Category Archives: HR Challenges

HR Challenges, Risk Management

8 Tips To Ensure The Easy Transition From Office Employee To A Work From Home Employee Is Painless

Your organization does not need to shut its doors with the panic of a statewide/countrywide quarantine, you can offer a work from home option. With technology today, there is the potential to move non-customer facing operations to remote locations like employee homes for the time being. If this is your first time dealing with remote employees or your first time being a remote employee we have a few tips to make the experience a pleasant one.

Set Up A Designated Work Area

On a normal day, you drive to work, then sit at your designated work spot at work every day. People assume that when they work remotely, they’ll work just as hard on their couch as they would if they were in the office. Some people do, but we suggest putting your work computer in its own area. Working from the couch may be great on the first day, but what about day 10 or day 100. A home office area, even a corner in your dining area can keep you focused and can stop your work life from blending too much into your personal life.

Keep Lines Of Communication Open

Whether your decision to move from an office to a remote is permanent or temporary. Make sure that you and your employees have ways to contact each other beyond email. This could be having an all-hands meeting via GoToMeeting once a week or using programs like Slack for constant IM communications. Communicating with your team is a way to keep your employees in the loop of the situation & aware of what tasks need to be done. It can be easy to feel disconnected from what is going on in the office & the organization, so remaining engaged with co-workers is key.

Ensure Your Network & Work Programs Are Secure

The benefit of having all of your employees at one location is that you only need to worry about protecting one wireless network. With expanding to remote work means the networks your employees connect to need to be secure. Telecommuting introduces another set of potential cybersecurity risks. Make sure you speak with your manager about cybersecurity and strategies you can use for mitigating the risk of a cyber attack while you are working from your home. A basic level of security is having employees remote access their network computers through LogMeIn or other remote connectivity software.

Get Dressed

Since you’re working from home you might be tempted to stay in your pajamas and roll out of bed to your position in front of your computer. Maybe you don’t even plan to get out of bed. (We highly suggest getting out of bed and following tip 1 of this list). We suggest continuing your routine. It has been psychologically proven that the way you dress affects how you work. While you don’t need to dress business casual, you should still take the time to shower, brush your teeth and get ready for the day.

Avoid At Home Distractions

If you’re an easily distracted person or are planning to take this time to catch up on the latest Netflix series, create a space free from those distractions. Remember, working from home is a privilege. Without coworkers and managers constantly checking on you, you are free to do as you please, but your performance may slip. Stay focused on work throughout the day to maintain consistent productivity. Limit the time spent on email, social media and websites unrelated to work. Set a timer on your phone or computer, if necessary.

Self Evaluate

To ensure that telecommuting is working for you, be sure to conduct self-assessments periodically. Things to include in your assessment could include the following:

  • What is working as far as your hours?
  • What are you accomplishing in the office versus out of the office?
  • Are you meeting all of your deadlines?
  • Are you feeling connected with your co-workers?

Take Breaks When You Need To

Just like you are encouraged to take breaks while you’re in the office, remember to allow yourself time throughout the day for quick breaks. If you need a short break to gather your thoughts, try walking around the house or down the street, stretching, or making a snack or meal.

If you need to take a longer break, plan your time around this. Working from home has flexibility, but don’t forget to communicate with your supervisor or manager if you’re going to be away from work for longer than usual.

Be Realistic With Yourself About Long Term Work From Home Goals

For many, working from home is a temporary response to the coronavirus. Telecommuting is not meant for everyone. Talk to your manager if you are finding that working from home is causing a negative impact on your productivity or making you feel disconnected or isolated from your team.

Metropolitan Risk is partnered with ThinkHR to help you transition your business from an office to temporary remote operations. If you are looking for help in relation to your insurance coverage during the coronavirus outbreak click here to learn more. If you’re looking for more information on business continuity during the coronavirus outbreak click here. For all other questions contact a Risk Advisor at 914-357-8444.

