Workplace Health and Safety News and Views

07/16/2009

Health Care Reform Could Impact Small Business

The House of Representatives and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee (HELP) have each submitted health care reform bills that could have major implications on your small business. The House legislation requires companies with a payroll of $250,000 or more to provide coverage to their employees. The HELP Committee's bill would penalize employers with more than 25 workers that pay for less than 60 percent of their premiums. Both plans also call for self-employed individuals to purchase health insurance or face a fee. To help ease these costs, each proposal also includes different measures on tax credits for small businesses and public plan options for individuals. Next up, the Senate Finance Committee submits its version of the bill. It's far from a done deal, however; the NASE, NFIB, and NSBA are currently lobbying against "employer mandates." --Brian Luskey, Associate Editor

06/23/2009

Tips on Hiring Teens for Summer Jobs

Young workers - especially those in their first summer jobs - suffer a disproportionate share of on-the-job injuries because of their inexperience. And also because, well, they are teenagers who may hesitate to ask questions and may fail to recognize workplace dangers. That can put your business at risk. Injuries often occur in businesses you might not think of. More than 75 percent of incidents happen in the retail and service industries - not sectors usually considered more injury-prone such as manufacturing and construction. For tips on how to prevent the accidents and protect your business when hiring teenagers, visit the What Works for Business Blog. --Brian Luskey, Associate Editor

04/06/2009

Update Your I-9 Forms

As of April 3, you must use the revised federal Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for your new hires. The only significant change in the form: a requirement that all ID documents have not expired. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says that expired documents are 'prone to tampering and fraudulent use.' This only affects dated documents; a Social Security card, for instance, is considered unexpired. Download the new form and handbook from the USCIS or call 1-800-375-5283. --Jeff B. Copeland, Content Product Manager

03/11/2009

Taking Networking to Another Level

Here's a cool new web-based business tool you?d never have seen a few years ago. It's called Upwardly Mobile -- UpMo for short -- and it's like GPS for business networking. With the explosion of social media and online business networking, it's more important than ever to be involved. But many professionals, biz owners and others only get serious about networking when faced with a problem they need to solve. The best biz networkers, however, consider it a lifestyle rather than fiscal triage. This is where UpMo comes in. It's an on-demand service that guides your networking habit so you get the most out of it. -- Daniel Kehrer, Editor of Business.com

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Workplace Health and Safety News and Views

Health Care Reform Could Impact Small Business

Tips on Hiring Teens for Summer Jobs

Update Your I-9 Forms

Taking Networking to Another Level

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