Our topic this month covers the new I-9 form that was recently released as well as various considerations for 2014.
Areas discussed include:
Contact us today for more information on this topic.
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows employees to take 12 weeks of leave to care for their own or a family member’s serious health condition and up to 26 weeks for military caregiver leave. An employee can take this leave in one block, over several stretches of time or intermittently. For an employee to take intermittent leave, they need to provide a certification that there is a medical need for such leave.
While longer FMLA leaves are typically straightforward, the ability of an employee to take small increments of FMLA leave periodically can generate administrative headaches for employers and raises concerns about employee abuse of intermittent leave. The FMLA offers a number of tools (many of which are not employed) that employers can use to discourage abuse of intermittent leave. Below are eight of the best strategies for helping to get a handle on the problem.
Tip #1- Question the Original Certification
There are a number of opportunities to ensure that a certification calling for intermittent health related absences is sufficient, valid, and supports the need for intermittent leave. When an employee submits a certification for a chronic condition that will flare up and require intermittent leave (such as asthma or migraines), the HR professional reviewing the certification should consider these options:
Incomplete or insufficient certification
When a certification has missing entries or is vague, you may ask the employee the provide complete and sufficient information. The request must be made in writing and must specify the reason the certification was considered incomplete or insufficient. The employee must then provide the additional information within 7 days. If the employee fails to provide this information, leave may be delayed or denied.
Authentication and Clarification
You may contact the health care provider to ensure that they actually prepared the certification or to clarify the meaning of a response, but an HR professional, health care provider, leave administrator or management official to make the contact. The employee’s direct supervisor may not be the one who contacts the health care provider. During this process, be careful not to request more info than what is required to authenticate or clarify the form. This can be used at the recertification stage as well as the initial certification.
Tip #2- Ask for a Second Opinion
Employers who have reason to doubt the validity of an initial certification may ask for a second opinion. The physician may be one of the employer’s choosing, but it can not be one the employer uses on a regular basis. It is the employer’s responsibility to pay for the second opinion. If the first and second opinions differ, the employer may require a third health care provider certification, again at the expense of the employer. The third provider’s opinion is binding. Although there are a number of opportunities to ask for recertification of an employee’s serious health condition, you may not seek second or third opinions on recertification.
Tip #3-Ensure That All Absences Related To The Condition Are Counted
The job of managing intermittent leave is not over after an employee submits a certification that calls for sporadic health related absences. Employers must be certain that all absences related to the condition are counted against the employee’s FMLA entitlement, while at the same time ensuring that they are not counted against the employee under a no-fault attendance policy.
In larger organizations, front line supervisors must be the eyes and ears of the company and must pass along the information about FMLA covered intermittent absences to HR. This, in turn, requires employers to train supervisors to recognize absences that may be covered by FMLA.
Identifying FMLA absences may not be as simple as it may seem, in part because the US Department of Labor and the courts have held that the employee does not have to cite the FMLA in a request. If there is an existing certification, it is enough for the employee to notify the employer that they had a recurrence of the health condition covered by the certification. For first time health related absences, supervisors should be trained to notify HR any time an employee is out for more than three days with an illness, especially if an employee saw a physician during that time.
Tip #4-Require Employees To Follow Your Paid Leave Policy
Employers may require that employees use up paid leave time for their intermittent FMLA absences. In fact, all employers should include such a requirement in their FMLA policies and enforce the practice of using up paid time off during FMLA leave, in order to prevent the situation where an employee can take paid leave after their FMLA leave expires and thereby extend a leave of absence beyond the FMLA entitlement.
The 2008 FMLA regulations made it clear that employers may require employees to abide by your paid-time off policies in order to be paid for FMLA leave time.
Tip #5-Request Recertification
FMLA regulations offer a number of opportunities to seek recertification of the need for FMLA leave, including intermittent leave. Unless there are changed or suspicious circumstances, these rules of thumb apply:
As with initial certifications, the employee has 15 days to provide the recertification.
Tip #6-Follow Up On Changed Or Suspicious Circumstances
You should always keep tabs on use of FMLA leave, and may want to pay special attention to patterns of intermittent leave usage. You may seek recertification more frequently than 30 days if: a) the circumstances described by the existing certification have changed, or b) the employer receives information that casts doubt on the employee’s stated reason for the absence or on the continuing validity of the certification.