 

For More Information on COVID-19 Click Here for Our Resource Guide

Cyber Liability Insurance, General Liability Insurance, HR Challenges, Risk Management, Vlogs

Our SIM-Hacking Prevention Guide

We recently wrote a piece about what SIM-Hacking or SIM-Swapping is. Click this link here to read it. We’re following up on that article with a quick guide to preventing SIM-hacking. We’re not here to re-explain what SIM-hacking is, we’re here to talk about how to protect yourself from risk.


If you agree with us that SIM-Swapping is a potential problem & you want to protect yourself from cybercriminals, then this guide can help you protect your accounts from cybercriminals.

 

1. Make a list of the important stuff that would pain you if you were hacked.

Here are a few accounts to start with.  Your list of accounts to protect may grow longer but these accounts would be the most problematic.

  • Work Email/ Work Google Account
  • Bank Account for Work or Personal
  • Organizational/Workplace Databases
  • Social Media Accounts (Facebook, Linkedin & Vimeo)

2. Understand how each account lets you recover/reset your password.

In this case, each one uses 2-step verification. The first factor is typically the primary email address you used to set up the account. The second factor is your mobile phone number (text messaging). I suggest testing each account above to have them bring you through the steps of a password reset. The ones that send a text message to your mobile phone are the ones that are most vulnerable to SIM-HACKING as that is the purpose.

These are the accounts we are going to lock down in the next few steps.

 


How To Protect Yourself From SIM-Hackers

At Metropolitan Risk, we purchased a YUBIKEY, which is a small piece of hardware that replaces the text message/cellphone as a second level authenticator. Google offers a similar product known as the Titan Security Key. We opted to use a security key because you must have the key in your physical possession and you must confirm to the hardware that you are a human being. These security keys require human touch to confirm and cycle the key on. If you don’t like the idea of a separate piece of software, there are some apps on your cellphone called Authenticators that can do similar things.

We opted for a separate piece of hardware to the cellphone as a 2nd step in the 2-Step Verification. We do use an authenticator as a 3rd level authentication process in the event we lost the YUBIKEY hardware. 

 

1. If you’ve purchased a YUBIKEY, your next task is to log into the accounts you are concerned about & research the multi-step authentication process for password recovery.

    • This is the most time-consuming part of the process as each account can have different methods & steps to execute this piece.
      For Example,  you are telling Google not to send a text message to your cellular phone. Instead, you are telling Google to look for your YUBIKEY as the primary authentication.

NOTE: that if your organization manages your email account, that you speak with your admin. As our google account administrator, I’ve turned on 2-step verification to allow my staff to use yubikey. My staff would not have been able to set this up without admin approval. CLICK HERE for a quick guide for Google as an example on how to execute 2 step authentication as an example.

2. Once you follow the instructions for linking your account with the YubiKey you can select “trust this device”. This way you won’t need to use the YubiKey every time you log into an account because the software recognizes your device AND it has been properly authenticated.

What Happens if I lose my YubiKey?

 In all the accounts you set up with the Yubikey make sure there is a 3rd way to authenticate in case the YubiKey isn’t available for some reason. This gives you an additional way to access your account and prevents you from getting locked out of say your google account. In our case, we use Google Authenticator as the 3rd option in case the Yubikey is damaged or otherwise unavailable. 

Call me paranoid, or maybe just a Risk Advisor… same thing. I purchased a TILE which is essentially a very small chip that allows me to always locate whatever the chip is attached to. I have one for my wallet, one for my keys and one for my backpack. You download an app onto your cell phone. The cell phone app communicates with the tile which is attached to your keychain/YubiKey and voilà, keys found. It can also reverse and help you find your cellphone by making it ring if you press a button, even when the sound is on mute for the phone.

Help and More

At this point, I’m feeling better about my personal situation.

The 2-step verification ensures that the person accessing your account on a new device is you. Remember, once a hacker obtains your user name and password, they try to access your account from devices that are not recognized by the site or software. The software is trying to figure out if it is really you on a completely different account or a hacker. If the hacker has some way to authenticate their device to trick your software that it is you behind the device, they aren’t getting in.

Last point, just like in the physical world. If they really want to steal your car…gone. By locking down your digital life and making it a bit more difficult, the hackers usually move on to easier prey. Then, there is no shortage of easy prey out there. 

