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Your Monthly
Newsletter from Integrated Benefit Solutions
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August 2017
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USCIS Releases New Form I-9
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 U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) has
released a new version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility
Verification. By September 18, 2017, employers must
use only the new version.
Compliance Dates for New Form I-9
The new Form I-9 features a revision date of July 17, 2017. While
employers may continue using a Form I-9 with a revision date of
November 14, 2016 through September 17, 2017, as of
September 18, 2017, employers must use only the new
version.
Changes to Form I-9
The following revisions have been made to the List of Acceptable
Documents section of the new Form I-9:
- The Consular Report of Birth Abroad
(Form FS-240) has been added to List C. Employers completing
Form I-9 on a computer are now able to select Form FS-240
from the drop-down menus available in List C of Section 2
and Section 3.
- All the certifications of report of
birth issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form FS-545,
Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240) are now combined into
selection C#2 in List C.
- All List C documents have been
renumbered except the Social Security card. For example, the
employment authorization document issued by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security on List C has changed from
List C #8 to List C #7.
The new Form I-9 can be downloaded here.
For more information on complying with the
employment eligibility verification requirements, please visit
our Form I-9
section.
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Summer's Here and So is Spear Phishing
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 Cyber
attacks and resulting data breaches often begin with a spear-phishing
email. Spear phishing differs from regular email phishing in
its use of extensive research to target a specific audience,
which allows the spear phisher to pose as a familiar and trusted
entity in its email to a mark. Spear phishers seek a company's
valuable information—such as credentials providing access to
customer lists, trade secrets, and confidential employee
information—and some of their methods include:
- Directing email recipients to fake
(but authentic-looking) websites that ask for information
like account numbers, passwords, or other credentials; and
- Inducing recipients to click on links
or attachments that download malware onto the recipient's
computer. The malware often allows the phisher to steal
passwords and sensitive data by, for example, tracking
keystrokes.
The IRS offers
the following tips to protect against spear phishing:
- Educate all employees about
phishing in general and spear phishing in particular.
- Use strong, unique passwords
with a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters.
Also, remember to use different passwords for each account.
- Never take an email from a familiar
source at face value, especially if it asks you to open a
link or attachment, or includes a threat about a dire
consequence that will result if you fail to take action.
- If an email contains a link, hover your cursor over the link
to see the web address (URL) destination. If it's not a URL
you recognize, or if it's an abbreviated URL, don't open it.
- Poor grammar and odd wording are warning
signs of a spear-phishing email.
- Consider calling the sender to confirm
the authenticity of an email you're unsure of, but don't use
the phone number in the email.
- Use security software that updates
automatically to help defend against malware, viruses, and
known phishing sites.
Check out our Employee Records
and Files section for more on how to protect
confidential employee information.
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5 Guidelines for Protecting Employees from Heat
Stress
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 With the dog days of summer
under way, it is critical that employers recognize the hazards of
working in hot environments and take steps to reduce the risk to
workers. Consider taking the following actions that can help
protect employees:
- Provide heat stress
training.
Topics you may wish to address include worker risk,
prevention, symptoms, treatment, and personal protective
equipment.
- Schedule hot jobs
for the cooler part of the day. The best way to prevent
heat illness is to make the work environment cooler. Monitor
weather reports daily and reschedule jobs with high heat
exposure to cooler times of the day. When possible, routine
maintenance and repair projects should be scheduled for the
cooler seasons of the year.
- Provide rest
periods with water breaks. Provide workers with plenty of cool
water in convenient, visible locations in shade or air
conditioning that are close to the work area. Avoid alcohol
and drinks with large amounts of caffeine or sugar.
- Monitor workers who
are at risk of heat stress. Workers are at an
increased risk of heat stress when wearing personal
protective equipment, when the outside temperature exceeds
70°F, or while working at high energy levels.
Establish a routine to periodically check workers for
signs and symptoms of overexposure.
- Acclimatize workers
by exposing them for progressively longer periods to hot
work environments.
Allow workers to get used to hot environments by gradually
increasing exposure over at least a 5-day work period. The
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) suggests beginning with 50% of the normal
workload and time spent in the hot environment, and then
gradually building up to 100% by the fifth day.
Our section on Safety &
Wellness includes additional tips for maintaining a
safe and healthy workplace.
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MLR Rebates Due to Plan Sponsors by September 30
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 The Medical Loss Ratio (MLR)
rules under Health Care Reform require an issuer to provide
rebates if its medical loss ratio (the amount of health insurance
premiums spent on health care and activities to improve health
care quality) falls short of the applicable standard during a
reporting year. Each year's rebates must be provided by
issuers to policyholders (typically the employer that sponsors
the plan) by September 30 of the following year.
Employer Distribution
The MLR rules
provide that issuers must pay any rebates owed to persons covered
under a group health plan to the policyholder, who is then
responsible for distributing the rebate to eligible plan
enrollees.
In general, there are several ways rebates may be
distributed to plan enrollees, including:
- A rebate check in the mail;
- A lump-sum reimbursement to the same
account that was used to pay the premium if it was paid by
credit card or debit card; or
- A direct reduction in future premiums.
In addition to the above methods, employers may
also apply the rebate in a way that benefits employees.
Check out our section on Medical Loss Ratio
(MLR) Rebates & Employer Responsibilities to learn
more.
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Distracted Driving is Risky Business
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We've all heard the messages: Distracted driving
is dangerous, and sadly, responsible for thousands of deaths a
year. With motor vehicle accidents being one of the leading
causes of workplace fatalities, distracted driving can also be
risky business. Learn what you can do as an employer to
discourage distracted driving by your employees in the video
below.
For more safety tips, please visit our Safety &
Wellness section.
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