“Changed circumstances” include a different frequency or duration of absences or increased severity or complications from the illness. The regulations allow you to provide information to the health care provider about the employee’s absence pattern and ask the provider if the absences are consistent with the health condition.
“Information that casts doubt on the employee’s stated reason for the absence” may be information you receive (possibly from other employees) about activities the employee is engaging in while on FMLA leave that are inconsistent with the employee’s health condition. An example provided in the regulations is an employee playing in the company softball game while on leave for knee surgery.
A note of caution- Employers who receive information from coworkers about an employee’s actions while on leave must be certain the information they receive is credible and that the coworker has no hidden motive against the person on leave. Always attempt to independently verify information received from coworkers before taking action or requesting recertification for suspicious circumstances.
Tip #7-Control The Way That Employees Schedule Planned Treatment
Employees may take intermittent leave for treatment, therapy, and doctor visits for serious health conditions. FMLA regulations specifically require that employees schedule those absences for planned medical treatment in a way that least disrupts the company operations. When you receive a request for this type of intermittent leave, communicate with the employee about the frequency of the treatment, the office hours of the health care provider and way that the employee may be able to alter their schedule to cut down on disruptions.
Tip #8-Consider Temporary Transfers
If the need for intermittent leave is foreseeable, you may transfer the employee during the period of the intermittent leave to an available alternative position for which the employee is qualified and which better accommodates the recurring periods of leave. The alternate position must have equivalent pay and benefits, but does not have to provide equivalent duties. If the employee asks to use leave in order to work a reduced work schedule, you may also transfer the employee to a part time role at the same hourly rate as the employee’s original position, as long as the benefits remain the same.
You may also allow the employee to work in the employee’s original position, but on a part time basis. You may not eliminate benefits that would otherwise not be provided to part time employees, but may proportionately reduce benefits such as vacation leave if it is the employer’s normal practice to base the benefits on the number of hours worked.
These tips will not entirely eliminate the problem of employees trying to take advantage of the intermittent leave regulations, but they will help.
One of the ways in which the Affordable Care Act helps bring down costs for small employers is through the tax credit available to eligible small businesses that provide health care insurance to their employees. The credit significantly offsets the cost of providing insurance and with the 2012 corporate tax filing deadline rapidly approaching (March 15th), you don’t want to let this valuable tax break pass you by.
What is the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit?
Currently the maximum tax credit is 35% for small businesses employers and 25% for small tax-exempt employers (i.e. charities and non-profits). This percentage applies to tax years 2010 through 2013. Even better, in 2014 the credit will increase to 50% for eligible small business employers and up to 35% for tax-exempt employers through the new Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace (also known as the Exchange).
The credit can also be carried back or forward to other tax years. Since the amount of the health insurance premium payments are more than the total credit, eligible businesses can still claim a business expense deduction for the premiums in excess of the credit. That equals out to both a credit and a deduction for employee premium payments.
Who Qualifies for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit?
To qualify for the credit, you must meet the following criteria:
To help determine whether you qualify for the credit, follow this step by step guide from the IRS.
How to Claim the Credit
You must use the IRS Form 8941 to calculate the credit.. Then include the credit amount as part of the general business credit on your income tax return. If you are a tax-exempt organization, include the amount on line 44f of the Form 990-T. You must file the Form 990-T in order to claim the credit even if you do not ordinarily do so. Remember, you may be able to carry the credit back or forward. Be sure to talk to your tax advisor for more assistance.
Your employees have struggled through the past few years of belt-tightening and downsizing all while being asked to work harder, smarter, or perhaps just longer. Experts now say there are signs of life in the job market and employees may now start doing what they have been dreaming about for years: quit. The problem is that most employers probably will not see it coming.
“Most companies are probably not fully prepared for all the…pent up turnover that is likely to come when the job market really turns around,” said David G. Allen, a management professor at the University of Memphis who has studied employee turnover.
Some employers seem to be complacent now as to IF their employees will be able to find a better job somewhere else. For as many bosses that have complained about how hard it is to find good workers, even fewer have paid much attention to keeping the good employees that they currently have.
“People are saying that they can’t find the right talent, and yet when they do they don’t take such good care of it,” said Sandi Edwards, Senior VP of AMA Enterprise, an arm of the American Management Association that helps companies improve their workforce.
Employers have not had to work too hard recently to keep good workers. The unemployment rate hit a high of 10% in the fall of 2009 as the nation was coming out of a recession and has continued to remain elevated even as the economy has slowly added jobs. The jobless rate stood at 7.7% in February 2013, with 12 million Americans actively looking for work.
