E-NEWSLETTER: Volume 8, Issue 4 (January 2007) Issue 5, The Smoke Free Workplace Act In November, Ohio residents voted in favor of Issue 5, called the Smoke Free Workplace Act, which became effective on December 7, 2006. EMS sent a memo to all clients prior to this effective date, notifying them of this new law and its effects. The following is a brief summary of the new law, as it applies to employers, and some necessary steps Ohio employers must take to remain in compliance. What is the Smoke Free Workplace Act? The Smoke Free Workplace Act prohibits smoking in all enclosed areas, entrances and exits of public places, and in workplaces. Areas exempt from the law include homes, outdoor patios, certain tobacco stores, resident-only smoking rooms in nursing homes, up to 20% of sleeping rooms in a hotel and narrowly defined private clubs. The combination of the rules effectively eliminates the "smoking room" or other designated smoking area inside any place of employment. The statute also prohibits discrimination or retaliation against individuals who exercise any right granted by the statute, including reporting a violation. Who enforces it? Currently, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is enforcing the law; however, through a rule making process they will designate a local agency to take over enforcement, which will most likely be the local departments of health. What is a business owner’s responsibility? Smoking must be prohibited in enclosed public places, workplaces, and ensure that smoke does not enter a non-smoking area through entrances, windows, or ventilation systems. This also prohibits smoking immediately outside the door. Signs displaying the words “No Smoking” or the international “No Smoking” symbol, as well as a phone number to report violations must be clearly posted wherever smoking is prohibited under the new law, including each entrance. A template no smoking sign with a toll-free hotline number is available through the Ohio Department of Health’s Web site. All ashtrays and smoking receptacles must be removed from any area, including entrances, where the law prohibits smoking. To report violations of the law, you can contact the Ohio Department of Health at 866-559-OHIO (6446). What happens if the law is violated? Initial offenders will receive a warning letter. Smokers who repeatedly violate the law could face civil fines up to $100. Businesses that repeatedly violate the law face fines starting at $100; however, fines may escalate up to $2,500 for repeated violations in a 2-year period. A standard handbook policy, posters, employee notices and other materials are available through EMS to ensure compliance with Issue 5. Please contact the EMS HR Department for more details. This information was made available courtesy of www.SmokeFreeOhio.com and the Ohio Department of Health’s Web site, www.odh.ohio.gov. This summary is not intended to serve as a legal guide. More information about Issue 5 is available through these resources or by calling the toll-free information line at 866-ODH-7654 (866-634-7654). Ohio’s New Minimum Wage & Record-Keeping Requirements On November 7, 2006, Ohio voters approved a new Amendment to Ohio’s Constitution that affects nearly all public and private employers in Ohio, regardless of size, and also applies to out-of-state employers who employ individuals in Ohio. The Amendment imposes the following changes, which became effective January 1, 2007: Ohio’s minimum wage will increase from $5.15 per hour to $6.85 per hour. The minimum wage will be tied to the rate of inflation based on the consumer price index. New record-keeping and disclosure requirements will be required for the vast majority of employers in Ohio. New Minimum Wage Requirements Nearly all public and private employers in Ohio, regardless of size, will be required to pay a minimum wage of $6.85 per hour beginning in 2007. However, employers with annual gross receipts of $250,000 or less are exempt from paying the $6.85 per hour minimum wage, but they must still pay the federal minimum wage, which is currently $5.15 per hour. Employees excluded from the new minimum wage, include those who are: “In or about the property of the employer or individual’s residence on a casual basis” “In solely family owned and operated business who are family members of an owner” Less than 16 years of age, but they must still be paid the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour “Tipped” employees may be paid as low as $3.43 per hour (½ the new minimum wage), as long as the aggregate of the tips and wage paid is equal to or greater than the minimum wage rate for all hours worked. Mentally or physically challenged individuals may be licensed by the State to work below the new minimum wage, if the new wage would otherwise adversely impact their employment. Client Spotlight: The Expediting Co., Inc., headquartered in Vandalia, Ohio, is a family-owned provider of expedited transportation services founded in 1989. Since then the company has grown from a local six-truck operation to a nationwide operator with over 100 vehicles. In a highly competitive industry where consumers have so many choices, The Expediting Co., Inc., is forced to continually find ways to decrease costs, while continuing to provide superior services. Our employees are our most valuable resource because they strive to provide superior service everyday. Across the nation, people are becoming increasingly overweight. Since excess weight is openly recognized as one of the major contributors to poor health, we determined that an incentive-based competition promoting health and wellness, as it relates to weight control, would benefit our employees. This new program, “The Biggest Winner”, is loosely based on the TV show, The Biggest Loser, where teams of individuals compete to gain control over their weight. A $5,000 prize will be awarded to the winning team. Additionally, we will continue to reward all program participants for an undetermined amount of time for maintaining or further reducing their weight after the program ends. The program began the first Monday after Thanksgiving and will continue through the end of March. Immediately after this program ends, we will begin another similar competition with the same $5,000 reward that is focused on our employees who smoke. This is a more complicated program to monitor and audit and will take time to create, but our goal is to assist our smoking employees in beating their habit. We hope all our employees benefit from these programs by becoming healthier, happier and more productive at work and in their personal lives. Bill Knight The Expediting Co., Inc. EEO-1 REPORTING CHANGES By Lisa Pauley, Human Resource Assistant The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) EEO-1 Report is a government form requiring employers with federal government contracts of $50,000 or more and 50 employees, or employers without federal government contracts who have 100 or more employees to supply a count of their employees by job category and then by ethnicity, race, and gender. According to the EEOC’s Web