Most employers look at workers' compensation as just another necessary evil and unavoidable cost of doing business. It's usually one of those out of sight, out of mind things when rates are low. It's not until an employer is hit with a rate hike that they really start to give some thought to their workers' compensation rates.
Employers need to constantly look at workers' compensation as a tool to improve their business's bottom line, and they certainly need to make an effort to keep their low rates over the long-term so that they can take advantage of some significant savings.
Here are four common mistakes made by employers that frequently deter their workers' compensation savings:

1. Assuming that lower rates equate to lower costs.
Don't make the faulty assumption that your cost will automatically go down just because your rates have been reduced. Workers' compensation insurers use an experience modification factor to examine the actual losses incurred by the insured company and establish cost. The actual losses are compared to other industry-alike companies. If the insured company's past losses are below average, then the insurer gives the company a credit rating lowering their premium, but an added surcharge is applied to the premium if the insured company's past losses are above average.

2. Believing that employers have little control when it comes to the expense of workers' compensation.
Employers know they've got to have workers' compensation insurance. However, this acknowledgment shouldn't lend to an employer thinking they've got to pay excessively for it; employers don't and shouldn't.

Cost reduction starts at the hiring process. Initiate effective interview techniques and background checks to help ensure the right people are hired for the right jobs. That said, there's no way to completely eliminate the possibility of injuries in a workplace. Therefore, it's equally important to have an effective return-to-work program in place to simultaneously assist injured workers return to work as soon as possible and reduce the cost of their claims.

3. Neglecting or de-emphasizing cost containment and injury management during low rate periods.
Safety should be an unyielding focus at all times. This will not only help a company reduce their claim numbers, but also keep their rates low over the long-term. Employers need to keep an eye on the issues that frequently impact the costs of claims, such as medical care costs and lost wages. Also, remember that open claims mean escalating costs and negative impacts to the company's modification factor. Of course, this causes an increased cost for coverage.
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4. Not making the association between cost containment and worker retention.
Studies have shown that fewer accidents occur among skilled workforces, but even skilled workers can have an accident. A large part of whether or not an injured skilled employee returns to work is based on how their employer responds to them during and after recovery. An important part of an employer's response will be in having a return-to-work program that includes maintaining constant contact with all injured workers and their health care providers to monitor how they're recovering and when and how they can get back to work as soon as possible. Skilled employees that are kept in the loop with a return to work program's periodic phone calls about what workplace changes are occurring in their absence are more likely to return. On the other hand, skilled employees that feel forgotten, undervalued, and disconnected aren't very likely to return. 

Contact your HALO insurance agent today to talk about your Workers' Compensation policy.
​Call 314-351-HALO (4256) or click info@haloibg.com.  

​Workers' Compensation insurance can be a large cost for employers. This is especially true in the construction industry. Construction workers face all manner of dangerous hazards. Injuries on construction sites can be frequent and severe. As a result, Workers' Compensation costs contractors a lot of money.

Trying to skip out on paying Workers' Comp benefits can cost even more. A California employer found that out the hard way.

One of the contractor's employees suffered a puncture wound to a foot while on a job site. He reported the injury to his employer. The employer refused to submit a claim, and he did not pay any Workers' Comp benefits on his own. Consequently, the employee's wound went untreated and it became infected. When he finally did see a doctor, the infection was too serious for antibiotics to treat. Surgeons had to amputate his leg below the knee. He filed a claim with the insurance company on his own. The insurer awarded him benefits as a permanently disabled worker.

An investigation of the contractor revealed that this was not the first time he'd declined to report a worker's injury. He also owed thousands of dollars in back Workers' Comp insurance premiums. Worse, he misclassified some employees as independent contractors. This meant that he wasn't withholding and paying payroll and Social Security taxes for them.

The result? The contractor was arrested and charged with multiple felony counts of Workers' Compensation fraud. He faces up to five years behind bars.

This story has several morals for business owners:

• Classify and report all payroll properly. If an employer misclassifies employees, the authorities will eventually find out. They deal with fraud often enough that they can easily recognize the signs. Some states have enacted laws specifically designed to root out worker classification fraud. New York enacted such a law in 2010, with stiff penalties for employers who misclassify. Maryland fines employers who deliberately misclassify up to $5,000 for a first offense and double that for subsequent violations.
• If a worker gets hurt on the job, report it to the insurance company promptly. Delaying an injury report or not reporting at all are very bad ideas. The penalties employers face for violating state Workers' Comp laws can be significant. In Colorado, violating employers can be fined up to $1,000 per day for each violation. A long-delayed report can easily result in a six-figure penalty.
• If your business cannot afford to self-insure, buy a Workers' Comp policy.State authorities are not gentle with employers who violate this requirement. Florida law allows the Workers' Comp Division to issue stop-work orders within 72 hours of determining that an employer is in violation, with $1,000 daily fines for violating the order. Minnesota assesses fines of up to $1,000 per week per employee for noncompliance. Businesses that break these laws may soon find themselves out of business.