This has left many workers grateful to just have a job with less focus on finding a new job even if they did not like their current one. The job market is steadily improving, but Allen cautions that it is not strong enough yet for employees to have the upper hand yet.
Some employers may be aware that the risk of losing their best employees is on the horizon, but they are not necessarily taking proactive steps to help safeguard against it.
A recent survey of 2100 CFOs found that 38% said retaining valuable staff was a top concern for the next year, but only 13% said improving morale and engagement was a top concern. Paul McDonald, Senior Executive Director of staffing firm Robert Half International feels it is a mistake to not work harder to make employees happy. “The main reason people leave is unhappiness with management,” according to McDonald.
It is not necessarily a bad thing though for some unhappy employees to quit. Typically workers who are just there because they can not find a better job are not usually the best employees. They characteristically do not perform as well or they do not engage in things that falls outside of their job description.
Peter Hom, a management professor at Arizona State University, noted that the first employees to quit when the job market improves are usually the ones that you least want to lose since the most valuable employees are often the most sought after by others.
Many researchers argue that it is not just money that keeps workers loyal, although a nice pay package and good benefits help as well. Allen said that his research has shown that workers also place a large amount of importance on relationships with their colleagues, especially with bosses.
Smart companies need to make sure they are making their employees feel valued. If they are asking for more from them then they have to engage employees more and it does not have to be just in terms of money.
Released 4/2/13, the Obama Administration is delaying a key portion of the federally-run SHOP Marketplace, in which small businesses can offer a choice of health plans to their employees through the public marketplace. As a result, small businesses will be limited to offering a single plan through the federally-run SHOP Marketplace until 2015.
The multi-place choice option was supposed to become available to small employers via the federally-run SHOP Marketplace in January 2014. But administration officials said they would delay it until 2015 in the 33 states where the federal government will be running the SHOP insurance marketplaces.
Many feel this delay will “prolong and exacerbate healthcare costs that are crippling 29 million small businesses” according to a recent NY Times article.
What is the SHOP Marketplace?
As part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), states are required to provide a Group Market Health Insurance Exchange for businesses (called the Small Business Health Options Program or “SHOP”). The SHOP Marketplace is essentially a public group health insurance exchange that will be available for small businesses starting January 1, 2014. The new program was designed to simplify the process of finding health insurance for small businesses and applying any applicable tax credits that an individual may qualify for.
As with the individual health insurance marketplace, all states have three options for offering a SHOP marketplace: (1) create their own state-run marketplace, (2) join a federal-state partnership, or (3) default to the federally-run SHOP marketplace. As mentioned above, 33 states are expected to default to the federally-run marketplace.
Initially, the SHOP marketplaces are for businesses with up to 100 employees. However, states can limit participation to businesses with up to 50 employees until 2016, so eligibility will ultimately vary from state to state.
Proposed guidance on the 90 day waiting period limit that was set in place by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was issued on March 21, 2013 by the Department of Labor, Health & Human Services, and the Treasury (the “Departments”). This rule will apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.
The 90 day limit set under Health Care Reform prevents an eligible employee or dependent from having to wait more than 90 days before coverage under a group health plan becomes effective. All calendar days (including weekends and holidays) are counted when determining what date the employee has satisfied the 90 day probationary period.
The Departments have confirmed that there is no de minimis exception for the difference between 90 days and 3 months. Therefore, plans with a 3 month waiting period in their group benefit contracts (including the Section 125 plan document) will need to make sure these are amended for the 2014 plan year. In addition, plans with a waiting period in which coverage begins on the first day of the month immediately following 90 days will also need to be amended as coverage can not begin any later than the 90th day. Employers who prefer to use a first day of the month starting date for coverage rather than a date sometime mid-month should consider implementing a 60 day waiting period instead. If an employer runs into an instance where an employee is in the middle of their waiting period when the regulations become effective (on the group’s renewal anniversary date on or following January 1, 2014), the waiting period for the employee may need to be shortened if it would exceed the 90 days.
Caution: Employers sponsoring a group health plan should also be mindful of the rules under the employer “pay or play” mandate. The 90 day limit on waiting periods offers slightly more flexibility than the employer mandate. For instance, if an employer’s health plan provides employees will become eligible for coverage 90 days after obtaining a pilot’s license, that requirement would comply with the 90 day limit on waiting periods. However, the same employer could be liable under the employer mandate for failing to provide coverage to a full time employee within 3 months of their date of hire. So, employers sponsoring a group health plan should confirm that any plan eligibility criteria aligns with both the employer mandate and the 90 day limit on waiting periods.
