Presented by Michael Regan

Cleary Insurance is a member of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP), which is the national professional organization for agencies that have a specialty in surety bonding.  We take pride in reaching out to contractors who may need assistance when obtaining surety bonding. Small, emerging, disadvantaged, minority, women owned, and service disabled are examples of contractors that may need assistance.

As part of the outreach, Mike Regan has been a presenter for surety bonding on numerous occasions including for the US Department of Transportation, The US Small Business Administration and at numerous trade organizations. Most recently, Mike was a presenter at Suffolk Constructions “access to capital” session of their Trades Partnership Program.  This is a program they run for contractors who would qualify for one of the categories mentioned above and would like to do business with Suffolk Consruction.

The outreach is an annual eight week program and will include Mike’s return in 2017 as a presenter on surety bonding.

Click here to read the NASBP Pipeline article.

What is an Ice Dam?

• Ice dams are ridges of ice that form at the edge of a roof and prevent melting snow from draining off your roof.
• Water that backs up behind the dam can leak into your home and cause damage.
• Walls, insulation and ceilings are at the greatest risk for damage from an ice dam.

How to Prevent Ice Dams?

• Proper insulation: Attic insulation should have an R value of 30.* Insulate around areas that may allow for heat to escape easily –
  lights, bathroom fans, sky lights, etc.
• Proper Ventilation: Allow heat to escape in other ways than the roof. Investigate gable vents, ridge vents and soffit venting.
• Installation of Roof Leak Barrier: A rubberized film that gets installed under roof shingles to block water from leaking into vulnerable areas.
• Keep all drains, downspouts and scuppers free of debris.
• Maintain trees and plants that grow near your roof to prevent accumulation that may clog or slow roof drainage.
• Get an energy audit done of your home to identify potential areas of concern.
• * R value is how well the material used to insulate can function at keeping the heat where it needs to be.  The higher the value the
  better the insulating power.

What Other Factors Contribute to Ice Damming?

• Complex roof designs
• Skylights
• Dormers
• Vaulted Ceilings
• Periods of unoccupancy greater than 30 days

What to do if you have an Ice Dam?

• Remove the first three to four feet of snow from the roofline with a roof rake or soft bristled broom.
• Warning: Be extremely careful while removing snow from your roof.
• Make sure the ladder is secure.
• Beware of falling snow and ice as you clear the roof.
• Consult with a roofing professional when dealing with snow removal.
• If the home is too tall to reach the roof then hire a roofing professional to clear the snow.
• Contact your Insurance agent as soon as possible.

Sources:

https://bct.eco.umass.edu/publications/by-title/preventing-ice-dams,
http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Residential/Products/Leak_Barriers,

Be sure to contact licensed professionals to assist with ice dam prevention techniques.

Click here to view more information on the MAPFRE website.

Due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most stand-alone health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs)—an HRA that is not offered in conjunction with a group health plan—have been prohibited since 2014. However, on Dec. 13, 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act (Act) was signed into law, which allows small employers that do not maintain group health plans to establish stand-alone HRAs, effective for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2017.

This new type of HRA is called a “qualified small employer HRA” (or QSEHRA). Like all HRAs, a QSEHRA must be funded solely by the employer. Employees cannot make their own contributions to an HRA, either directly or indirectly through salary reduction contributions. Specific requirements apply, including a maximum benefit limit and a notice requirement.

Who is eligible?
To be eligible to offer a QSEHRA, an employer must meet the following two requirements:

1. The employer is not an applicable large employer (ALE) that is subject to the ACA’s employer shared responsibility rules.
2. The employer does not maintain a group health plan for any of its employees.

What is the maximum benefit limit?
The maximum benefit available under the QSEHRA for any year cannot exceed $4,950 (or $10,000 for QSEHRAs that also reimburse medical expenses of the employee’s family members). These dollar amounts are subject to adjustment for inflation for years beginning after 2016. Additionally, the maximum dollar limits must be prorated for individuals who are not covered by the QSEHRA for the entire year.

What is the notice requirement?
An employer funding a QSEHRA for any year must provide a written notice to each eligible employee. This notice must be provided within 90 days of the beginning of the year. For employees who become eligible to participate in the QSEHRA during the year, the notice must be provided by the date on which the employee becomes eligible to participate.

Transition Relief Extension
The Act also extends the transition relief under IRS Notice 2015-17, so that it applies with respect to plan years beginning on or before Dec. 31, 2016.

Fall is National Car Care Awareness! Hooray? Ok, it’s not the most exciting thing on your calendar. I don’t think there’s a Hallmark card for the occasion. Nonetheless, it could be one of the most important times of the year for your car or truck. A well cared for car or truck is a happy car or truck. And a happy car or truck means a happy driver, or at least a reasonably-satisfied-with-their-ride-to-work driver.

