SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: EXAMPLES OF DISCRIMINATORY HIRING INQUIRIES

Posted on January 4, 2011 by admin

Part 1

Silkin Management Group clients exist throughout the U.S. and are often in a hiring mode due to the expansion of their practice’s productivity from the various management systems that we introduce to their practice. Therefore knowing what are acceptable and unacceptable hiring practices is vitally important, especially given the litigious nature of employment law.

In yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog, which you can access here: More Ideas On How to Avoid Employee Litigation, we discussed points to look at before hiring an employee that will help you avoid potential future employee legal issues.

Today, and in future blogs, we’ll give examples for Silkin Management Group clients and non-clients alike of discriminatory inquiries during the hiring process. Today we’ll present three examples:

1. Here’s one you may not have thought of:  What can or cannot you ask   regarding the person’s name?

A discriminatory inquiry regarding a person’s name would include asking for a change of name or the original name of an applicant whose name has been legally changed, or asking for a maiden name. What would be acceptable would be to ask for information relative to a change of name, use of an assumed name or nickname necessary to enable a check on an applicant’s work records.

2.  And here’s a very obvious one:  You cannot ask anything about an applicant’s race, color of applicant’s skin, eyes, hair, etc.  There is nothing that is an acceptable inquiry along these lines. Nothing.

3.  Here’s one you may not have thought of – photographs.  You should not ask for a photograph with an application or after the interview but before hiring. You can make a statement that a photo may be required after employment.

As mentioned in earlier Silkin Management Group blogs on this subject, our consultants recommend to their clients to review all employment legal issues with an attorney whose practice involves employment law.

In our next Silkin Management Group blog we’ll present some additional examples of acceptable and non-acceptable inquiries during the hiring process.

For more information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or call us at 800-695-0257.

Dave McKevitt

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: WANT TO FIRE AN EMPLOYEE?

Posted on December 27, 2010 by admin

What Are The Key Legal Issues?

Silkin Management Group, having been in the business of delivering practice management training and consulting for nearly 30 years, has clients throughout the United States and Canada.  One of the key issues that we work with Silkin Management Group clients on is the area of human resources – hiring, training and handling staff.

We’ve written numerous articles in the past on many aspects of dealing with staff on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites.  Today we’ll simply cover some key items that can cause legal problems for anyone firing a staff member. If you are aware of these issues, you can be pro-active in how you approach letting an employee go and thus go a long way in avoiding legal issues that could arise from a firing.

  • Do you have an “at will” employment contract?  Such a contract means that either the employer or the employee can end the employment at any time for any reason.  Having such a contract in place is one of the key first steps in protecting yourself.
  • Has the employee made complaints about sexual harassment?  If so, was it handled properly?  If not, you run a high risk of legal problems if you want to fire this employee without having properly handled such a claim.  And, even if you did handle it properly, such an employee can come back at you after the firing and say you didn’t handle it properly and that they were fired because they made the claim.  In either case, we tell all Silkin Management Group clients to consult a good employment attorney before firing anyone who fits into this category.
  • Has the employee made prior complaints about illegal activity in your office?  If so the same information and advice as covered above for a person who has made a sexual harassment claim should be followed.
  • Is the employee a member of any protected class, thus protected by discrimination laws? Some of the protected classes are race, religion, sex, disability and national origin. If the employee is a member of one of these classes (and many people can easily claim that they are a member of such a class), make sure you have excellent documentation on what has led up to the firing, including previous written warnings, specifics on their violations, etc. Again, when in doubt, consult an attorney.

These are just some of the most key issues that we tell Silkin Management Group clients to be aware of when looking at terminating an employee.

If you’d like more information about how Silkin Management Group can help you in the management of your practice, contact us at 800-695-0257 or email us at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com

Gary Crawshaw

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: DETERMINING PRACTICE VALUES

Posted on December 17, 2010 by admin

Part 2

Silkin Management Group, for nearly 30 years, has delivered its practice management program to clients throughout the U.S. and Canada. Some Silkin Management Group clients are interested in buying or selling practices and wonder how one best determines the price of a practice.

In yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog, which you can link to here – http://www.silkinmanagementgroup.info/silkin-management-group-determining-practice-values/ – we discussed one method of practice valuation that has been used extensively, but one we think is not very good. That method is using one year’s practice income equaling the value of the practice.  This is a poor method as it doesn’t take into account the viability/profitability of a practice. Certainly a million dollar practice providing $100,000 of income for the doctor is not worth as much as an $800,000 practice that provides $300,000 of income for the owner.