We hope you found this helpful. There are a ton of resources online to execute this tactic to lock down your accounts and your life. Our goal was simply to make you aware of the SIM-Hacking. At least get you to start the process of locking down your very vulnerable digital life. 

Still have questions? Still want more info? Contact a risk advisor today OR visit our website here.

Construction Practice Group Content, Employers Practice Liability Insurance, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, HR Challenges, Human Services Practice Group Content, Practice Groups, Risk Management, Transportation Practice Group Content

Is Your Organization Prepared For The Coming Changes That Could Increase Your EPL Risk?

Rapidly changing times bring rapidly changing standards when it comes to things like diversity, harassment, and discrimination.  Employment practices liability has always had significant exposure but the current social climate adds a hypersensitivity surrounding these topics which are bringing forth calls for new regulation. Consumers are more than ever keeping a close watch on both private and public corporations to make sure that they treat its employees fairly. Companies that don’t shift with the times can and will face costly lawsuits and reputational damage. 

 

Below are some regulatory changes that are already set in motion:

 

The Federal standard no longer applies

 

This past August, states like New York which ALREADY had a lenient threshold when it came to proving discriminatory harassment, amended a law to make it even easier to prove harassment. New York now requires all companies to adopt a written sexual harassment policy as well as have all employees “interactively” trained within 90 days of getting hired.  Prior to this, NYS followed the federal burden of proof needed to provide “severe & pervasive” harassment to prove a claim

 

Now, the person claiming harassment does not need to demonstrate the existence of another individual whose treatment compares to their experience. Meaning, the burden of proof lies not with the person claiming harassment, but on the accused to prove the contrary. 

 

Example: The accused is guilty until proven innocent. Instead of innocent until proven guilty.

 

New legislation determined that there must be Female representation on the board of directors. 

Legislators in California ruled in September 2018 that any publicly held company where the principal executives reside in the state MUST have women on the board. 

This new law is already evolving; by the end of 2019, such company boards MUST include one woman and by the end of 2021, that number will increase depending on the total number of board members. Companies that fall out of compliance are subject to an initial fine of $100,000 and all subsequent violations at $300,000 each. 

Example:

761 publicly traded companies are currently HQ’d in California. As of October 2019, at least 70 companies are out of compliance with this legislation Source

 

 

Discrimination Against Potential Employees With Criminal Records 

 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) launched an initiative in 2008 in opposition to practices used by employers when making employment selections based on arrest and conviction records. They feel that this conduct negatively impacts certain minority groups. There have been significant amounts of case law surrounding the legality of asking applicants about possible criminal history. 

At present. 35 states have passed legislation regarding this practice but each state has its own approach. In most states, employers are not allowed to ask any conviction questions but allow a background check after a Conditional Offer of Employment is made. If the offer is rescinded due to a criminal history found, recent precedent requires that the employer must demonstrate some sort of relationship between the conviction(s) and the job applied for. 

 

Example: If you were convicted of something like embezzlement and you are disqualified from a Bus Driving job, a case could be made against the employer. But if you are applying for a job in let’s say, the accounting department, that is a different situation. 

 

Non-Disclosure provisions will be a thing of the past 

 

 Historically, settlement agreements usually include a non-disclosure provision where 

Money is paid but ONLY the plaintiff is prohibited from discussing the case. (Hush Money) The argument for this is obvious,

 it allows the continuation of inappropriate behavior by sweeping things like discrimination or harassment accusations under the carpet. New York and California both passed legislation that eliminates the use of Non-disclosure agreements on settlements of discrimination or sexual harassment cases. The culture of wrongdoing in a company will NOT change if it is not brought out into the open.

 

Salary Data now used as an Underwriting tool

 

The EEOC is requiring salary data across on its EEO-1 reports. What is an EEO-1 report? It is a report/survey required by companies with more than 100 employees. It indicates the demographic breakdown of its employees across 10 job categories. The change this year is that the EEOC wants the salary data in those categories as well. It will show the rate paid in these categories based on gender, race and national origins.

 

From an underwriting standpoint, this information is invaluable. A potential class-action lawsuit situation may occur if there are large pay discrepancies related to race, gender, or national origin. This data will help underwriters understand the risk they are taking. It will also help Risk Managers understand where to apply resources, decreasing the chances of these claims being filed.

