DHS Publishes Interim Final Rule Amending Form I-9

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has published an interim final rule making changes to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Beginning on February 2, 2009, employers will be required to use the new form to verify all new hires and to reverify any employee with expiring employment authorization beginning on February 2, 2009. The new form will be available for download from the USCIS website by February 2, 2009.

Under the interim rule, employers will no longer be permitted to accept expired documents to verify employment authorization. The rule also adds a new document to the list of acceptable documents that evidence both identity and employment authorization, and it makes several technical corrections and updates. The two main changes of potential concern include the elimination of an expired U.S. Passport as an acceptable document to prove identity and employment eligibility, as well as a change to the attestation.

To view a FAQ page from USCIS on the changes, click here. Click here to view the complete rule, including an “informational” copy of the revised form.

DOL Reduces Information Required on Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll Records

Beginning on January 19, 2009, covered contractors should include in weekly transmittals only an “individually identifying number” for each covered employee rather than addresses and full SSNs. The purpose of the “individually identifying number” is to avoid confusion when more than one employee has the same name, and it may be the last four digits of the employee’s SSN.

In comments to the proposed rule submitted in November, AGC expressed support for the change, agreeing with DOL that the eliminating submission of such employee information is consistent with statutory mandates and helps to fulfill legitimate policy objectives, including reducing the risk of identity theft. However, AGC noted that the proposed rule could be interpreted as prohibiting subcontractors from providing such information in weekly payrolls submitted to prime contractors, which raises concerns about a prime contractor’s ability to make restitution and to avoid unfair withholdings in cases of subcontractor underpayment of wages. In the final rule, DOL adopted AGC’s suggestion to clarify that prime contractors may continue to require subcontractors to provide such employee information to the prime contractor without submission to the government.

The rule does not change the requirement that employers maintain records of the addresses and SSNs of covered workers and make the information available to government investigators upon request.

The rule includes revised language for standard contractual provisions reflecting these changes.

Click here to view the complete final rule.

Reimbursement of Medical Expenses on Non-Disabling Claims

AGC members participating in the Partnership Incentive Program can reduce their workers’ compensation insurance costs by reimbursing SAIF Corporation up to $1,600 for medical costs that result from each compensable non-disabling claim. The reimbursement amount has been increased from the previous $1,500 program and can be applied to claims with dates of injury on or after January 1, 2009.

Non-disabling claims are those non-federal claims where the injured person does not receive any payment from SAIF Corporation for time lost from work.

This program was enacted by the 1987 Oregon Legislature to allow employers to reduce or eliminate qualifying claims costs in the calculation of experience rating modification factors.

AGC members participating in the Partnership Incentive Program not only receive the benefit of reduced experience ratings, SAIF also returns the reimbursed amounts at the time of the distribution of the retro return. Your Group Retrospective Rating Evaluation Statement will show a credit for any non-disabling claim payments you made during the plan period. (Please see the “Credit for Non-Disabling Reimbursement” line indicated and highlighted on the attached sample retro statement.)

Reimbursed amounts are not deducted from the total group losses prior to the retro calculation, thereby ensuring that employers who do reimburse claims are not subsidizing those that do not. However, those employers that reimburse claims receive those reimbursements back through their individual retro calculation.

In addition, you don’t pay the DCBS assessment on the reimbursed amounts.

The net effect is employers who reimburse medical costs on qualifying claims essentially trade the time value of the reimbursement amounts for future experience rating reductions and reduced DCBS assessments.

Click here for more information provided by SAIF Corporation.

Winter Weather Increases Job Hazards

Oregon OSHA offers tips for employers

Snow, ice, and rain are winter hazards that can make day-to-day duties even more dangerous for workers. The Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Division (Oregon OSHA) encourages employers to plan ahead to protect lives and reduce accidents this season.

In January 2004, the Portland area was hit with a severe winter storm that brought snow and freezing rain, turning streets into slick skating rinks. Workers’ compensation data shows disabling claims (at least three days of missed work) spiked due to falls on wet surfaces and ice that January, making up 14 percent of the total claims that month. The trend is consistent with winter months that followed, when slips and falls often coincide with weather events.

In 2005, a lumberyard worker was in the process of strapping a semi-trailer load of lumber in Portland. He climbed the ladder, placed against the side of the trailer, to strap the top of the load. When he stepped from the ladder onto the load, he slipped and fell about 11 feet to the asphalt below. Ice was found on top of the plastic covering the load and no fall protection was used. He later died from head and neck injuries.