Here are some of the factors and questions to consider that any good practice evaluator must take into account:

  • Gross production of the practice
  • Amount of income, both in salary and profit the owner is able to take out, both total and as a percentage of income.
  • The value of the equipment of the practice.
  • Is the building owned or leased?  If owned is the building for sale?  If leased, is the lease at fair market value or was it inflated to give the doctor/owner another method of income with better tax consequences?
  • How long has the practice existed?
  • How many patient files are there?
  • How effective is the recall system?
  • What is the average production per patient?
  • How long has each staff member been there – has there been a lot of staff turnover or are the staff stable?
  • What type of management systems exist for tracking production in all areas and jobs in the office?
  • Are office policies and job descriptions fully in place?
  • How efficient is the office – what is the income to staff ratio?
  • What type of debt does the practice have for equipment and any other items. Who will be responsible for the debt and how does that affect cash flow?
  • How will the practice sale be financed?
  • What effect will the practice sale financial payments have on the cash flow of the practice?

This is not a full list of every item to look at in a practice sale or purchase, but a starting list of key items to begin any evaluation with. As you can see, there are many, many factors besides just one year’s income of a practice that should go into determining its value. Each of these items are also key management issues that Silkin Management Group clients are taught to monitor and control. If you are buying or selling a practice, make sure that all of these factors are taken into account in any practice valuation.

If you’d like more information on how Silkin Management Group can help your practice, contact us at 800-695-0257 or visit Silkin Management Group’s website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

Jack Hennessy

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: HEALTH CARE REFORM

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Silkin Management Group WILL IT SAVE OR COST YOU MONEY?

Part 3

Silkin Management Group’s last two blog articles have discussed what will be happening in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 in terms of the new health care legislation.  As this legislation has serious ramifications on all small businesses, and as all Silkin Management Group clients are small businesses, we feel it vitally important that we keep all of our clients abreast of the timing of the important points of this legislation.  You can access Silkin Management Group’s last two articles through these links: http://silkinmanagementgroup.blogspot.com/2010/12/silkin-management-group-health-care.html and http://www.silkinmanagementgroup.info/silkin-management-group-health-care-reform/

As we covered in the two earlier articles mentioned above, it is extremely important that you stay abreast of this subject because the rules surrounding this legislation will be constantly changing over the upcoming years. New government agencies are being set up and clarifications to regulations as well as new regulations will be issued. Silkin Management Group will continually watch for these changes as they appear and write about them on our various blog sites.

As the year 2014 is when most of the key legislative points will be enacted, we thought we’d summarize that year in the last of this series.

2014

The Beginning of Health Insurance Exchanges. In 2014, every state will open insurance exchanges. These exchanges are designed to aid both individuals and small businesses with up to 50 employees find cost effective coverage.

Mandated Insurance for Individuals. In 2014 all individuals will be legally required to have health insurance coverage or pay a fine. The fine starts at $95 and increases afterwards. This mandate is at the crux of several lawsuits that are fighting the constitutionality of this legislation.

Mandated Insurance for Employers. If you are an employer with 50 or more employees, you will have to provide insurance or pay a fine. The amount of fines vary based on a variety of rules that we will all have to get more familiar with.  Silkin Management Group blog sites will write about these rules as they become clearer. If you have less than 50 employees, the rules will be less harsh.

Automatic Enrollment. If you have more than 200 full-time employees you must then automatically enroll all new employees into the health insurance plan. Employees can opt out if they don’t want coverage.

Federal Government Subsidies. The federal government will subsidize families that can’t afford premiums. There will be a formula issued for this using the poverty line as some type of benchmark.

Benefits Package Contents. There will be, as yet to be elucidated criteria that all employers will have to meet for every insurance plan. This is a great example of new rules and regulations that everyone will need to keep an eye out for and be aware of as the rules get issued.

If you’d like any further information on how Silkin Management Group can help you, feel free to call us at 800-695-0257 or visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

Bill Hickey

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: SOME POSSIBLE TAX SAVINGS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Posted on December 6, 2010 by admin

Silkin Management Group blog articles have recently gone over a variety of year-end tax related information that all business owners should be aware of.  You can read these articles on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites.

A new guideline was just issued by the Obama Administration that could result in some additional tax savings for some small businesses that provide health insurance for their employees. One of the key guidelines applies to businesses with fewer than 25 employees.  Silkin Management Group clients are all small businesses and almost all have fewer than 25 employees as our clients are primarily private practice owners in the dental, veterinary and optometric health care fields. Thus this guideline could be useful for them.

If your business has fewer than 25 employees and you pay average wages less than $50,000 per year, and you pay for most of your employee’s health care insurance, you may qualify for a tax credit of up to 35% of what you paid for this coverage. This could be a very nice tax savings for many small business owners as a tax credit is usually an amount that you subtract directly from taxes owed.