If you’d like to fall into this category, October is a great time to take advantage of all the hype and get your vehicle some well-deserved maintenance or repair work taken care of.

What type of work should you be doing or getting done this time of year?

Early fall is a great time to get your car ready for cold temperatures. The cool mornings are enough to remind you winter is coming but it’s still warm enough to spend some time with a cold wrench in your hand. But even if you don’t live in an area that gets winter weather it’s a great time for maintenance. In colder climates, there are lots of things to think about.

Here are some things that you can get done in celebration of National Car Care Awareness.

1. Add some winter air to your tires. What exactly is “winter air?” Isn’t air the same no matter what time of year it is? Actually no. Well, yes, but also no. Without getting into the full description here, suffice to say that you need to add a little air at the beginning of the winter season.
   You can read more here.
2. Check, check and check. There are numerous checks to do on your vehicle regularly. Some people think that with all of the warning lights and computer diagnostics that are constantly running, the days of physically checking levels of things like coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid and oil are over. While these monitoring systems are able to alert you when there is a serious issue, some of them don’t activate until you are at point blank. For instance, if your low coolant light comes on, many vehicles’ warning systems tell the driver to stop the engine immediately. This avoids costly damage to the engine, sure, but you’re left sitting in a parking lot or (even worse) on the side of the road trying to figure out how to get some coolant into the engine. If you notice that your airbag light is on, that means that your airbags won’t deploy, so this is something you should address before you get on the road. Should you discover that there is an issue with the airbag module (the component which acts as a controller), then you may wish to take a look at the site here and consider getting this reset so that, hopefully, the light will disappear and you will be able to drive safely in the knowledge that, should you run into an accident, your airbags will be there to support you. Checking these levels on your own can help avoid delays as well as breakdowns. If you have a truck or are a trucker, the best thing you can do is to find a mechanic that works on trucks and get a thorough checkup done for your vehicle. A truck does require a different level of maintenance than a normal car and it is best that a professional takes care of it at regular intervals.
3. Think about safety. Car Care Awareness may conjure images of oil changes and brake pads, but you probably aren’t thinking of bottled water or winter blankets. Just like Daylight Savings Time is the perfect random point on the calendar to replace the batteries in your smoke detector, National Car Care Awareness is a great time to check and replace your emergency preparedness supplies. If you live in an area that sees winter weather, this is even more important. You never know for sure when you may find yourself temporarily stranded. Be prepared.

National Car Care Awareness was created by AAA back in the 1980s to promote safety and efficiency in vehicles and emphasize the responsibility of car owners in maintaining their vehicles. AAA has launched a number of effective safety and efficiency campaigns over the years in a continuing effort to help drivers live more responsibly and affordably with their cars and trucks.

If you are an FMLA-covered employer, you should always consider whether an employee who requires time off of work due to a work-related injury or illness is eligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (and/or possibly leave under a state law).

Certain workers’ compensation (WC) leaves may also be covered under the FMLA.  An employee’s FMLA leave may run concurrently with a WC absence when the injury is one that meets the criteria for a “serious health condition” under the FMLA (and the employee satisfies all other eligibility criteria).

It’s important to note that, in general, an employer is responsible for designating an employee’s leave as FMLA leave as soon as it has enough information to believe the employee’s leave is covered.

Failing to designate this leave as FMLA leave may be a violation of the FMLA, and the employee may still be entitled to FMLA leave once the WC absence has ended.

Where an employee’s WC leave is also covered by FMLA, the employer should run the FMLA leave concurrently (at the same time) with the WC absence. Doing so will help ensure the employer complies with all of its obligations. For example, when an employee’s WC leave is also covered under the FMLA, the employer must maintain group health coverage for the duration of the employee’s FMLA leave.

The employer is required to maintain the group health plan benefits on the same terms and conditions as prior to the employee going on leave.  This includes the employee continuing to pay his or her required portion of the premium.

Also, offers of light duty may be affected when an employee’s work-related injury or illness is covered by the FMLA.  An employee may decline the employer’s offer of a light-duty job, if it is not the same or is not an equivalent job to the job the employee left.  However, an employee who turns down a light-duty job may lose WC payments, but is entitled to remain on unpaid FMLA leave until the FMLA entitlement is exhausted.

If the employee accepts the light-duty position in lieu of FMLA leave, the employee retains the right to the original or to an equivalent position.

If an employee is unable to return to work or is still in a light-duty job after the FMLA leave entitlement has been exhausted, the employee no longer has the protections of the FMLA.  However, an employer must examine the workers’ compensation statute and the Americans with Disabilities Act to determine if the employee has further protections.