“Unfortunately, we often make our plans without taking into account bad weather, which means typical winter weather in much of the state,” said Michael Wood, administrator of Oregon OSHA. “Work practices that are just fine during dry weather when visibility is good may not be nearly as effective in rain, fog, or early darkness, and equipment that presents no problems when it’s dry can be treacherous when the rains come or temperatures drop below freezing.”

Oregon OSHA encourages employers to take the following precautions:

• Keep walkways clear from ice and snow and provide entry mats to avoid indoor slips.

• Review bad-weather procedures with employees and discuss specific job hazards.

• Prepare a roadside emergency kit for company vehicles that includes items such as water, food, flares, a blanket, window scraper, and tire chains (when required)

More information about emergency preparedness can be found on Oregon OSHA’s Web site, www.orosha.org, under “Publications” or in the December issue of Oregon OSHA’s online newsletter Resource.

Project Management Brown Bag Seminars

The Northwest College of Construction Brown Bag Learning Program is designed to introduce management concepts, refresh one’s knowledge, and open up opportunities for additional education. Your team will gain immediate value—at no cost—over lunch at your office. Project management topics include:

• Introduction to project management

• Safety and loss control

• Interpersonal skills for managers

• Negotiating and resolving issues

• Construction documents and contracts

• Construction planning

• Estimating and cost control

• Scheduling

• Resource control

• Quality assurance/quality control

• Continuous improvement

• Customized training

Learning program can be customized to contractors’ specific training objectives. Complete a form and return to NWCC, fax 503-252-9560 or email info@nwcoc.com. Visit www.borntobuild.info.

Eighth Annual Mid-Oregon Construction Safety Summit: Safety, Now and Tomorrow

January 26, 2009
The Riverhouse Resort and Conference Center, Bend, Oregon

Hands-on training is designed for residential and commercial construction workers

Topics Include:

• Scaffolding/ladders

• Fall protection

• Electrical safety

• Excavation safety

• Rigging safety

• JHA's

• Vehicle safety

• Cost of accidents

• Forklift train-the-trainer

• General construction site safety

• Safety boot camp for supervisors

• Adult first aid/CPR (2 year/2 year)

• Personal protective equipment

• Workzone safety/flagging course

• Chemical management/MSDS

• Emergency response for construction

Registration Information

• Contact the Conference Section, 503-947-7441 or toll-free in Oregon, 888-292-5247, option 1; oregon.conferences@state.or.us.

• Print a flyer or visit the website.

BOLI Implements Temporary Rule on Meal and Rest Periods

September 22, 2008

The Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has implemented a temporary administrative rule (OAR 839-020-0050) on meal and rest period provisions, effective Sept. 23, 2008. The temporary rule restores provisions of a previous rule pertaining to meal period provisions waived due to the "nature and circumstances" of the work. Implementation of the temporary rule restores the previous language and allows for a rules advisory committee to be convened to review meal and rest period rules and to make recommendations regarding appropriate amendments to the Commissioner.

"I encourage the rules advisory committee to work on creative solutions that protect workers’ rights to a meal period and accommodate the needs of businesses," said Commissioner Avakian. "Restoration of the original rule allows the rules advisory committee to start this process from scratch and propose a solution that takes into account concerns from both business and labor."

Oregon law provides employees the right to a meal period. Employees are to be relieved of all duties for a 30-minute meal period for every shift of more than 6 hours. The previous language in OAR 839-020-0050 allowed employers to waive this meal period when the “nature and circumstances of the work prevent the employee from being relieved of all duty.” BOLI has historically interpreted the rule to mean that employers may only waive meal periods in exceptional and unanticipated circumstances. In July 2008, BOLI amended OAR 839-020-0050 to better reflect its interpretation of the law and clarify that meal periods could only be waived in “exceptional and unanticipated circumstances.”

The rules advisory committee will be comprised of equal labor and business representation from diverse industries and will be tasked with making a consensus recommendation to the Commissioner. The Bureau will facilitate the work of the rules advisory committee in reaching a consensus proposal that satisfies both business and labor.