 

Example:
The U.S. Women’s’ Soccer Team filing a gender discrimination lawsuit against the soccer federation over pay equity and working conditions.
Source

In conclusion

These changes made at the state levels will eventually turn into National trends. If you are a business owner, you should expect your state to pass similar legislation. If you are a proactive employer, knowing what new legislation means to your company will help you limit your exposure. It will also help understand how to better transfer the risk to carriers when it comes to employment practices liability. 

 

We speak with people all of the time who think “Risk Management” as only a preventative measure. That is a component and what we talk about with regards to proactive employers. But the bigger picture is Risk Management is ALSO about accepting that you WILL have a loss. When that time comes, make sure you have an Action Plan and procedures mitigating the impact of the claim. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act…

For more information on Employment Practices Liability Risks and how your organization can better protect themselves from EPL claims, contact a risk advisor at 914-357-8444.

HR Challenges, Human Services Practice Group Content, Workers Compensation Insurance

Signs Of Worker Burnout In Home Healthcare

Signs Of Worker Burnout

Worker burnout in the Home Healthcare Sector is a major problem. On top of burn out, home healthcare agencies face a growing problem of worker shortages. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 7.8 million job openings between 2016 and 2026. So it is important that agencies hold onto their employees as best as they can.

There are a number of signs that your employees may be suffering from burn out. Employee burnout is categorized as a “physical or mental collapse” caused by overwork or stress.

 

 

We’ve outlined 5 ways to help your organization identify employee burnout. Burnout can be tough to identify because the signs aren’t always easy to see. Sometimes, employees don’t show signs of burnout until after an incident has occurred while on or off the job.

Combating Employee Burnout

As an employer, you should be focusing on ways to help retain your employees and help them combat burnout. Combating burnout may seem like an expensive addition to the resources you’re already giving your employees, but the cost of doing nothing may be more.

Creating moral within your organization is one way to combat burnout. If your employees feel undervalued and overworked, they can start to burnout. This can be as simple as creating easy to obtain goals for your employees or hosting an employee potluck.

If you notice one of your employees suffering from burn out, address the situation. Then, talk to the rest of your employees, if one employee is showing visible signs of burn out, it is likely that other employees may be burnt out as well. For more information on how Metropolitan Risk can help your home healthcare organization manage your risks contact one of our Risk Advisors at 914-357-8444 or Contact us 

 

Construction Practice Group Content, Employers Practice Liability Insurance, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, HR Challenges, Human Services Practice Group Content, Practice Groups, Risk Management, Transportation Practice Group Content

New York State Expands Anti-Discrimination Laws

New York State (NYS) has once again increased its protections against workplace discrimination and harassment by updating and expanding its Anti-discrimination laws. Under a new law enacted on Aug. 12, 2019, certain provisions that were added by the state’s 2019 budget in 2018 are expanded so that they cover not only sexual harassment but also all other types of unlawful employment discrimination. New employee notice requirements apply as well.  

The new law also makes all employers in the state (not just those with four or more employees) subject to all provisions of the NYS Human Rights Law (HRL) starting on Feb. 8, 2020. A variety of other changes will make it easier for individuals to hold employers liable for harassment and discrimination. 

Action Steps For Employers

Employers in NYS should become familiar with the new law and begin providing written copies of their sexual harassment prevention policies and training program information in English and each of their employees’ primary languages. Employers should also monitor the NYS Department of Labor’s (DOL) website for model foreign-language notices. 

