility.

Research by the British Psychological Society found that workers with adult attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more likely to sustain workplace injuries, according to a report on Abeceder.co.uk, a Web site developed by the Abeceder business consulting firm. In addition, a worker with ADHD resulted in an extra $4,336 per year in costs to the employer. The report said that these costs result from additional sick leave and lower work performance. The research includes responses from 8,563 workers at an American manufacturing firm. Employees who exhibited the symptoms of adult ADHD rated their work performance lower, took more time off, and were twice as likely to be involved in a workplace accident as other workers.

Although workers with ADHD had higher rates of depression, chronic pain, insomnia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome than their colleagues, the researchers factored out those conditions and still found that adult ADHD was associated with poorer work performance and more sick leave. Because only a handful of the affected workers were taking medication for ADHD, the researchers noted that screening and treatment of ADHD in the workplace could result in more productive employees and cost savings for employers.

Executives may be spending more of their golden years on the job than on the golf course, according to a study by Robert Half Management Resources. In fact, more than half of chief financial officers (CFOs) surveyed recently stated that they are delaying or reconsidering their retirement plans. The majority who intend to extend their working years attribute the change in plans to the economy.

The survey was based on interviews with more than 1,400 CFOs across the United States.

CFOs were asked how retirement plans had changed in the last five years. Forty three percent responded by saying their retirement plans had not changed, but 25 percent said they feel more uncertainty and cannot predict when they will retire.

Additionally, 62 percent of CFOs said their primary reason behind their retirement plans changing was the economy.

“Employers may reap unexpected benefits from experienced workers who delay retirement, as their deep knowledge and skills will remain available to the firm,” said Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources. “Even in a weak economy, companies must be mindful of retaining tenured staff by offering benefits they value, such as greater scheduling flexibility or part-time employment.”

The Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has teamed with a Carmel-based marketing and advertising company MediaSauce to offer a series of Internet strategy workshops across the state to help entrepreneurs make the most of their Web sites.

“The Internet is quickly impacting organizations’ need to communicate, engage and sell to customers,” said James Burnes, MediaSauce’s VP of development and strategy.

Joshua Lybolt, Regional Director of the Northwest Indiana SBDC, said a well-done Web site is especially powerful in the hands of small business owners.

“The Internet is an opportunity that all entrepreneurs can take advantage of to highlight their services, market their uniqueness, drive sales and network with other professionals,” Lybolt said. “These workshops provide crucial lessons to help each participant map out an Internet strategy.” For more information, go to www.nwisbdc.org.

businesses to take immediate action, according to Barnes and Thornburg LLP. As part of the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), employees who are involuntarily terminated from employment between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009, will be entitled to a premium subsidy for up to nine months of their COBRA continuation coverage.

Under this provision, terminated employees (and their qualified beneficiaries) will be required to pay only 35 percent of the monthly COBRA premium, while the health plan (either a self-insured employer group health plan or an insurance company) will be able to obtain an employment tax credit equal to the remaining 65 percent of the monthly COBRA premium. Because this new provision is already effective, administrators of group health plans will be required to take immediate action to comply with its requirements.

A recent court ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals addressed no-fault attendance policy, according to Barnes and Thornburg. Many Indiana employers have adopted a no-fault attendance policy, which subjects absent and tardy employees to progressive discipline, regardless of the reasons they miss work. Employers argue that as long as such a policy is reasonable and uniformly enforced, it provides just cause if the employee is eventually terminated. Employees who are terminated for just cause are not eligible for unemployment benefits.

But the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that “an attendance policy that subjects employees to termination for absences or tardiness regardless of the reason is unreasonable,” and determined that absences and tardiness for which an employee can “show good cause” shall not support the denial of unemployment benefits. In light of this, employers who want to successfully challenge unemployment benefits based on attendance violations will need to revise their no-fault policies to conform to this decision.

President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Andre Carson recently announced the release of $2.6 million authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will support two health centers in Indiana. These health centers will help people -- many with no health insurance -- obtain access to the comprehensive primary and preventive health care services and create 115 jobs in Indiana.

Health centers in the following communities will receive support: Purdue University, West Lafayette and Indiana Health Centers, Inc., Indianapolis. Nationwide, grants totaling $155 million will assist 126 health centers and help provide health care to an estimated 750,000 low-income people across the country. The grants, which are administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), are expected to create 5,500 jobs at the new health centers across the country.