Oregon Workers' Compensation Costs Continue to Decrease

(Salem) — Employers in Oregon will pay nearly 6 percent less on average for workers’ compensation coverage in 2009, the Department of Consumer and Business Services announced today. The reduction in the workers’ compensation “pure” premium rate in 2009 marks the third straight year for a rate decrease and the 19th consecutive year with no rate increase. Since 1991, Oregon’s workers’ compensation costs have declined nearly 62 percent, saving Oregon employers $16.4 billion, while benefits and services for workers have improved.

“This rate reduction continues Oregon’s unprecedented success story in workers’ compensation,” said Governor Kulongoski. “Not only have we been able to keep costs low for employers, but we have improved worker benefits and made workplaces safer.”

In fact, the successes in Oregon’s workers’ compensation system were recognized in 2008 in a national study by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute. The study, called “Lessons from the Oregon Workers’ Compensation System,” highlighted several lessons other states can learn from Oregon, including cooperation between management and labor; accurate and timely benefits for injured workers; reduced litigation over benefits; and return-to-work programs that help injured workers get back to work faster.

The pure premium rate is the base rate employers pay their insurance company for workers’ compensation coverage. On average, Oregon employers can expect a 5.9 percent decrease in pure premium in 2009, but some employers will see rates go up and others may see no change. Specific cost changes vary from business to business, depending on the employer’s industry, claims experience, workforce, and other factors.

The department sets the pure premium rate based on a recommendation from the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI). NCCI looks at various trends in claims experience and benefits to forecast “loss costs” – or the estimated cost of injury and illness claims in Oregon. NCCI forecasted a 5.9 percent decrease in loss costs because claims frequency and costs per claim are continuing to decline while medical costs are increasing but at a slower rate.

“Employers and workers in Oregon have worked hard to make their workplaces safer, and it has resulted in fewer, less severe injuries,” said Cory Streisinger, director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, adding that workplace injury and illness rates in the state have declined more than 10 percent since 2004 and more than 50 percent since the late 1980s.

Medical costs also constitute a large piece of the pure premium rate. The department has taken several steps to reduce medical costs in workers’ compensation, such as lowering pharmacy fees, encouraging the use of generic drugs, and working with the Workers’ Compensation Medical Advisory Committee to screen the use of new and experimental medical procedures.

While low premium rates have provided significant savings to employers, Oregon has continued to make several changes to its workers’ compensation system that benefit injured workers. For example:

• Benefits for permanent disability have increased between 600 percent and 800 percent since the late 1980s, depending on the type of injury, and they now go up automatically as statewide wages increase.

• Oregon’s wage replacement benefits are now among the highest nationally.

• The rate at which workers’ claims are denied has held steady in the past 15 years and has declined slightly since 2002.

• Workers have more rights in the independent medical examination process, with the ability to contest the examination location, bring in an observer during the examination, and file complaints.

• Workers are receiving medical benefits more quickly. The department’s Workers’ Compensation Division has reduced the average time it takes to resolve medical disputes 57 percent since 2005.

“We will continue to work with the Management-Labor Advisory Committee to further improve benefits to workers while keeping costs low for employers,” Streisinger said.

For example, the Management-Labor Advisory Committee is developing recommendations to improve workers’ compensation death benefits and plans to submit a legislative proposal to the 2009 Legislature.

The department also announced that two workers’ compensation fees will remain unchanged next year. The workers’ compensation premium assessment, which pays for the administration of workers’ compensation and workplace safety programs, is proposed to remain at 4.6 percent in 2009 (4.8 percent for self-insured employers and employer groups). The Workers’ Benefit Fund assessment, which pays for special benefits for injured workers and their employers, will remain at 2.8 cents-per-hour worked in 2009. Employers and workers each pay half of the Workers’ Benefit Fund assessment. Neither the premium assessment nor the Workers’ Benefit Fund assessment have increased in the past seven years.

The pure premium rate and the Workers’ Benefit Fund assessment go into effect Jan. 1, 2009. The Department of Consumer and Business Services will hold a hearing to invite public comment on the premium assessment recommendation Sept. 22 at 2 p.m. in conference room “F” in the Labor and Industries Building, 350 Winter St. NE in Salem.

Please see links below for more information:

• Workers’ Compensation Rate Questions & Answers

• Workers’ Compensation Rate Fact Sheet

• Workers’ Compensation Rate Graphs

Oregon OSHA to Increase Tower Crane Inspections, Emphasis Program to Evaluate Safety

Because of the number of recent tower crane failures and accidents across the country, Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) will begin a tower crane emphasis. Starting this month, the agency will increase its focus to inspect more tower cranes at construction sites across the state.