As many small businesses are family run operations, a significant problem can arise, though. The law does not allow for any tax credit for payments that were for members of the owner’s family (including in-laws and cousins).  This doesn’t apply to most Silkin Management Group clients, but it can certainly affect other small businesses.

If you want more information about this, visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov.  The form used for this tax credit is form 8941.  (Hey, we only have about 1100 more forms to go to reach 10,000 IRS forms!  Government efficiency at its best.)

You can find out more about Silkin Management Group by visiting our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or calling us at 800-695-0257.

Dave McKevitt

Consultant for Silkin Management Group

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: THE HEALTH CARE LAW SEEMS TO BE ON ROCKY FOOTING

Posted on November 30, 2010 by admin

Silkin Management Group blog sites over the past year have presented numerous articles on the new health care legislation passed by the Obama administration.  We’ve discussed in detail the various ramifications this legislation will have on small businesses and what Silkin Management Group clients need to be aware of regarding the effects of this legislation.

One of the matters that we’ve discussed is the various pending constitutional appeals that are winding their way through our legal system. In a Silkin Management Group blog about a month ago, we presented information on the first legal ruling challenging the law in which a federal district judge in Michigan upheld the legislation.

Just last week, though, there were indications that two other judges might rule in the opposite direction. A federal court judge in Virginia has given indications that he may reject the primary provision of the law as unconstitutional and possibly stop its enforcement until higher courts rule. (It seems to be a well accepted fact that, ultimately, this legislation will be ruled on by the Supreme Court.).  Additionally, a federal court judge in Florida has joined the Virginia judge in writing preliminary opinions that seem to validate some of the key legal arguments of those challenging the law.

If this appellate procedure takes several years, which most experts think it will, what affects will that have on businesses and health care providers?  Hospitals across the country have spent millions and millions of dollars to prepare themselves to carry out the law.  Insurers have done the same. Small businesses, like Silkin Management Group clients, have made various preparations to implement this legislation.

With everything potentially “up in the air” until the legislation reaches the Supreme Court, Silkin Management Group clients are asking us, “what should we do?”  Our recommendation is to wait and see what the Virginia and Florida judges decide.  The Virginia judge has indicated he will rule before the end of the year. If he rules against the legislation, what form will his ruling take?  Will he enjoin the enforcement of the entire legislation or just parts of it?  We have to wait and see.  We’ll update everyone concerned in future Silkin Management Group blogs as the information comes out.

Gary Crawshaw

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: DID YOU HIRE ANYONE THIS YEAR?

Posted on November 22, 2010 by admin

There Might Be Some Tax Savings

Silkin Management Group clients, all of whom are small businesses, are often involved in hiring new employees as they expand their office’s productivity. In many of our Silkin Management Group blogs we’ve written about various hiring techniques, including interview questions and proper office policy for new employees.

In the last few weeks, on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites we’ve presented a variety of ideas on tax planning for the end of the year. With that in mind, we thought we’d present some possible little known tax savings for some new employees that any business, whether a Silkin Management Group client or not, might take advantage of if they did any hiring this year.

Possible Exemption From Social Security Taxes For Wages Paid to New Hires

Wages paid to a qualified new employee between March 19, 2010 and December 31, 2010 are exempt from the employers portion of the Social Security tax. The employer portion equals 6.2% of wages up to $106,800.  The exemption doesn’t apply to the employee’s portion of the Social Security tax, which is also 6.2% of the wages of up to $106,800.  Here’s what “qualified new employees” are – full or part time workers who a) start work after February 3, 2010 and by no later than December 31,, 2010, and b) were not employed more than 40 hours during the 60 day period ending on the start date. Also, the new worker cannot displace a current employee unless that person quit voluntarily or was discharged for cause. Wages paid to workers who are related to an owner of the employer may be ineligible.

So, if you hired any new employees this year, take a look if they qualified under the conditions outlined above. If so, you may be able to save on your portion of social security taxes.

If you’d like more information about Silkin Management Group, contact us at 800-695-0257.

Jack Hennessy

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: MORE IDEAS ON 2010 TAX PLANNING

Posted on November 16, 2010 by admin

Part 5: Strategies on Selling Securities

In yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog article (which you can link to here: http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/?p=76), we went over the fact that long term capital gains tax is scheduled to increase from 15% in 2010 to 20% in 2011.  With that in mind, our accounting firm (Carl Foster CPA LLC) recommended the possibility of selling this year appreciated securities that one has held for more than a year.

Given that Silkin Management Group is a practice management company, not a tax firm we cannot recommend specific tax advice but, at the same time, we try to keep Silkin Management Group clients informed of relevant information that can affect their financial decisions.

Today we’ll present some more information from our tax firm on issues to look at regarding capital gains. Some of this may be relevant if you still have losses from the 2008 stock market crash.