Twelve Hoosier companies were recently recognized with the 2009 Governor’s Workplace Safety Awards for advancing occupational safety and health. Indiana Commissioner of Labor Lori A. Torres presented the honors during a luncheon ceremony at the Central Indiana Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers and Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s annual Safety and Health Conference & Expo in Indianapolis.

The 2009 Governor’s Workplace Safety Awards is focused on best practices for eliminating job-related accidents and illnesses and saluting those organizations for which safety is the No. 1 workplace priority. This year, awards were handed out in four categories: education and outreach, innovation, partnerships and overall excellence. The 2009 winning companies included the following:

• Bayer Healthcare LLC, Product Supply/Diabetes Care
• Cerrowire, Inc.
• DSM NeoResins+
• Emerson Industrial Automation, Emerson Power Transmission
• ERMCO, Inc.
• Futurex Industries, Inc.
• Indianapolis Power & Light Company
• Kimball Electronics and Advanced Rehabilitation, Inc.
• Monsanto Company, Windfall Soybean Production Division
• Strick Corporation
• Solid Platforms, Inc.
• Turner Construction Company of Indiana LLC

Indiana Wesleyan University recently approved a new graduate level Human Resource specialization. The specialization can be completed as a stand alone graduate certificate or as a concentration in either the Master of Business Administration or Master of Science in Management program.

The Human Resource specialization consists of 4 courses and is offered online or in the classroom. The four classes are 6 weeks in length and consist of Human Resource Management Overview, Employment Law, Compensation and Benefits, Motivation and Training.

In addition to the new Human Resource specialization, students now completing the Master of Science in Management degree can also select from two other specializations: accounting or health care administration. Job growth in the health care field and accounting field shows good job projection growth, 17 percent for accountants and auditors, and 16 percent for medical and health service managers.

The aging workforce could be a blessing for many employers, says the author of a report into further learning, according to MotivationConnect365.

Professor Brian Findsen, the director of Waikato University’s Pathways College, has just published research into adult education, which was completed during his time working at Glasgow University in Scotland. The research was commissioned by the West of Scotland Wider Access Forum, which wanted to know more about how to give older people better access to further learning. The results showed one of the reasons for further learning is for a change of career. Some people think, “I’ve always wanted to do this and at last I can,” others simply want to pick up new knowledge, while others use further learning as a way to increase their chances of a promotion at work, Findsen says. A lot of people are doing it for a combination of these reasons with the added value of then being able to change jobs.

And although there isn’t similar New Zealand research, Findsen says the findings are applicable here. And he says some New Zealand employers are beginning to realize the usefulness of the grey workforce as the aging population increases. For a long time they have thought “Why would I employ someone of 55-60 years of age?” But those people have tremendous life experience and they do provide a very stable and flexible workforce. He says in times of recession and then rebuilding, cautious businesses may feel more comfortable about taking on stable but enthusiastic older workers who have had a career change.

Sensory Technologies recently announced the launch of two new products; both of which are portable videoconferencing systems that increase organizational efficiency, control costs and support sustainability by reinducing travel related carbon emissions. Presentations can be shared and multiple sites can connect on the same conference. The Airliner™ can immediately connect people in separate locations for face-to-face communication. The Telemedic RX™ is a portable telemedicine solution that meets the constant challenges healthcare providers face to increase their quality of care, to reach disparate markets and to grow their knowledge base. Sensory Technologies, located in Indianapolis, is a leading audio-visual, videoconference system and collaboration solutions provider.

Monster.com’s latest data breach serves as a reminder that online job boards remain under attack from hackers, and that security incidents raise thorny questions about disclosure, according to a story posted on Workforce.com.

Observers say New York-based Monster Worldwide, which reported a database intrusion in late January, is not the only recruiting Web site that faces such troubles.

Recruiting analyst Gerry Crispin gave Monster credit for announcing the recent incident, which follows a major breach at the job board giant in summer 2007. But he faults Monster for failing to say when it expects to complete a probe of the matter. Leaving the public uncertain about when details of the breach may be available gives rise to speculation, he said.

On the other hand, Monster’s limited disclosures about the incident may stem from fear that saying too much would play into computer thieves’ hands, said recruiting consultant Peter Weddle. In other words, information about the attack could serve as “intelligence to people who are going to do it again and again and again,” he said.

Monster announced the breach January 23, saying it recently learned its database was illegally accessed. Certain contact and account data were taken, the company said, including user IDs and passwords, e-mail addresses, names, phone numbers and some demographic data. Monster said the information accessed does not include résumés.