The program will be limited to tower cranes and will not cover mobile cranes. Inspectors will assess some of the following during inspections:

• Crane operator qualifications

• Crane maintenance (manufacturer guidelines) and inspection records

• Training records

“We haven’t had a deadly tower crane accident in Oregon in more than two decades, which is fortunate,” said Oregon OSHA Administrator Michael Wood. “However, we want to ensure that employers are fulfilling their responsibility to inspect cranes and ensure operators
are properly trained.”

Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, will evaluate the program’s effectiveness and findings in July 2009. The scope of an inspection may be expanded to address unrelated hazards if they pose a serious danger.

Site Visits and E-Mentors Needed

The Academy for Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) opens its doors on September 3, a cause for celebration and gratitude to so many of you who have made this day possible. Now for the REAL fun! At this initial point in time, we would like to invite and request your participation with ACE students in two important ways: hosting a worksite visit and/or participating as an ACE E-Mentor.

We have designed both the site visit and e-mentor opportunities with your busy schedules and workload in mind, and we’ll work with ACE teachers to maximize student learning in each interaction. Here are the details:

ACE Site Visits: Residential, Infrastructure, and Commercial/High-Rise

What we need: A project worksite tour and project overview/discussion (between 1.5 and 2 hours—in the morning if possible). There will be a set of key questions that will guide the discussion with students. They will be responsible for specific learning outcomes that we will share with you before the visit. We will be splitting the students into groups of 15 to ensure the best environment for listening and observing, so we will need several visit hosts for each of three categories:

Category 1: Residential Dates: Thursday, October 16 and Monday, October 20

Category 2: Infrastructure Dates: Thursday, October 23 and Monday, October 27

Category 3: Commercial/High-Rise Dates: Thursday, October 30 and Friday, October 31

Be an ACE E-Mentor

What we need: Professionals of all kinds and in all sectors related to careers in architecture, construction/ contracting and engineering, to spend a ¬few minutes (15 or so) each week to respond to a question posed over email, with an optional workplace visit wherein your mentees visit you at your place of work or project site during the year. Optional kick-off gathering and end-of-the-year celebration and recognition.

Questions and other short activities will be well organized and scheduled so that you can know what’s ahead each week. Each E-Mentor will be in a group with three or four other mentors representing different A, C, and E sectors so that students will get the benefit of:

1. A personal and positive mentor relationship with a successful adult professional (message: you can do it!)
   AND

2. A range of perspectives that will begin to give them a view of the design-build industry sectors and how professionals need to work together across-sector.

Please let us know how you can participate by providing the information requested. We would also appreciate your passing this form on to others in your company. Thank you for what you have done and are doing to support ACE Academy programs, teachers, and students!

Click here for information and a form to be an E-mentor or site visit host!

AGC/SAIF Group Participants to Receive Record $12.3 Million Retro Return

July 21, 2008

Wilsonville, Ore. – AGC and SAIF Corporation announced today a $12.3 million retrospective return for more than 700 companies participating in the 2006–2007 AGC/SAIF group workers’ compensation program. This represents an approximate 28 percent return of paid premiums during the policy year and is the largest retro return paid in the group’s 18 year history.

This retro return is the cumulative effect of true partnership efforts. Participating members, their employees, AGC staff, SAIF personnel, and insurance agents all work conscientiously throughout the year reducing and managing claims, returning injured employees to work, and minimizing costs to achieve the greatest possible retro return, thus maximizing savings for all participants.

“My company has been participating in this program since its start in 1990, and nearly every year we find out the AGC group has earned another retro return. That in itself is pretty exciting. But it is more than just the money—it is the depth and breadth of safety and workers’ compensation expertise and knowledge that we receive from AGC and SAIF. Over the long haul, by helping me to develop strong programs and a safety culture, and providing excellent training and guidance, Todd Hess Building Company has become a better contractor, and we can provide improved services to our clients. Everyone truly benefits from the program,” said Todd Hess, president of Todd Hess Building Company and 2008 AGC chapter president.

“The retro return is a welcome boon coming at a time when the economy continues to cool, especially in the construction market. Lower insurance costs enable employers to invest in safer workplaces and support the economy. Providing our members access to affordable insurance programs and construction expertise are just a few of the many benefits of AGC,” said Colette Evers, AGC group programs manager.