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10 Things Truckers Need to Know about the Affordable Care Act

The ObamaCare employer mandate – a requirement that certain employers with 100 or more full-time equivalent employees provide medical coverage to their employees or pay a tax penalty – kicked in on January 1, 2015. Fennemore Craig attorneys, Ann Morgan and Erwin Kratz, have provided Ideas & Trends readers with the following top 10 thing you need to know about the employer mandate.

Number 1. Three transition rules apply in 2015. The first of these exempts employers with less than 100 full time equivalent employees (FTEs) in 2014 from the employer mandate in 2015. Any employee who works 120 hours or more in a month counts as one FTE. If they work 50 hours in a month they count as half an FTE. In 2015, the employer mandate applies to employers that have 50 or more FTEs in 2015.

Number 2. The second transition rule for 2015 is that employers subject to the employer mandate only need to offer minimum essential coverage (MEC) to 70 percent of their full-time employees. For this purpose, any employee who averages more than 30 hours per week during a month is considered a full time employee. In 2016 this 70 percent threshold goes up to 95 percent.

Number 3. The third transition rule for 2015 is that if an employer subject to the employer mandate fails to offer MEC to 70 percent or more of its full time employees, and even one of those employees gets subsidized coverage in a state health insurance exchange or in the federal health insurance exchange, the monthly penalty of $167 is imposed for each full-time employee you have in excess of 80. Therefore, if you have 200 full time employees and you fail to offer MEC to at least 140 of them (70 percent of 200) you could be subject to a penalty equal to $20,040 for each month that one of those employees receives subsidized coverage through the exchange (200 – 80 = 120 x $167= $20,040). In 2016, this penalty is imposed on each full time employee in excess of 30.

Number 4. If you are subject to the employer mandate, the coverage you offer your employees also needs to be “affordable” and provide “minimum value.” Coverage is “affordable” if the employee’s cost of employee-only coverage is less than 9.5 percent of the federal poverty line, or less than 9.5 percent of the employee’s rate of pay for the month. Coverage provides minimum value if the policy pays at least 60 percent of the cost of medical services for a standard population of claimants, as determined by actuarial calculations performed by your insurance company. Any “bronze” or above plan offered on the exchange satisfies minimum value.

Number 5. If you do not offer “affordable” “minimum value” coverage, the monthly penalty is $250 for each full-time employee who gets subsidized coverage in the exchange.

Number 6. You should keep meticulous records of each offer of coverage and of the house worked by each person to whom you do not offer coverage. This could become crucial evidence to prove you complied with the employer mandate if the IRS tires to assess a penalty against you for 2015.

Number 7. There are ways to minimize your exposure to the penalties, by designating certain Measurement and Stability period in accordance with the final employer mandate regulations. This can be very helpful in preventing employees to whom you not offer coverage from ever being considered full time employees for purposed of the employer mandate.

Number 8. The IRS will not begin assessing employer mandate penalties until well into 2016, after your employees have filed their tax returns. So if you do not take appropriate action now, (including by designating measurement and stability periods and keeping meticulous records of each offer of coverage and hours worked by those to whom you do not offer coverage) you might not realize you are accruing penalties for many months. Employer mandate penalties are not tax deductible.

FMCSA Shares Study Plan for Restart Study

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced that it has posted the study plan for the congressionally mandated naturalistic study of the operational, safety, health, and fatigue impacts of the hours-of-service restart provisions.The plan explains how the research team will measure and compare the fatigue and safety performance levels of drivers who take two or more nighttime rest periods during their 34-hour restart break and those drivers who take one nighttime rest period during their restart break.The plan details the assessment technologies being used, study procedures, and the sampling plan and data analyses.

For additional information and to view the study plan, visit http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/research-and-analysis/commercial-motor-vehicle-driver-restart-study.

Defining Leadership: Art or Science (or Both)?

Is there one true definition of the subject of leadership? Is the topic of leadership an art or science? These are all complex questions that leave scholars and business professionals providing conflicting opinions and definitions.

Perhaps there are varying definitions of the practice of leadership, simply because leadership style and action varies considerably from person to person.  One definition of leadership is, “The process by which an agent induces a subordinate to behave in a desired manner (Hughes, Ginnett,& Curphy, 2012).”

I believe most individuals in the workforce have experienced this method of leadership.  This form of leadership seems to lack the visionary aspect, and instead, focuses on day-to-day outcomes.

Leadership is not something that is reserved only for the workforce.  The definition of leadership, which states, “Directing and coordinating the work of group members,” resonates with me as a safety and HR professional as well as a college professor.   Teaching adult learners through group work and projects are standard curriculum.  Each group needs an individual who can envision the result and can coordinate specific tasks for each student to achieve the desired outcome.

A student recently came to me worried about a PowerPoint project she had due within a group of four other students.  Each student had completed a designated number of slides, but each styled their slides differently, and the presentation lacked fluidity.  The group would have been wise to appoint someone to envision the appearance of the presentation before the creation of slides.  A leader would have been highly useful in this situation.

The definition of leadership that stands out most in my current working situation is, “An interpersonal relation in which others comply because they want to, not because they have to.”   When considering the most appropriate definition of leadership found in many of the textbooks from which I teach, I would say that some of the definitions provided could also apply to a manager.  Managers can maintain and control.  However, leaders inspire and form a long-term vision (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2012, p. 8).

The most applicable definition would be, “The process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals (p. 4).”  This definition brings to mind Martin Luther King, Jr. This dynamic man was able to influence an organized group to create action through the civil rights movement. He was, indeed, an influential leader and visionary.

Leadership is often argued as either an art or science.  However, author Charles Palus finds that it can be both. Although science and art are often considered opposite from one another, according to Palus, they hold many similarities.  Both are passionate.  Even though one may not find science a passion, scientists would certainly consider themselves passionate about what they are trying to accomplish.  Therefore, a leader may have the precision of a scientist, as well as the passion of both the scientist and artist.  The potter may argue that there is also precision to be found in the art of pottery (Palus, 2005).

The course textbook indicates that one may not be an expert on the science of leadership to be an effective leader.  Still, understanding the science may improve a natural leader.  By considering Palus’s arguments, as well as the course text, I find it important to note the harmony that can be found in practicing both the art and science of leadership.  A passionate leader is weak without knowledge, just as a knowledgeable leader will be weak without passion for his or her cause.

 

Dr. David W. Guess | Executive VP | Safety & Human Resources, Usher Transport, Inc.

NATMI Academic Advisory Board Chairman

 

References

Hughes, R.L., Ginnett, R.C., & Curphy, G.J. (2012). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of Experience(7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Palus, C. (2005). The Art and Science of Leadership. Issues & Observations, 25. Retrieved from

http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/publications/lia/LIA25_1ArtScience.pdf