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From the Presidents Desk |
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I was reading articles regarding the future of Small Business and came across this bit of advice that I thought I would share with Lorain County Chamber members.
Navigating the Healthcare Credit Mess
By: Carol Tice | June 3, 2010
You may know one of the few items in the big healthcare reform bill that takes effect this year is a small-business credit for offering healthcare to employees. If you've delved into it, you know it's based on a really complicated formula.
Fortunately, there's some new help out there for business owners trying to understand if they qualify, and if so, how much they could receive. Healthcare reform, officially known as the Affordable Health Care Act, provides a small-business tax credit of up to 35 percent of the cost of premiums for qualifying business. BUT -- what you get depends on factors including how many full-time employees you have and how much those workers make. Your actual credit might be less than 35 percent.
Confused? The IRS has stepped into the breach with new guidance to help you determine if you qualify. Their recently issued notice on the tax credit contains examples to help you tell if you qualify and how much you might get from the credit.
Some basics for qualifying:
• You need fewer than 25 employees or the equivalent in part-timers.
• Average annual wages need to be under $50,000 per worker
• Your business pays at least 50 percent of the premiums for the workers
The IRS notice will walk you through the process of calculating your full-time workers, making sure your health plan qualifies for the credit, and goes over how to calculate and claim your credit.
If you think you have a chance of qualifying for the credit, it's worth investigating -- savings can be substantial. If you're considering instituting a plan, be sure to run these numbers and see how they'd affect your actual costs. Another aspect to note -- the credit rises to 50 percent in 2014.
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Jet Express |
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Join the Lorain County Chamber Members and guests as we cruise the Black River on Thursday June 17th on the Jet Express IV. Arrive at Black River Landing in downtown Lorain and you will get your photo taken (like a Cruise) courtesy of Lux Strategic Marketing. As you board the boat, you will receive a glass of champagne courtesy of Goodman Beverage. Music on board is courtesy of The Wonderfuls, thanks to Best Technology Strategy. Appetizers, Networking, Sight Seeing, Cash Bar and Door Prizes during the rest of the evening. 6:00 p.m. boarding begins with a scheduled departure time of 6:30. Our scheduled arrival back to the dock is 8:00 p.m. Our presenting sponsor for the evening is Lorain County Community College. And thank you to our event sponsors:
Key Bank, 5/3 Bank, Lakeland Healthcare Corp., Lorain Growth Corporation and Sprenger Health Care Systems. Cost is $20 per person and we plan on selling out the boat, so sign up today at https://www.loraincountychamber.com/chamber/registration.shtml?id=526&sid=277002.31808
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Changes to our Calendar Events |
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Be sure to stop by the Lorain County Chamber website and print out a new copy of our Calendar of Events. We have been busy adding events and moving some others around to make sure your County Chamber has the best events in Northeast Ohio! We’ve added a baseball game at the Pipe Yard to see the Lorain County Ironmen, we’ve moved our baseball night at the Crushers to August and we’ve added a summer Happy Hours at Harry Buffalo in Elyria and Summer Surprise event
at the Chronicle Telegram! Summer is officially here, so check out the new calendar and add these great events to take advantage of the great weather and do some business with another Chamber member. www.loraincountychamber.com
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Lorain County Safety Council Corner |
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Suggestions for Hiring Safe Workers
Many employers fear hiring new employees that are “high risk” for on-the-job injuries, especially those who have sustained previous injuries on or off the job. Having a comprehensive hiring process that addresses worker safety can help to alleviate some of those fears. Appropriate questions on the job application, during the interview process and at the time of job offer can meet this goal.
Due to Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity legislation, most hiring managers know that there is list of questions that cannot be asked of a job applicant relating to their physical abilities, such as: “Do you have any disabilities?” “Please complete the following medical history.” “Have you had any recent or past illnesses or operations?” “What was the date of your last physical exam?” “How is your family’s health?”
Instead it is wise and more appropriate to ask something like this: “Based on the description of this position, can you demonstrate or describe how you would perform the following job related functions.” (This is acceptable only when the interviewer has thoroughly described the position through a job description and essential job functions.) Or, “Do you understand that any offer of employment is conditional based on the results of a pre-employment exam or drug test?” If you do not have a pre-employment drug screen policy, consider the fact that about 74.3% of current, admitted drug users are employed1 and that 38% – 50% of all work-related accidents are drug or alcohol related.
Creating the right questions for the job interview can also be a useful tool for candidate selection. This is where the hiring manager can get a picture of the applicant’s views of on-the-job safe work practices. Always avoid questions that result in “yes” or “no” answers, and ask questions such as the following: “Who is responsible for your safety on the job?” “If you were to compare safety and quality, which would you consider to be more important and why?” “If your supervisor asked you to do something that you felt had potential to injure yourself or others, what would you do?” “Have you ever seen a co-worker performing an unsafe act? If so, how did you react?” There is a wide spectrum of possible answers to these questions, and can be very insightful to how your applicant will perform on the job.
One other typical hiring practice is background checking. Many employers choose to recover a job applicant’s workers’ compensation claims history report. Although it is not illegal to obtain this information with the applicant’s permission, it is illegal to make a hiring decision based on the results of that report.
Contact Mara Manke at CareWorks Consultants Inc. for additional information at 216.337.9089
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The Boys Scouts Need Your Help |
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The Boy Scouts – Heart of Ohio Council, which serves the Lorain County area, needs your help. They are looking for members for their Board. If you are looking to get yourself and your company more involved, this is a perfect opportunity to step up to the plate and support the Boy Scouts, especially now, as they celebrate their 100th Anniversary during 2010. They are especially in need of a Finance Chair, Membership Chair and Marketing Chair. You do not need to be a scout, nor do you need to have a son in the Boy Scouts. You don’t need to be a male either, you just need to want to help an organization that has guided our young men for over 100 years and produced famous alumni such as: Steven Spielberg, Walter Cronkite, Hank Aaron, Richard Gere, Bruce Jenner and Steve Young just to name a few! If you or someone you know is interested, contact John Schlobohm at 419-207-8300 or
john.schlobohm@scouting.org
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Summer 2010 Edition of Pulse Magazine |
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The Summer 2010 Edition of Pulse – Lorain County’s Magazine hit mailboxes last week. If you are unfamiliar with Pulse, or do not receive the free subscription, be sure to go to www.PulseLorainMag.com
and subscribe today. The Summer issue has information on what to do in Lorain County during the summer months. Head over to Olde Avon Village and get a bite to eat at Strip Steak House or stop by Catherine’s Chocolates for something sweet. Read about the Lorain County Growth Partnership and how the partnership behind Pulse Magazine came about and what they are working on as well. Get locations of all the local Farm Markets in town or if you are hungry for Italian, head over to Aroma in Avon Lake Plaza. Plus the results of the Best of Lorain County will be published in the next edition!
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