Immigration reform the FMLA and Healthcare terms

The MTSG
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On business, the workplace
and employee relations

August, 2007

Immigration Reform, FMLA, Trouble Shooter

Get Out of Town, Healthcare Terminology 

Piecemeal Immigration
Reform

While Congress continues to spin its wheels on
immigration reform, Georgia has taken the lead among the states with its own
program Last month the first provisions of a reform package that was passed a
year ago with much debate, went in to effect Large companies that want to do
business with government agencies in Georgia - state or local - will need to
prove they've registered to use the federal Employment Eligibility Verification
Program, which is an online database managed by Citizenship and Immigration
Services, an agency within the federal Department of Homeland Security

Georgia's new law was called "draconian" by some in the
press and praised by others But in fact it is one of hundreds of
immigrant-related proposals that have been offered in state capitals around the
country in recent years There was the Kansas bill that would have slashed the
amount of taxpayer funds going towards social services for illegal immigrants A
measure in Ohio required all state and local government documents to be in
English only And then there was the bill in Wyoming that would have increased
educational opportunities for illegal aliens

In the absence of federal government action, piecemeal
reform will happen as the states take action After all, it's not only the
communities in border states such as Texas and Arizona that have their hands
full with the immigration issue Concerns around social services, safety and
employment are front and center in other states such as Rhode Island, which has
one of the largest per capita populations from the Dominican Republic in the
US or in Georgia, where there's also a rapidly growing Hispanic community
Meanwhile in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Iowa and elsewhere, federal immigration
enforcement agents have conducted raids on companies suspected of hiring illegal
workers, putting them at odds with state officials who were unaware of the raids
in advance

We hope Congress can stop merely coming close on
immigration reform and get something done In the meantime it is not our
practice to hire undocumented workers, though some staffing firms do We adhere
to the federal Form I-9 employment verification process when hiring new workers
We ask for and review documents presented by job applicants to confirm their
identity and work eligibility

Understanding the
FMLA

Since the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) became a
federal law 14 years ago, most envisioned female employees taking the
job-protected, unpaid time off in blocks of weeks while out on maternity leave
But nowadays an employee may use FMLA for hours at a time to go to a doctor's
appointment for asthma, to an orthopedist for a chronic back condition, or for a
whole host of health conditions

Recording Intermittent FMLA time can be a headache for
a company's human resources department, but it is HR's responsibility to track
all employees' FMLA hours and to notify them when their time has been exhausted
Excel data bases and other software can automatically calculate the amount of
FMLA time an employee uses during a leave of absence

Under the FMLA Act, employees may take unpaid, job
protected leave for birth, adoption or foster placement of a child; the serious
health condition of an immediate family member; or for their own serious health
condition But how can an HR executive determine whether a request is valid or
how much time off the employee will need?

The key for HR folks in determining if something
qualifies for FMLA is to consistently ask for documentation Typically employees
will fill out an FMLA request form but, more importantly, the HR person should
also ask employees to have their physician complete a
certification-of-health-care-provider form These forms may be found on the US
Department of Labor's website and will help employers to understand the
nature and duration of the leave requested

Trouble
Shooter

Have you ever been in a job interview and the
department manager or HR director said something such as "Suppose you discovered
a problem with (fill in the blank) How would you handle it?" Hopefully you'd
impress them with a concise, compelling answer based on your experience But
technology today lets you do that in advance To demonstrate you're a problem
solver, why not have a page on your web site in which you write about challenges
you've faced in other jobs? Present a situation that would hit home with the
employer, describe the solution you devised and expound upon the many benefits
of your smarts Here are a few guidelines to help you get started

Think about three successful episodes you've
had in your past work There's an old saying that three of anything
makes a trend You want to show that the trend in your career has been one of
clearing hurdles as they've arisen You may have 10 stories you could tell, but
pick out the best three and tell them well

Intro Paragraph Put a one-paragraph
summary at the top of the page that explains what the following three stories
are about Write that they're intended to show the types of situations you've
encountered in your career and how they qualify you to be a senior engineer,
sales manager or whatever the next rung is on your career ladder

What's the message of each story? It's
not that you're a fixer You've made that point in your Intro Paragraph Rather,
through three anecdotal stories you want the reader to understand that you have
a depth of knowledge that comes with experience; that you tackle problems
creatively; and that you're decisive when it comes to implementing your
solution

Don't ramble The Internet mindset
isn't yet one for long stories People search for information and when they find
it they want it quickly Cover the ground you need to cover, but don't wander
down Memory Lane and lose your audience Identify the main points of your story
and stick to them

Quantify the outcomes Did your
solution boost productivity? Did it open channels to a new client or generate
additional business with an existing customer? Did it reduce employee
absenteeism? Be concrete about the benefits

 

Get Out of Town

Americans are expected to give back millions of unused
vacation days this year, a fact that might cause even the most black-hearted
boss to stop and think Productivity is great, but even the most grind-it-out
workers will start shedding parts like Transformers without a break now and
then Consider the benefits of a good getaway vacation:

Decompress Work causes stress Stress
can lead to hypertension, cardiovascular disease and lack of sleep Is that more
fun than golf?

New experiences, new perspective The
projects you leave will still be there when you get back, but they'll look
different

Recharge Watched-pots never boil
Ditto for computer screens Great ideas can hit you on the lake

Work-life balance Some people do well
by working 15-hour days, spending little time with their family and having few
friends Do you want to be one of them?

 

English/Healthcare

Healthcare/English

It seems many US workers could use a dictionary to
understand the terms of their medical coverage According to a survey of nearly
2,100 covered employees by the consulting firm Watson Wyatt, 43 percent of those
queried struggle to understand what their health care plan covers Less than
half of respondents said they're comfortable trying to explain common health
benefit terms, such as co-pay or deductible, to a friend or coworker

Benefit Term	Percentage of workers
	comfortable describing term
Co-Pay	49%
Deductible	46%
Flexible Spending Acct	36%
Out-of-Pocket Max	35%
Lifetime Maximum	27%
Health Savings Acct	24%
Coinsurance	22%