The Retail EmployerMarch 2009

• COBRA Premiums Subsidized Part 2
• Their First 30 Days Are Their Best So Don’t Settle
• Are your employees up to Service standards?
• Have you hired a gang member?
• Will your employees be able to explain R4L?
• Do you want to break away from old thinking?
• Need an RMA refresher? Want to meet new clients?

COBRA Premiums Subsidized Under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Part 2

by Joe Lazzarotti, of Jackson Lewis LLP

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Act”) has been signed into law. Among the Act’s provisions intended to address the nation’s economic turmoil are amendments to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) that will affect every employer that sponsors a group health plan for employees and has terminated or laid off an employee on or after September 1, 2008. These amendments create additional COBRA notice requirements and affect payroll tax administration in order to administer a temporary federal subsidy of COBRA premiums. Employers will have to act quickly to implement the new requirements, which will include locating certain former employees and coordinating payroll and COBRA administration.

The Act also requires the Department of Labor to provide outreach, focusing on employers and others, consisting of education and enrollment assistance that will first target those individuals terminated from employment prior to enactment of the Act.

Part 2

DOL Issues Model COBRA Subsidy Notices and Forms

The United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently posted on its website model notices and application forms to be used by employer-sponsored health plans and individuals electing COBRA in connection with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”) COBRA premium subsidy. The ARRA requires that group health plans notify certain current and former plan participants about the COBRA premium subsidy.  (For more information about the ARRA subsidy and group health plan compliance requirements, see our article in last month’s Retail Employer).

The DOL’s model notices and forms are available in a file format that enables easy customization for your group health plan’s purposes at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRAmodelnotice.html. 

The DOL included three model notices for use by employers (along with application forms for COBRA qualified beneficiaries to complete and return to get the subsidized COBRA premium):

1. a revised model General Notice to be sent to all COBRA qualified beneficiaries who had or have any COBRA qualifying event after August 31, 2008 and before January 1, 2010;
2. an abbreviated version of the General Notice which may be sent – in lieu of the full version in #1 above –  to COBRA qualified beneficiaries who already elected and are currently covered under your plan’s COBRA coverage; and
3. an Extended Election Period Notice for individuals who had a qualifying event after August 31, 2008 and before February 17, 2009 and who are not covered under your plan’s COBRA coverage (either because they did not elect COBRA or because they let their COBRA coverage lapse).  This notice must be provided to such individuals by April 18, 2009.

The model notices and forms must be modified for use with your group health plan by inserting specific information and deleting inapplicable provisions.  If you have any questions regarding the ARRA subsidy or would like assistance in customizing the applicable notices and forms, contact David Nagle or Joe Lazzarotti of Jackson Lewis.

David E. Nagle advises employers on matters involving labor and employment law.  He manages the Richmond office of Jackson Lewis LLP, and may be reached at (804) 648-4077, or by email at nagled@jacksonlewis.com.  Jackson Lewis is a national workplace law firm, with other 500 attorneys in 40 offices across the nation.  Joseph Lazzarotti works with employers on COBRA and other benefits issues, and may be reached at (914) 514-6107, or by email at lazzarottij@jacksonlewis.com.

Calls requesting information on the Employment Law Information Program should be directed to Preston Perrin with the Retail Merchants Association at 804-662-5500.

Their First 30 Days Are Their Best So Don’t Settle

By Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor

Your new employee is going to be at their best during your thirty-day probationary period. This is where you must show the new hire that you inspect what you expect. If you start out as their friend, you’re sunk.

Your management style is on trial here, and they will find out what is acceptable by how consistent you are at enforcing your standards. So if your new hire is late on day two, realize she is testing you. Make clear to her what your tardy policy is, and that if it happens again, she’ll be gone. If she breaks the policy twenty days later, fire her; she won’t magically get better.

And remember, your other employees are watching you.  If she gets away with it, so will they.

Why else would you let them go during the first 30 days? If they snap at a customer, they are gone immediately. If you find them constantly talking to other employees, distracting them from their work, let them go. If you tolerate any of it during the first thirty days, I guarantee it will only get worse. One bad apple does indeed spoil the barrel.

I make the first month the toughest month with regards to scheduling. They are low man on the totem pole so making allowances for their scheduling needs comes after everyone else. I always schedule a new hire’s first shift after they are fully trained for a busy Saturday. I want to see if they come in dragging after a busy night on the town. If they do, they should quickly learn they can’t. If they do it again, we talk. “Don’t you realize,” I’ll ask them, “that you can’t stay out late the night before and be ready to work at 9 a.m.?” If they do it again, they are fired.

If they call in sick with no replacement lined up, they are also fired. At a hotel they scheduled new housekeepers on Sundays -the morning after being sold out. If they couldn’t get all their rooms cleaned like the other maids, they’d talk. If the new housekeeper didn’t speed up, they were gone. At a tire store the new hire should start on Monday when all the problems from the weekend need to be dealt with.  They don’t have to be the one dealing with all of them, but they do need to see if their people skills aren’t great, they’re gone.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of employees who work well with rules, standards and boundaries.  They are the ones who will lead your business out of the recession.

Again, the idea is to get them used to your standards, then everything else will be a breeze. Yes it costs a lot to train an employee but you have to weigh the cost of losing customers if they stay.

This post is from my book, You Can Compete: Double Sales Without Discounting.  It is the culmination of three decades of work highlighting a proven method every business in any market can improve the bottom line and compete successfully.

For more information or free articles visit www.retaildoc.com.

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