The Workers' Comp system exists to give injured workers reliable and prompt benefits while shielding employers from lawsuits. Employers who try to skirt the system will find themselves in the same position that this contractor did. That's a position they do not want to be in.

Are you and your employees covered with the right insurance policy? Give us a call at HALO to find out, 314-351-HALO ​(4256). 

Voluntary term life insurance is offered to employees as an optional benefit in some cases. Employers may offer specific amounts of term coverage to every worker. The employee or employer may cover the premium directly, or employees may pay for premiums through payroll deductions. In most cases, life insurance face amounts are between one to five times the base salary of the employee or $50,000.

Taxation And Regulation
State insurance commissioners are responsible for regulating life insurance at state levels. The U.S. Tax Code Section 79 outlines regulations for taxing group term life insurance. As a rule, death benefits for life insurance are received by beneficiaries without tax penalties. Even if the payer is a small business, premiums are typically paid using taxable dollars. However, voluntary life insurance usually falls under a rule exception, which is that employer-paid premiums required to provide $50,000 in benefits to a worker are subject to maximums. For employers, they are also tax deductible.

Types Of Group Life Insurance
There are three different categories for group life coverage, which include full underwriting, simplified underwriting and guaranteed underwriting. With guaranteed underwriting, automatic enrollment is granted to all eligible employees who apply. However they must meet eligibility requirements that the employer and insurance company negotiate. As a rule, guaranteed underwriting is more expensive. It requires little paperwork, there is no medical exam and it is issued quickly. It is usually only provided for large groups where employees cannot be denied. To qualify for guaranteed issue, employers usually agree to a minimum percentage enrollment.

Simplified underwriting is less expensive, and there is no blood test, no urine test and no medical exam required. Each applicant usually answers several health-related questions in addition to agreeing to a medical record background check. Full underwriting is usually required with small groups, with individuals or on larger face amounts and is the most costly option. Medical exams are typically required, and a full examination is taken to satisfy the full records check requirement. Premiums are lower with full underwriting, but it takes longer to complete the application process and not all people will qualify. Employers can pay for the premiums or deduct them from workers' paychecks. In some cases, employers and employees may share the costs.

Voluntary life insurance is often the only coverage working families have. When face amounts are limited to $50,000 or to a lower multiple of a worker's annual salary, coverage is usually not enough to replace the main wage earner's income. However, $50,000 is better than leaving nothing to a surviving family. As a rule, experts recommend people purchase eight to 12 times their yearly wages in life insurance when working full time. If workers are young and have a long career ahead of them, experts recommend they purchase even more coverage. This is especially true for people with multiple dependents. Discuss your options with a HALO insurance agent, 314-351-HALO (4256). 

Business insurance can get complicated. Businesses need to protect themselves against damage to their property, income they may lose if they have to shut down after their property is damaged, and the risk of lawsuits. With the risks of crime and other types of losses that separate policies cover, there can be a lot to keep track of.

It does not have to be so complicated. Small businesses can meet many insurance needs with a single product - a businessowner's policy, or "BOP," as it is commonly known.
BOP packages essential coverages into a single insurance policy. At its most basic, a BOP provides three broad coverages:

Property - insurance on the business's buildings (if it owns any) and personal property used in the business.

Business interruption - insurance on lost income resulting from a business shutdown following damage to the property or extra costs the business incurs to stay open after the damage.

Liability - insurance covering amounts the business has to pay as damages to settle some lawsuits against it, as well as the cost of mounting a legal defense against those suits.
BOPs offer some flexibility to the buyer, but not the overwhelming variety of choices that individual property and liability policies offer. Businesses can choose between insuring against a "broad" list of causes of property damage loss or "special" causes of loss. The broad form covers only the causes of loss listed in the policy; the special form covers all causes except those listed in the policy. The special form costs more because it covers more.

The business must select the amounts of insurance to purchase on the buildings and personal property. However, it is unnecessary to select an amount of insurance for business interruption coverage. The policy simply pays for the actual loss the business sustains during a necessary shutdown caused by  covered damage to the property.

BOPs typically include small amounts of coverage that would otherwise have to be purchased separately, such as:

• Loss or damage to valuable papers and records
• Debts the business cannot collect because of loss or damage to accounts receivable records
• Income lost when the business must shut down due to an interruption in computer operations
• Some types of crime losses
• Clean-up and removal of pollutants

The policy covers the business's legal liability for bodily injuries, property damage, advertising injury and some types of non-bodily personal injuries to others. Most insurers offer businesses a choice of only three or four amounts of liability insurance.

BOPs may be customized to include other types of insurance, such as for the business's liability resulting from the use of autos it hires or borrows. However, a BOP is not a substitute for an automobile insurance policy, and it does not cover Workers' Compensation benefits owed to employees.

To qualify for a BOP, a business cannot exceed a certain size, such as 100 employees or $5 million in revenue. For those businesses that qualify, a BOP is a sensible foundation for their insurance programs. To learn about your BOP eligibility, contact a HALO Insurance agent, 314-351-HALO (4256).