Identifying Unlawful Workplace Harassment

The new law expands the NYS HRL’s current definition of unlawful workplace harassment effective Oct. 11, 2019. Specifically, harassment will be considered an unlawful discriminatory practice when it subjects an individual to inferior terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the individual’s opposition to or participation in any proceeding involving unlawful workplace harassment or because of the individual’s membership in one or more of the following protected categories:

  • Age
  • Creed
  • National origin
  • Gender identity/expression
  • Sex
  • Predisposing genetic characteristics
  • Marital status
  • Race
  • Color
  • Sexual orientation
  • Military status
  • Disability
  • Familial status
  • Domestic violence victim status

 

Changes to Recently Added Provisions on Workplace Sexual Harassment

Topic Effective  Law Changes
Written policy on sexual harassment prevention Oct. 9, 2018 Employers must have a written sexual harassment prevention policy and distribute it to employees.
Aug. 12, 2019 Employers must provide the above policy in English and each employee’s primary language and both at hire and again every year when training is provided. 
Training programs on sexual harassment prevention Oct. 9, 2018 Employers must provide annual, interactive sexual harassment training to all employees. 
Aug. 12, 2019 Employers must provide written copies of the training program information in both English and each employee’s primary language and both at hire and again every year. 
Nonemployee claims April 12, 2018 Nonemployees may file workplace sexual harassment claims against an employer.
Oct. 11, 2019 Nonemployees may file any type of unlawful workplace discrimination claim against an employer.
Contractual arbitration requirements July 11, 2018 Employers are prohibited from including mandatory arbitration requirements for sexual harassment claims within any written contract.
Oct. 11, 2019 The above prohibition applies for any type of unlawful workplace discrimination claim.
Nondisclosure conditions in claim settlements July 11, 2018 Employers are prohibited from including nondisclosure conditions in any agreement to resolve a sexual harassment claim, unless the complainant prefers to include one. 
Jan. 1, 2020 The above prohibition applies to agreements to resolve any type of unlawful workplace discrimination claim. Also: 
  • If a complainant prefers to include a nondisclosure condition, it must be written and provided in both English and the complainant’s primary language. 
  • A nondisclosure condition is void if it restricts a complainant from participating in any local, state or federal agency investigation or from filing or disclosing facts necessary to receive public benefits. 

Any agreement that prevents disclosure of facts related to a future discrimination claim must include notice that it does not prohibit the employee or applicant from speaking with law enforcement, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the NYS Department of Human Services (DHS), any local commission on human rights or an attorney.

For more information contact one of our Risk Advisors or call 914-357-8444.

Claims Management, Construction Practice Group Content, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, HR Challenges, Human Services Practice Group Content, Transportation Practice Group Content, Workers Compensation Insurance

When An Employee Refuses Medical Injury Treatment For Potential Workers Compensation Claim

Is your employee refusing medical injury treatment for a potential worker compensation claim? Based on the geographic location of your business, many state workers’ compensation statutes limit and mandate certain employer actions when a worker is injured. Depending on the state, there are specific timelines to follow and forms to complete. But what about when a worker injures themselves and refuses to accept treatment or file a claim? What are your responsibilities? While the exact legal answer depends on your situation and state laws, consider the following to limit your liability. Not sure click here.

When You Notice An Employee Injury

If you’ve notice that one of your employees has been injured, whether they have mentioned it or not, gently bring it up. Then, discuss the circumstances of the injury with the employee to determine whether the injury occurred when working. Many state workers’ compensation statutes obligate employers to report injuries as soon as they have knowledge of them. Delay in reporting the injury could result in a much larger claim & fines from the state. Completing the paperwork to report injuries is not an admission of your liability—on the contrary, it could protect you. This is where we see Employers are weakest, as they have no consistent systems in place. This could ultimately help them defend themselves in a workers compensation claim hearing.  

 

In the Case of An Employee’s  Refusal For Medical Treatment For A Potential Worker Compensation Claim

When discussing the injury with the employee, explain that reporting job-related injuries ensures injured workers to certain benefits. This is in action while recovering from the injury. This should have been in writing in your employee handbook as part of your policies and procedures. Further notifying your employees of their obligation to report timely. All potential workplace injuries should be part of your initial on-boarding process. If the employee refuses to file a claim for the injury, file the employer’s portion of the report with a statement of refusal to pursue a claim signed by the employee. It is crucial that you document this conversation to protect your organization from being penalized in the future. Typically we advocate separate reporting forms, one for the employee and one for the direct report supervisor. This serves a dual purpose of taking down details of the incident and as an accident investigation report. 