site, several changes are being made to the EEO-1 Report and will become effective on the September 30, 2007 report due date. These changes include two new job categories for officials and managers and expanded definitions in the ethnic and racial categories. Job Categories Specifically, the first change made on the EEO-1 Report involves the creation of two new job categories for Officials and Managers. These two new categories are identified and defined as: Executive/Senior Level Officials & Managers: Plan, direct and formulate policy, set strategy and provide overall direction; in larger organizations, within two reporting levels of CEO First/Mid-Level Officials & Managers: Direct implementation or operations within specific parameters set by the Executive/Senior Level Officials & Managers; oversee the day-to-day operations This change will require employers to re-categorize each job currently reported in the “Officials & Managers” job category. Ethnic & Racial Categories The other revisions being made to the EEO-1 Report, which appear in the ethnic and racial categories include: The additional category entitled “Two or more races” The category “Asian or Pacific Islander” is divided into two separate categories: “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” “Black” is renamed “Black or African American” “Hispanic” is renamed “Hispanic or Latino” The employee’s self-identification of the ethnic and racial categories is strongly endorsed, as opposed to visual identification by the employer EEOC Chair, Cari Dominguez, said the changes recognize “the shifting demographics of today’s workplace.” She predicted, “the revised report will also better enable the commission to accurately monitor the advancement of women and people of color into the upper ranks of management.” Employers can obtain ethnic and race information by a method called self-identification, which involves the employer asking the employee to define his or her ethnicity and race. Another method called visual identification is done by the employer, but this method should only be used if the employee chooses not to provide this information. It is important for the employer to make it clear to the employee that he/she is voluntarily providing the ethnic and race information, which is held in strict confidence. When completing the EEO-1 Report, the employer must disclose the method in which the information was obtained. The July/August edition of Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Legal Report offers six steps to prepare for these changes: Re-survey the workforce using the updated ethnic and racial categories Establish procedures for identifying ethnicity and race when employees and/or job applicants decline to provide self-identification Update Human Resource Information System (HRIS) to conform with the new EEO-1 Report layout Re-categorize all employees currently included in the EEO-1 Report’s “Officials & Managers” job category Conduct a self-audit Submit EEO-1 Report data to the Offi ce of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) EMS has taken steps to update current practices and reporting to adhere to this update (e.g. revised employee forms, reporting methods and completed a self-audit). Please contact the EMS HR Department with any questions. This information was available courtesy of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Meet the EMS Team MARY HARDMAN, EMS Payroll Specialist Mary Hardman, bringing more than 30 years of experience in payroll and payroll related functions, joined EMS as a Payroll Specialist in September 2002. She has extensive experience with payroll taxes, child support, garnishments, tax levies, and union reporting. Currently, Mary’s responsibilities include payroll processing for over 40 clients each week and monthly union reporting for one client. In addition to processing payroll, she is also the New Client Setup Specialist and has served on the Year End Committee for three years, ensuring that all year-end functions are completed in compliance with company guidelines. CLARICE JOYNER, Production Services Specialist Clarice Joyner, bringing 17 years of accounting experience, joined EMS in 2000 as a Production Services Specialist. As a member of the EMS Payroll team, Clarice is responsible for reconciling EMS payroll invoices, processing payroll checks and reporting. CHERIE MCNAY, Benefi t Specialist After graduating from Northern Kentucky University with an Associate Degree in Business Administration, Cherie McNay worked for 12 years in the hotel industry in the sales and marketing department. In 2001, she joined the EMS Benefits’ department where she has contributed to several critical projects for EMS, such as the system conversion and automation of benefits billing. Cherie’s current role includes client benefit set-up, benefit deduction entry and customer service. Tax Withholding Changes, Effective January 1, 2007 By David Schwier, Payroll Manager Recently, a major change was made to the tax withholding regulations for Supplemental Earnings, and became effective on January 1, 2007. The following provides a brief overview of these changes. With the start of the New Year, CBS Corporate has initiated an internal policy across all divisions that will drastically change how EMS handles the taxation of supplemental wages. This policy change is in reaction to both revisions made in the IRS code and enhancements to the UltiPro software, which has improved the processing of supplemental wages. In very basic terms, all supplemental wages will be taxed using the IRS’ approved method #1 called the “Aggregate Taxation Method”. This method will replace the current methodology, which taxed all supplemental wages at a 25% flat rate. What does this mean for you? The Aggregate Taxation Method allows payment of supplemental wages and taxes in a combined format with an employee’s regular pay period earnings. With improvements to the UltiPro software, this can now be accomplished, even if the supplemental wages are paid on a separate or additional check. Additionally, UltiPro has enhanced the capabilities that allow us to issue supplemental wages on an off-cycle check and still “aggregate” the wages with the last posted check to calculate the proper tax withholding per the code. Previously, we used the 25% flat rate anytime we issued an off-cycle check or put the supplemental wages on a separate check. Effective January 1, 2007, all supplemental wages will be taxed appropriately according to the Aggregate Taxation Method as outlined by the IRS. There will be no exceptions and no waivers of the taxation policy. EMS will enforce the proper use of the supplemental tax withholding rules as outlined above. We will no longer issue supplemental checks without the proper withholding tables in place. Requests to issue bonus checks with little or no FIT withholding will not be accommodated. Please contact David Schwier, EMS Payroll Manager, with any questions you may have. 435 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 • Phone: 888.651.1536 • Fax: 866.596.1530 • Site Map • Contact Us © 2012 EMS.