When employees face the challenge of working outdoors in the heat of summer, or even in intense indoor heat conditions, it is critical to have guidelines in place to prevent and manage heat-related illness. When temperatures soar, the body may not be able to cool itself enough through perspiring. When this happens, the temperature of the body can rise dramatically and lead to heat-related illness.
Working in the heat also can lower mental alertness, physical performance and increase emotional volatility, all of which can lead to a higher frequency of workplace accidents. Each year in the U.S., tens of workers die and hundreds of others experience heat-related occupational injuries and illnesses requiring days off work.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends that companies take the following effective preventive steps to protect employees from the hazards of working in the heat:

• Train all workers to recognize the signs of heat stress, which include headache, dizziness, nausea, irritability and confusion, and vomiting and muscle aches or cramps.  Workers should also be trained to administer appropriate first aid when heat related illness is suspected.  Supervisors should have special training to detect the early warning signs, and have the authority to allow workers to break from their work if they are becoming uncomfortable in the heat.
• Supervisors should be aware of the physical condition of each employee, and understand if they are fit to work in extreme temperature conditions. Obesity, pregnancy, certain medications, advanced age and lack of conditioning are conditions that can put a worker at greater risk for a heat-related illness.
• Since disorientation, confusion and even loss of consciousness are symptoms of some heat-related illnesses, work should be designed so that employees can work in pairs to look out for one another.
• The body needs time to condition itself to new levels of heat intensity. Help your workers adapt to the heat by altering the workload, including extended rest periods for the first several days. If an employee returns from any kind of job absence, including a vacation, their body will again need time to be reconditioned.
• Emphasize that employees should drink plenty of water, even if they do not feel thirsty. Remember that alcohol, coffee, tea and caffeinated sodas can actually dehydrate the body and should be avoided.
• Workers should be encouraged to wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing and to change their clothing if it becomes saturated.
• Because good airflow helps cool the skin by increasing evaporation, use general ventilation and spot cooling during times of high heat production.
• Alternate short work periods with rest periods in a cooler area and schedule heavy work for cooler times of the day.
• On an hourly basis, monitor temperatures, humidity and your workers' responses to heat.

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OSHA has created a free, fold-up laminated card with information and tips related to heat stress. The OSHA Heat Stress Card is available in English and Spanish. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

Contact your HALO Insurance agent to learn more about protecting your workers. 314-351-HALO (4256).

Many workers are unclear on the difference between disability insurance coverage and workers' compensation insurance. Often, workers will decline optional disability insurance coverage, however badly needed - because they think they are covered under their employer's workers' compensation plan. This is usually a mistake.

Workers' Compensation is designed to protect both businesses and workers from the devastating potential consequences of work-related injuries and fatalities. Under workers' compensation plans, covered workers are guaranteed access to a substantial pool of money that can cover lost income, pay medical expenses (generally with no deductibles or out of pocket costs) and provide for job retraining and physical and occupational therapy services that would be beyond the ability of many employers to pay out of their own pockets. In return, workers give up the right to sue their employers for damages arising from covered incidents. This also helps protect workers, because if they had to resort to lawsuits, the courts could take months or years to resolve claims - and meanwhile the worker may have nothing to live on.
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Most state laws require employers to carry workers' compensation insurance.
Disability insurance, on the other hand, is designed to protect the insured from loss of income arising from a disability from any covered cause, except for exclusions for disabilities arising from criminal activity or acts of war that would normally be covered by VA or military medical insurance (Tricare).
In the event of a qualifying disability, the disability policy will provide a percentage of pre-disability income, which is normally between 50 and 70 percent. (This benefit is taxable if the employer pays the premiums, and tax-free if the premiums are paid by the insured with after-tax dollars).

Why Workers Need Private Disability Coverage
According to the Council for Disability Awareness, only about 1 disability in 20 is the result of a workplace injury or work-related illness. Fully 95 percent of all disabled individuals would not be covered under workers' compensation rules. They became disabled because of chronic illnesses and accidents not related to the workplace.

Common causes of disability include musculoskeletal and nervous system diseases like muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, as well as things like biking and ski accidents, complications from pregnancy, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses - none of which would ordinarily be covered under workers compensation insurance.

In the absence of disability insurance coverage, the average worker has little or no protection in place to safeguard the worker or his or her family from the devastating effects of a disability that robs the worker of his or her ability to earn a living.

Furthermore, even where workers' compensation insurance is in place, benefits may not be sufficient to cover wages for higher earners. Some states have cut back on wage replacement benefits available under workers compensation in order to reduce costs. Employers pay substantial sums in workers compensation premiums. Where benefits are high, premiums must also be high, and this can make it difficult for states to attract business. This creates economic and political pressure to reduce benefits and premiums. According to ProPublica, 33 states have moved to reduce workers' compensation benefits to workers since 2003. This is another reason workers need private disability insurance, whether owned individually or as part of a group employee benefit plan.

Make a plan that's right for you and discuss your options with a HALO Insurance agent,
​314-351-HALO (4256).