MORE ON CAPITAL GAINS/LOSSES STRATEGIES:

To the extent you have capital losses from earlier this year or a capital loss carryover from pre-2010 years (most likely from the 2008 stock market meltdown), selling appreciated securities this year will be a tax-free deal because the losses will shelter your gains.  Using capital losses to shelter short-term capital gains is especially helpful because short-term gains will be taxed at your regular rate (which could be as high as 35%) if they are left unsheltered.

What if you have some loser securities (currently worth less than you paid for them) that you would like to dump?  Biting the bullet and selling them this year would trigger capital losses that you can use to shelter capital gains, including high-taxed short-term gains from other sales this year. If you think your investments that are currently underwater are poised for a comeback, you can buy them back after taking a loss as long as you don’t reacquire them within 30 days before or after the sale.

More to come in future Silkin Management Group blog articles.

For more information about Silkin Management Group, contact us at 800-695-0257.

Bill Hickey

Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: A BREAKTHROUGH ON THE NEW 1099 PROVISION?

Posted on November 4, 2010 by admin

Over the last several months, we’ve discussed on our various Silkin Management Group
blog sites the ridiculous new 1099 reporting provision that was hidden in the health care
legislation.

As a quick refresher on this for Silkin Management Group clients and non-clients alike,
the health care legislation passed months ago had a hidden provision that had nothing to
do with health care. That provision requires all businesses to submit a 1099 form to the
IRS for every business vendor from whom any business buys more than $600 in goods or
services in a year. Prior to this legislation, one only had to submit a 1099 for vendors that
you paid for services. Now it is to include goods as well as services which will create
an administrative nightmare for all businesses as well as the IRS. A survey of Silkin
Management Group clients has shown us that a great deal of extra work will be required
by this provision.

In one of our past Silkin Management Group blogs we pointed out how only 10% of the
people in Congress had ever operated or owned a business. But it is these same people
who are creating laws that tremendously affect businesses. That’s like having a lay
person come up with medical procedures, based upon their opinion of what they think
would be right to do and passing a law saying that a doctor had to follow this procedure.
It truly is that crazy.

Fortunately, with the recent landslide change in the make-up of Congress, President
Obama addressed this provision and is willing to look at changing it. Here’s his quote:

“It just involves too much paperwork, too much filing,” Obama said of the “1099” tax
reporting provision. “It’s probably counterproductive. It was designed to make sure that
revenue was raised to help pay for some of the other provisions, but if it ends up just
being so much trouble that small businesses find it difficult to manage, that’s something
that we should take a look at.”

You can read more about this at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/
44672.html#ixzz14L2H64VL

It’s good to hear that our votes are making a meaningful impression.

If you would like more information about Silkin Management Group and how we can
help raise your productivity and efficiency, contact the Silkin Management Group offices
at 800-695-0257.

Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: MORE ON EXEMPT AND NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEES

Posted on October 27, 2010 by admin

Silkin Management Group has presented a series of articles over the last several weeks on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites on the subject of office policy. Our last two articles concerned employee classification, including exempt and non-exempt employees. You can link to those articles here.  http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/

Due to interest in this subject from Silkin Management Group clients, in our next few blogs we will cover more information about exempt and non-exempt employees. Today we will discuss exempt employees in more detail.

Exempt Employees:

An “exempt” employee means that that person is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime provisions. The FSLA requires that in addition to paying at least minimum wage, employers must also pay 1.5 times their regular hourly pay for any overtime worked.  And, to make matters more complicated, most states have their own wage and hours laws that have additional regulations above and beyond the FSLA. Consultants at Silkin Management Group recommend to their clients to make sure they are knowledgeable about the specific laws in their area. If you are an employer, as all Silkin Management Group clients are, you must make sure you conform with both federal and state wage and hours laws in order to avoid any legal problems in this area.

Exempt employees generally covers professional, administrative and executive employees. For Silkin Management Group clients, this would include doctors, office managers, and trained professionals such as hygienists. Administrative staff is less clear, but for such staff to be exempt they must perform work that is directly related to the running of a business, not merely the day-to-day carrying out of its affairs. They need to have management duties and customarily and regularly exercise authority to make decisions of significance. For example, it is unlikely that a receptionist would fit into this category unless he/she was also the office manager.

Several good websites to visit that will give you more information on this subject are: http://www.hrhero.com/topics/exempt.html

http://www.allbusiness.com/government/employment-regulations/808-1.html

http://www.paychex.com/pdf/exempt.pdf

If you would like more information about Silkin Management Group or Silkin Management Group’s Office Policy and Job Description Manual, feel free to contact us at: 800-695-0257.

Bill Hickey
Silkin Management Group Consultant

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