Monster spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said the breach affected Monster sites in Western Europe and North America. Richardson said Monster’s probe into the breach “will take as long as it takes.”

The breach also touched USAJobs, the federal government’s official jobs site. Monster provides technology for the site, which has 8 million registered users.

Indiana Business, a statewide business magazine, recently shut down operations after more than five decades. The magazine’s final edition was its February issue. Indiana Business magazine was published by Curtis Publishing Inc., an Indianapolis-based company. According to published reports, Indiana Business distributed more than 30,000 magazines each month and had a readership of almost 100,000. The June 2008 edition of Indiana Business featured 90 pages, but the page count has been dropping considerably. The December 2008 edition was only 50 pages and its February issue, the final issue of the magazine, was only 50 pages.

Great Lakes Heating, Air Conditioning & Electrical in South Bend, was recently honored with a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Ribbon Small Business Award. A total of 56 small businesses were honored with the award that honors American companies that showcase excellence in several categories of entrepreneurship.

The award showcases financial growth, investment in staff training and motivation of employees, community involvement, customer service and business planning.

The business demand for an expanded line of services has prompted The Braman Agency to change its name to Braman Insurance Services, effective Jan. 1, 2009. The change to Braman Insurance Services illustrates more effectively the growing range of capabilities the company offers business owners, executives, and individuals.

Braman, located in Merrillville and which opened in 1926, holds firm to its roots as a company providing a broad scope of insurance services, including commercial insurance, employee benefits, disaster recovery, claims management/loss control, life insurance, and personal insurance. Additionally, the company offers human resources solutions, supply chain/business continuity, strategic plan development, management consulting services, and international exposure. Braman generally serves employers who have 25 to 1,000 employees for the following industries: manufacturing, contractors, health care, schools, transportation, hotels and municipalities.

The Service Industry Advertising Awards has recognized Building Indiana News Magazine with its top prize – the Gold Award – for best external publication at the 6th Annual Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA) for 2008. This marks the second time Building Indiana News, a business-to-business publication, has been named a SIAA recipient. It won a Silver Award in 2007. SIAA recognizes creativity and communication excellence in the service industry. A national panel of judges evaluated nearly 1,200 entries from more than 250 advertising agencies and 900 service institutions across 27 categories.

ExactTarget, a leading provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions, recently announced it posted a record-setting annual performance in 2008. The Indianapolis-based company experienced a 50 percent increase in revenue and added more than 1,000 new direct clients last year. After adding 100 employees in 2008, total employment stands at nearly 400.

The growth of the integrated e-marketing provider marks the continuation of 32 consecutive quarters of growth and 12 consecutive quarters of profitability. Additionally, ExactTarget expanded its global operations in 2008, significantly boosting its international customer contracts, as well as acquiring and staffing a dedicated 50,000-squarefoot product development center in Indianapolis. The new center serves as the company’s primary development location for creating cutting edge, one-to-one marketing solutions, such as live offer email technology, Google ads integration and multi-channel messaging. The company also launched its fully integrated email, voice messaging and SMS text messaging platform, creating a single source for clients to drive through multichannel marketing campaigns.

DeVry University has established a new scholarship program that will assist recently displaced workers pursue their dream of a college degree and gain new skill sets that are critical for a career. The Employment Gap Scholarship program is awarding up to $9,000 in scholarships to qualified, new students who have lost their jobs in the last 12 months. DeVry has campuses in Merrillville and Indianapolis, and the scholarship program is open to students at both locations. DeVry University will award two Employment Gap Scholarships per eight-week session at each of its 86 undergraduate locations nationwide, as well as online, totaling more than 725 individual scholarships. These scholarships will provide up to $1,000 per semester (two eight-week sessions), per qualified student; up to a maximum of $9,000. The Employment Gap Scholarships will be awarded during the July, September and November 2009 sessions to new undergraduate students who have been displaced from their jobs during the past year. They are intended to help fill the gap between tuition costs and financial aid, and will be awarded to the students who demonstrate the greatest financial need.

“Higher education is a vital building block in advanced career training and creating economic opportunity,” said David J. Pauldine, President of DeVry University. “We have established the Employment Gap Scholarships to support hundreds of potential students who are determined to hone their current skills, and earn a degree that will strengthen their career prospects in a competitive job market.

Additional details on the scholarship, including the application form and detailed information on basic eligibility and criteria, are available at www.devry.edu/ tuition/scholarships-more.jsp.