The Departments have also announced that HIPAA Certificates of Creditable Coverage will be phased out by 2015. Plans will not be permitted to impose any pre-existing condition exclusions effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2014. This provision is also in effect for enrollees who are under age 19. Plan sponsors must continue to provide Certificates through December 31, 2014 since individuals enrolling in plans with plan years beginning later than January 1 may still be subject to pre-existing condition exclusions up through 2014.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) adds a new Section 4980H to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which requires employers to offer health coverage to their employees (aka the “Employer Mandate”). The following Q&As are designed to deal with commonly asked questions. These Q&As are based on proposed regulations and final regulations, when issued, may change the requirements.
Question 3: When Is the Employer Mandate Effective and What Transition Rules Apply?
Large employers are subject to the Employer Mandate beginning on January 1, 2014. However, the effective date for employers that have fiscal year health plans is deferred if certain requirements are met. There are also special transition rules for offering coverage to dependents, offering coverage through multi-employer plans, change in status events under cafeteria plans, determining large employer status, and determining who is a full-time employee.
Fiscal Year Health Plans
An employer with a health plan on a fiscal year faces unique challenges concerning the Employer Mandate. Because terms and conditions of coverage may be difficult to change mid-year, a January 1, 2014 effective date would force fiscal year plans to be compliant for the entire fiscal 2013 plan year. Recognizing the potential burdens, the IRS has granted special transition relief for employers that maintained fiscal year health plans as of December 27, 2012. Both transition relief rules apply separately to each employer in a group of related employers under common control.
Coverage of Dependents
Large employers must offer coverage not just to their full-time employees but also to their dependents to avoid the Employer Mandate penalty. A “dependent” for this purpose is defined as a full-time employee’s child who is under age 26. Because this requirement may result in substantial changes to eligibility for some employer-sponsored plans, the IRS is providing transition relief for 2014. As long as employers “take steps” during the 2014 plan year to comply and offer coverage that meets this requirement no later than the beginning of the 2015 plan year, no penalty will be imposed during the 2014 plan year solely due to the failure of the employer to offer coverage to dependents.
Multiemployer Plans
Multiemployer plans represent another special circumstance because their unique structure complicates application of the Employer Mandate rules. These plans generally are operated under collective bargaining agreements and include multiple participating employers. Typically, an employee’s is determined by considering the employee’s hours of service for all participating employers, even though those employers generally are unrelated. Furthermore, contributions may be made on a basis other than hours worked, such as days worked, projects completed, or a percentage of earnings. Thus, it may be difficult to determine how many hours a particular employee has worked over any given period of time.
To ease the administrative burden faced by employers participating in multiemployer plans, a special transition rule applies through 2014. Under this transition rule, an employer whose full-time employees participate in a multiemployer plan will not be subject to any Employer Mandate penalties with respect to such full-time employees, provided that:
(i) the employer contributes to a multiemployer plan for those employees under a collective bargaining agreement or participation agreement
(ii) full-time employees and their dependents are offered coverage under the multiemployer plan, and
(iii) such coverage is affordable and provides minimum value.
This rule applies only to employees who are eligible for coverage under the multiemployer plan. Employers must still comply with the Employer Mandate under the normal rules with respect to its other full-time employees.
Change in Status Events under Fiscal Year Cafeteria Plans
The IRS has also issued transition rules that apply specifically to fiscal year cafeteria plans. Under tax rules applicable to cafeteria plans, an employee’s elections must be made prior to the beginning of the plan year and may not be changed during the plan year, unless the employee experiences a “qualifying event”. An employee’s mid-year enrollment in health coverage through an Exchange or in an employer’s health plan to meet the obligation under the ACA’s individual mandate to obtain health coverage is not a “qualifying event” under the current cafeteria plan rules.
The IRS addresses this by providing that a large employer that operates a fiscal year cafeteria plan may amend the plan to allow for mid-year changes to employee elections for the 2013 fiscal plan year if they are consistent with an employee’s election of health coverage under the employer’s plan or through an Exchange. Specifically, the plan may provide that an employee who did not make a Sec. 125 election to purchase health coverage before the deadline for the 2013 fiscal plan year is permitted to make such an election during the 2013 fiscal plan year, and/or that an employee who made a Section 125 election to purchase health coverage is permitted to revoke/change such election once during the 2013 fiscal plan year, regardless of whether a qualifying event occurs with respect to the employee.