Employees that do initially report injuries but then refuse treatment under the physician or facility that your organization furnishes should sign a similar form confirming this refusal. The employer also has a right to state to the employee that the only way they could be allowed back at work is if they passed a medical clearance test. This test determines their physical capacity to perform the work. Self-diagnosis by an employee is rarely a good idea. 

Workers Compensation Benefits for Employees that Refuse Medical Treatment

State workers’ comp statutes vary, but in most cases, workers’ compensation benefits are suspended for employees that refuse to comply with any reasonable request for examination or refuse to accept medical service or physical rehabilitation which the employer elects to furnish. Benefits may not be payable for this period of refusal of treatment—check with your workers’ comp carrier. 

What Employers Can Do When An Employee Refuses Medical Treatment For A Workers Compensation Claim

It is important that you prepare for an eventual employee’s refusal to submit a claim or refusal to accept treatment for a workplace injury. All employers should have a legal representative draft a form for refusal of treatment that complies with state requirements so it is immediately available when needed. Discuss with supervisors the importance of documenting and reporting all injuries, whether or not the worker chooses to report them.

 

Workers compensation insurance is obligatory in most states. Contact a Risk Advisor at Metropolitan Risk by CLICKING HERE or call (914) 357-8444 for more information.

Construction Practice Group Content, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, HR Challenges, Human Services Practice Group Content, Line of Insurance, Practice Groups, Transportation Practice Group Content, Workers Compensation Insurance

Discover Return To Work Program Benefits That Are Easy To Implement Within Your Organization

A return to work (RTW) program allows employees to come back to a job while they are still injured. These employees aregiven a light or modified work instead of not working while they are injured. This workers’ comp cost control tactic has one of the best ROIs because it benefits the company as well as the employee.

 

Workers’ compensation costs can be expensive. Having a RTW program is a cost-effective way of returning employees to work sooner. Returning these employees to work allows for workers’ comp claims to close sooner. Closed workers’ comp claims help to lower experience modification numbers. Experience Modification Numbers directly affect insurance premium rates.

Benefits of a Return to Work Program

A return to work program benefits more than just the line employees. When implemented properly, a return to work program benefits the entire organization. 

Employer benefits of a  Return To Work Program:

  • A Return to Work Program opens the door to more insurance markets. Some insurers will not quote on accounts that do not have modified duty/light duty programs in place
  • Return to Work programs can significantly cut workers comp costs.
  • Alert employees that the organization will not tolerate malingering.
  • Reduce indirect injury costs, such as overtime, temporary workers, and production decreases
  • Boosts employee morale
  • Employers must provide meaningful work to employees to avoid incurring employment liability and potential class action litigation. This is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 2008.

Employee benefits of a Return To Work Program:

  • Employees spend less time on short term disability
  • Employees recognize that their employer values them both as employees and as people.
  • Help employees avoid post-injury depression
  • Improved employee’s economic outlook
  • Employees retain valuable employment skills and remain a vital part of the workplace

 

Implementation of A Return To Work Program

Before implementing the RTW program,  an evaluation of your company’s culture will determine the attitude towards workplace injuries and returning to work after the injury. Knowing your organization’s culture will determine how and when you implement a return to work program. A company culture that promotes employee wellness will have an easier time implementing a RTW program. 

 

Having a strong RTW program culture is critical. To have a strong return to work culture, make sure everyone within your organization is on board. There can be problems with implementing a RTW program if the managers and the line employees do not agree. The program’s success is dependent on senior management (all the way up to the chief executive officer) embracing the return to work philosophy.

 

For example, if an employee is working in a particular division, they should be given light work within that division. However, if there is no light duty work available in that division, the organization should place the employee in a different division. This can only happen successfully with the support of senior management. When statistics demonstrate the shrinking costs when employees return to modified work, management’s support grows.

More Information

Organizations with strong safety records start each management meeting with a ‘safety’ meeting. At these meetings, they host a discussion of who is off of work and why. This conveys the message that returning employees to work with light duty work is supported and safety is paramount. As insurers withdraw from the excess workers’ compensation market, remaining insurers will tighten underwriting standards. A strong RTW program is one of the best defenses against rising workers’ comp costs.

