Client Spotlight

Spring is the perfect time of the year to spotlight one of our long-term clients, Insta-Brite Mobile Washing, Inc.

For over 40 years, Insta-Brite Mobile Washing, Inc. has been distinguished as the premier provider of pressure washing and related cleaning services. They are focused on meeting their customers’ needs, including reliability, responsiveness, and consistent quality.  Their clients highly recommend Insta-Brite and all agree on their exceptional service!

They are located in Whitman, Massachusetts, and operate a fleet of 16 mobile units which are operated by professionals dedicated to solving each of their customers’ unique facility, residential, kitchen, and fleet cleaning challenges.

Fidelity Bond (ERISA)

A fidelity bond protects a business against theft of its assets as a result of dishonest actions by employees. It does not cover the assets within a company’s retirement plan because plan assets are not the property of the company, but of the plan beneficiaries.

The Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was put into place to safeguard employee retirement plans.  Among other things, it requires the posting of an ERISA fidelity bond to protect the retirement plan from losses caused by fraudulent or dishonest acts by persons who handle the plan.

A plan must be bonded for no less than 10% of the amount of the plan funds.  In most cases, the maximum ERISA bond required is $500,000 per plan, however higher limits are available.  They are issued on a “blanket” basis, so everyone who handles the plan is covered.

Fiduciary Liability Insurance

Fiduciary liability insurance provides coverage for breaches of duty by ERISA plan fiduciaries.  Fiduciaries are those responsible for operating and administering a retirement plan under ERISA.  Some of these duties include:  authority and management over plan assets, making high-quality prudent decisions, documenting and rendering investment advice over the plan’s assets.  Unlike the fidelity bond, fiduciary liability insurance also offers fiduciaries protection of personal assets.  Fiduciaries who breach their duties may be personally liable to make the plan whole for any losses caused by their breach, including lost opportunity and litigation costs.  Fiduciary liability insurance can be purchased as part of an organizations management liability insurance program or on a stand-alone basis.

At Cleary, we will evaluate your business exposures and work with you to develop a comprehensive plan to safeguard your business. Give us a call today at 617-723-0700.

On September 7, 2015, President Obama signed Executive Order 13706, Establishment of Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors. The Executive Order requires employers that contract with the Federal Government to provide their workers with up to seven days of paid sick time annually. Regulations regarding the implementation are due from the Secretary of Labor by September 30, 2016. The Order applies to new and replacement for expiring federal contracts, on or after January 1, 2017.

Under the Order, employees may accrue up to 56 hours of sick leave annually. Any unused leave may be carried over, year to year. This sick leave is in addition to wage and benefit obligations under the Service Contract Act (SCA) and the Davis Bacon Act (DBA). If you would like to read more information about the Order please click here.

It is important that all contractors prepare themselves to meet the proposed Executive Order and have their personnel properly trained and ready to deal with SCA and DBA employees.

At Cleary, we know how important a comprehensive benefits package can be to your continued success. Give us a call today at 617-723-0700 and we will work with you to create a plan that meets your fringe-benefit obligations and provides your employees with valuable benefits.

Employers have new challenges to contend with in 2016, resulting from Supreme Court decisions, federal and state legislation, and actions by federal regulatory agencies. There is a real cost for employers who fail to comply with new laws. For example, the most recent Performance Accountability Report for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), states that victims of discrimination received more than $525 million from private and government workplaces in 2015.

The following are four important issues that should be closely monitored in 2016:

1. Overtime Rule Change: The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a rule to expand who is entitled to overtime pay. Once regulations are finalized, it is possible that many overtime-exempt employees will become eligible unless employers raise their salaries—a move that could cost employers billions of dollars.
2. Same-sex Marriage: Since same-sex marriage is now accepted at a federal level, employers are required to provide the same benefits to same-sex couples as they do for opposite-sex couples. Employers must revisit their policies and practices regarding Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), employee benefits, leave policies, marriage statuses and tax information in order to ensure that they treat all married couples equally.
3. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Pursuit of Workplace Policies: The NLRB has been proactive in pursuing employers whose handbook policies can be reasonably interpreted as infringing upon the rights of employees to engage in protected conduct. In doing so, the NLRB has found that certain employer policies, such as those that deal with social media, confidentiality and employee communications, violate employee rights. Because of this development, current workplace policies should be reviewed and drafted carefully to avoid ambiguous language that could be interpreted as interfering with the right to engage in protected, concerted activity.
4. Health Care Reform: Many employers are faced with the challenge of complying with the new annual health care reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Applicable large employers (ALEs) and non-ALEs with self-insured plans were required to provide Forms 1095 or 1094 to their employees for the first time starting in 2016 for the 2015 tax year. Penalties for not doing so, or for providing inaccurate information, could be substantial. It is important for employers to know which forms to complete and what information to include.

Employers should also keep an eye on any relevant implications that might emerge as a result of the 2016 presidential election—specifically in regards to the Cadillac tax delay. Should the Cadillac tax go into effect in 2020, employers need to be sure that they are either ready to pay the tax or ready to make necessary changes to their health care plans.

At Cleary, we know how important a comprehensive benefits package can be to your continued success. Give us a call today at 617-723-0700 and we will work with you to create a plan that meets your business objectives, takes into account state and federal laws, and capitalizes on incentives and innovative solutions now being offered.

More frequently known as 3-P’s (PPP), Public Private Partnerships are becoming more prevalent as a way to finance, engineer, construct, and operate infrastructure projects across the United States. They have been used in other countries for some time now. For example the EU has had over 260 Billion Euro’s worth of 3P projects since 1990.

PPP involves a contract between a public sector authority and a private party in which the private party provides for a public project and assumes substantial financial, technical, and operational risk of the project. In some cases those end uses of the project bear the cost of of the project rather the the taxpayer. Toll roads are an example of this.

There are a few reasons why these have now taken hold in the United States. First, it is a way for government entities to harness the engineering and technical efficiencies of the private sector to bring projects on line. Second, it allows for the project to be done “off balance sheet” of the government entity. The funding is arranged for by the private sector vehicle implementing the project, although they can sometimes be done “on balance sheet” where the government entity compensates over time but gains substantial deferred cash flows.

As you can guess, the formation and structure of a PPP can be very very complex, daunting, costly, and time consuming for all parties involved. The jury is still out as to their overall success or failure. There haven’t been enough of them in the United States to conclude their viability. However, they aren’t going away any time soon.