Tip of the Month: Why We Should Support Drug Free Workplace Pt. 2

According to statistics substance abusers are: (source: American Council for Drug Education’s)

• Ten times more likely to miss work.
• 3.6 times more likely to be involved in on the job accidents.
• Five times more likely to file a Workers Compensation Claim.
• 33% less productive.
• Responsible for Health Care costs that are three times higher than non-abusers.

What should you be looking for?:

• Frequent, prolonged and often unexplained absences.
• Involvement in accidents both on and off the job.
• Erratic work patterns and reduced productivity.
• Indifference to personal hygiene.
• Over reaction to real or imagined criticism.
• Such overt physical signs as exhaustion, or hyperactivity, dilated pupils, slurred speech, or an unsteady walk.

Marijuana users may have bloodshot or glassy eyes or a persistent cough.

Cocaine users display increased energy and enthusiasm early in their drug involvement.  Later they may be subject to extreme mood swings and can become paranoid or delusional.

Alcohol abusers find it hard to conceal morning after hangovers.  Their productivity declines and they may show sign of physical deterioration.  Stay tuned!

Tim's Talking About Worker's Comp, Health Care Reform, Microsoft and Strippers...

Stripper Fraud

Just when you think you’ve see everything a Pennsylvania woman was recently accused of illegally accepting Workers Compensation Payments.  What makes this interesting is that Christina Gamble, 43 works as a stripper.  She said she hurt her back working as a waitress but was later caught dancing at the Fanny’s Gentlemen Club on tape by the insurance carrier.

I bet there was no shortage of volunteers to conduct the surveillance.

 

Be careful about ending a temps assignment after an injury occurs

“No employer shall discharge, demote, reassign, or take any punitive action against any employee because the employee filed a claim or instituted, pursued or testified in any proceeding under the Workers Compensation Act for an injury or Occupational Disease which occurred in the course of and arising out of his employment with that employer.”

This is how this scenario sometimes plays out in the Staffing Industry.  A temp gets hurt while working an assignment and is either given work restrictions which the client cannot accommodate or is totally disabled.  When the temp is given a full duty release to return to work the staffing service contacts the client about returning the temp to work and is told they want to end the assignment.  In the meantime, the client keeps ordering new temps to perform the same job as the injured temp.

If this sounds like you, a review of section 4123.90 of the Ohio Workers Compensation Law may be in order.  Reinstatement with back pay and attorney costs are your incentive.

What does this have to do with health care reform?

Did you know under the new Health Care Bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% sales tax?  This doesn’t kick in until 2013.  On a $200,000 home there will be a $7,600 tax just in time to stick it to the retiring generation who often downsizes their homes.

Now that's staffing!

It is estimated by the Seattle Times that Microsoft outsources about half their workforce.  That is somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 employees.

The average company these days is estimated to have 13% of its workforce in a contingent mode.

So significant is the Microsoft number their Senior Procurement Manager was recently included as one of the 25 most powerful people in Staffing.

In case you were curious, Ryan Staffing was once again left off this list.