This transition rule applies only to elections related to health coverage and not to any other benefits offered under a cafeteria plan. Any amendment to implement this transition rule must be adopted no later than December 31, 2014 and can be retroactively effective if adopted by such date.
Determining Large Employer Status and Who is a Full-Time Employee
The IRS has also issued transition rules for determining large employer status and determining who is a full-time employee. In general, large employer status is based on the number of employees employed during the immediately preceding year. In order to allow employers to have sufficient time to prepare for the Employer Mandate before the beginning of 2014, for purposes of determining large employer status for 2014 only, employers may use a period of no less than 6 calendar months in 2013 to determine their status for 2014 (rather than using the entire 2013 calendar year).
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) adds a new Section 4980H to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which requires employers to offer health coverage to their employees (aka the “Employer Mandate”). The following Q&As are designed to deal with commonly asked questions. These Q&As are based on proposed regulations and final regulations, when issued, may change the requirements.
Question 2: Who Is Eligible for a Premium Tax Credit or Cost-Sharing Subsidy?
As noted in Part 1, failing to offer full-time employees minimum essential coverage, or coverage that meets the affordability or minimum value requirements, is not enough to trigger liability under the Employer Mandate. Two additional things must occur before any penalty will be assessed:
Thus, an employer should consider which employees are potentially eligible for an Exchange subsidy when deciding how to comply with the Employer Mandate. It is important to note that the employee must qualify for the Exchange subsidy. An employee’s dependent receiving an Exchange subsidy (i.e. an adult child who is not a tax dependent of the employee) will not cause an Employer Mandate penalty.
Coverage Through an Exchange
In order to be eligible to receive an Exchange subsidy, an individual must enroll in health coverage offered through the Exchange. Under the ACA, an Exchange will be established in each state, either by the state or by the federal government (or a combination of the two). An Exchange is a governmental entity or nonprofit organization that serves as a marketplace for health insurance for individuals and small employers. Health insurance offered through the Exchanges must cover a minimum set of specified benefits and must be issued by an insurer that has complied with certain licensing and regulatory requirements.
Eligibility for an Exchange Subsidy
There are two Exchange subsidies available:
“Certification” of Eligibility for an Exchange Subsidy to Employer
The Employer Mandate penalty applies only when the employer has first received “certification” that one or more employees have received an Exchange subsidy. The IRS will provide this certification as part of its process for determining whether an employer is liable for the penalty. This penalty will occur in the calendar year following the year for which the employee received the Exchange subsidy (i.e. the employer would receive the penalty in 2015 for a employee Exchange subsidy beginning in 2014). Under IRS issued procedures, employers that receive notice of certification will be given an opportunity to contest the certification before any penalty is assessed.
In addition, Exchanges are required to notify employers that an employee has been determined eligible to receive an Exchange subsidy. The notification provided will identify the employee, indicate that the employee has been determined eligible to receive an Exchange subsidy, indicate that employer may be liable for an Employer Mandate penalty, and notify the employer of the right to appeal the determination. These notices will be useful in giving employers an opportunity to correct erroneous Exchange information and protect against erroneous penalty notices from the IRS. These notices will also be useful in budgeting for any penalties that may be owed.
Planning Consideration
The Employer Mandate penalty applies only to an employer failing to offer health coverage if one or more of its full-time employees enrolls in insurance coverage through an Exchange, and actually receives either a premium tax credit or a cost-sharing subsidy. Unless a full-time employee enrolls in an Exchange and obtains the tax credit or subsidy, the employer is off the hook. This can lead to some surprising exemptions from the penalty.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) adds a new Section 4980H to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which requires employers to offer health coverage to their employees (aka the “Employer Mandate”). The following Q&As are designed to deal with commonly asked questions. These Q&As are based on proposed regulations and final regulations, when issued, may change the requirements.
Question 1: What Is the Employer Mandate?
On January 1, 2014, the Employer Mandate will requiring large employers to offer health coverage to full-time employees and their children up to age 26 or risk paying a penalty. These employers will be forced to make a choice:
OR
This “play or pay” system has become known as the Employer Mandate. The January 1, 2014 effective date is deferred for employers with fiscal year plans that meet certain requirements.