Download our Return-To-Work Program Guide HERE. If you still need more information on implementing a RTW Program at your organization book a five-minute call with one of our RISK ADVISORS today or call 914.357.8444.

Construction Practice Group Content, Food & Beverage Practice Group Content, HR Challenges, Human Services Practice Group Content, Other, Risk Transfer, Transportation Practice Group Content

New Bill To Broaden Workplace Harassment Puts Business At Greater Risk

N.Y. State lawmakers are working towards stricter standards on workplace harassment. Under today’s guidelines, judges have determined “pulling a bra strap” or “suggesting a woman gets breast implants” doesn’t qualify as workplace harassment. The proposed revisions to the law suggest any discriminatory conduct that is more than petty or slight inconvenience is harassment.   

If this law passes, Gary Friedman, a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, said the proposed changes may result in more claims going to trial. “This is going to force employers to raise the level of awareness within their current workplace environments. Further, it’s going to force them to police their culture and work environment more carefully and diligently,” Mr. Freeman said in an interview.

New York City already enforces stricter workplace harassment laws, than the rest of the state. This new bill would change the existing standards to make the policies less precise and more context-specific, state-wide, and would eliminate an employers’ ability to use Faragher-Ellerth Defense. The defense allows employers to avoid being held liable if a complaining employee doesn’t follow set harassment policies set forth in their companies employee handbook. These stricter harassment guidelines throughout New York state should encourage you to look at your own workplace harassment program.

**UPDATE 6/20/2019**

The New Sexual Harassment bills have passed and the bar has been lowered for what sexual harassment is.  This is a great opportunity for employees who feel like their accounts have gone unheard, but what about the employers? 

Employers now have to brace themselves for the upcoming challenges of ensuring their sexual harassment policies are up to date and brace themselves for more cases going to trial. Under the previous laws, judges were able to quickly dismiss harassment claims because the claim did not fall into the “ Severe or pervasive” category of sexual harassment. 

These new bills make it difficult for employers to avoid liability for their employees’ behaviors. They also expand the interval to file complaints about workplace harassment with a state agency. This also ensures that anti-harassment training will be provided in multiple languages.

Employers should arm themselves with a strong sexual harassment policy and supplemental EPLI Insurance which most small to mid-sized businesses overlook. Employers Protective Liability Insurance is also known as EPLI Insurance. With information being ubiquitous, word travels fast. The real hidden utility of EPLI Insurance is the fact that it will pay for your companies defense. It’s easy and free for employees to bring suit against your company. Conversely, the expense to defend your organization starts at six figures. EPLI insurance can help offset that cost as well as pay for the settlement in some cases. These policies call a fraction of what it costs for defense. As your company grows so does the probability of an EPLI lawsuit. CLICK HERE for more information on EPLI Insurance.

 

We offer tools to our Metropolitan Risk Clients, to help create the best training program for you and your employees. Click here to learn more about our harassment training courses.

Make sure your team and company are aware of this new law and contact one of our RISK ADVISORS today or call 914.357.8444.

Claims Management, HR Challenges, Other, Risk Management, Vlogs

Workers Comp Questions and Advice

There are 3 questions every organization should put to each level within their organization to get a sense for how aligned they are as it relates to managing employee injuries, near misses and workers comp claims in general. Doing so will open up plenty of different conversation with your employees regarding their answers. Hence, why these questions must be asked. The more you understand may be a hard pill to swallow, but it usually allows for progress within the company and potentially will help lower claims and in turn, lower premiums.

When it comes to insurance claims and workers comp injuries, Mark Twain’s famous quote jumps to the fore:

” It’s not what we don’t know that hurts us…it’s what we think we absolutely know that kills us.”

Executives, HR reps, and senior management are almost always shocked when they poll the employees of their company and ask these 3 crucial questions. Though fairly straightforward, the answers they receive usually are not. The video will go through the questions, what you might expect, what the answer usually is, and how you deal with this new batch of information.

This brief video should give you some pause. We suggest you poll your own employees as soon as possible. You might be shocked at what you discover from their answers.

 

Do you have questions about any of the content in the video? Contact one of our professional risk advisors at 914-357-8444. Or, visit our website for more information here. We are always here to help.