Only “large employers” are required to comply with this mandate. Generally speaking, “large employers” are those that had an average of 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees on business days during the preceding year. “Full-time employees” include all employees who work at least 30 hours on average each week. The number of “full-time equivalent employees” is determined by combining the hours worked by all non-full-time employees.
To “play” under the Employer Mandate, a large employer must offer health coverage that is:
This includes coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan, whether it be fully insured or self-insured, but does not include stand-alone dental or vision coverage, or flexible spending accounts (FSA).
Coverage is considered “affordable” if an employee’s required contribution for the lowest-cost self-only coverage option does not exceed 9.5% of the employee’s household income. Coverage provides “minimum value” if the plan’s share of the actuarially projected cost of covered benefits is at least 60%.
If a large employer does not “play” for some or all of its full-time employees, the employer will have to pay a penalty, as shown in following two scenarios.
Scenario #1- An employer does not offer health coverage to “substantially all” of its full-time employees and any one of its full-time employees both enrolls in health coverage offered through a State Insurance Exchange, which is also being called a Marketplace (aka an “Exchange”), and receives a premium tax credit or a cost-sharing subsidy (aka “Exchange subsidy”).
In this scenario, the employer will owe a “no coverage penalty.” The no coverage penalty is $2,000 per year (adjusted for inflation) for each of the employer’s full-time employees (excluding the first 30). This is the penalty that an employer should be prepared to pay if it is contemplating not offering group health coverage to its employees.
Scenario #2- An employer does provide health coverage to its employees, but such coverage is deemed inadequate for Employer Mandate purposes, either because it is not “affordable,” does not provide at least “minimum value,” or the employer offers coverage to substantially all (but not all) of its full-time employees and one or more of its full-time employees both enrolls in Exchange coverage and receives an Exchange subsidy.
In this second scenario, the employer will owe an “inadequate coverage penalty.” The inadequate coverage penalty is $3,000 per person and is calculated, based not on the employer’s total number of full-time employees, but only on each full-time employee who receives an Exchange subsidy. The penalty is capped each month by the maximum potential “no coverage penalty” discussed above.
Because Exchange subsidies are available only to individuals with household incomes of at least 100% and up to 400% of the federal poverty line (in 2013, a maximum of $44,680 for an individual and $92,200 for a family of four), employers that pay relatively high wages may not be at risk for the penalty, even if they fail to provide coverage that satisfies the affordability and minimum value requirements.
Exchange subsidies are also not available to individuals who are eligible for Medicaid, so some employers may be partially immune to the penalty with respect to their low-wage employees, particularly in states that elect the Medicaid expansion. Medicaid eligibility is based on household income. It may be difficult for an employer to assume its low-paid employees will be eligible for Medicaid and not eligible for Exchange subsidies as an employee’s household may have more income than just the wages they collect from the employer. But for employers with low-wage workforces, examination of the extent to which the workforce is Medicaid eligible may be worth exploring.
Exchange subsidies will also not be available to any employee whose employer offers the employee affordable coverage that provides minimum value. Thus, by “playing” for employees who would otherwise be eligible for an Exchange subsidy, employers can ensure they are not subject to any penalty, even if they don’t “play” for all employees.
Our payroll stuffer this month will focus on the important topic of Nutrition. It covers topics important to your employees such as:
Increasing Your Nutrition IQ
More and more people are learning to read the labels when grocery shopping, but so you know what all the terms mean? Learn how to decode a few of the more confusing food label phrases.
Three Surprising Superfoods
Learn about the many health benefits of mushrooms, quinoa, and pistachio nuts.
Surprising Fact about Mushrooms: Mushrooms as medicine have been used for centuries in Asian cultures. Today, maitake and shiitake mushrooms are being studied for potential cancer-fighting properties. Studies are being done to see if the shiitakes may also help boost the immune system and fight heart disease.
Never heard of quinoa? It is a grain with a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a nutty flavor when cooked. It is higher in protein than other grains and the protein is provides is a complete protein meaning it includes all nine essential amino acids just like animal protein.
Pistachios rank as one of the most popular nuts that contain high amounts of phytosterols. These are substances that are known to help lower cholesterol in your body.
Why Kids Overeat and How You Can Help Them Stop
Overweight and obese kids face serious health concerns. The extra weight puts kids and teens at risk for many health problems, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. By understanding why kids overeat, you can help your child get on the right path to a healthy weight.
For the full version of this document, please contact luann@visitaag.com.