With spring weather finally arriving, many companies are now hiring summer interns or have youth employment. There are some tricky pieces to young employment that are worth sharing with you. First be advised or warned that youth employment rules are strictly enforced. Regulators take great care of providing an extra layer of protection for employees under 18 years old. Let me cover some of the restrictions that apply to employees under 18. The law is clear about occupational duties that are restricted based on age. Employees under the age of 18 are prohibited from working in ANY hazardous or injurious occupation. The regulations then specify some of the items included in their hazardous or injurious tasks: driving, working power equipment, exposure to hazardous substances or chemicals, driving hoisting apparatus such as lift trucks or Bobcats, running any power driven metal forming, punching, or shearing machines, running circular saws or band saws or involvement in any building maintenance such as roofing or painting.

There is a narrow exception of some of the above tasks. The exceptions are permitted in order for students to be enrolled in state approved career or technical education training or apprentice programs. They must be specifically approved and documented.

The Michigan child labor laws also require adult supervision for any employee under 18 years of age. These rules become even more strict if the employee is under the age of 16. The good news for the summer is that the many rules dealing with limited hours during the school year are not a factor. But just a red flag for the rest of the year, the child labor laws are very specific to make sure that the hours are limited and do not infringe upon youth school activities.

At the beginning of this topic I mentioned regulator enforcement is aggressive and punishment for violations is significant and severe. A first violation is imprisonment for one year, and a fine of $2,000. A second violation is a $10,000 fine and 10 years of imprisonment. The Department of Labor takes seriously their role in requiring safe environment for employees under the age of 18.

Even with these restrictions, student interns are a helpful resource and a benefit for both the company and the youth employee. At MTM we use interns to help us with mass mailings, filing, and other office duties. The youth gets to build some experience for their first resume and the company gets some tasks taken care of that are difficult to accomplish during the regular business day. I expect that our member shops have seen the same rewards for both their company and for their kids that are involved.

If you run across a question on this, please do not hesitate to contact us and we can go over it in more detail with you. The law is four pages, single-spaced, we are happy to share that with you for those that are interested. Until next month, I hope you enjoy the spring weather and we will get ready for the warm days just around the corner.

Scott Smith, MPT – Sr. Regional Director ATI Physical Therapy

Scott Smith from ATI Physical Therapy will be one of our featured speakers at the October 19th Annual Meeting. Scott graduated from the University of Michigan – Flint with a Masters of Physical Therapy in 1999. He is the Sr. Regional Director for ATI Physical Therapy. Scott has worked with a wide range of patient populations including the industrial athlete and work comp populations with the goal of returning the injured worker back to an optimal level of function. He has taken several continuing education courses to further gain knowledge on orthopedic pathologies and sports medicine. His clinical experience includes treating patients for pre and post-operative care, musculoskeletal pain, work hardening, and postural/body mechanics education for further prevention of injury. In his free time, Scott enjoys tennis, golf, mountain biking, and participating in youth sports coaching.

Member Dividend Update

At the February MTM Board Meeting, the Board approved a $3.5M member dividend and instructed management/staff to implement the Board Resolution. Within two weeks of the Board meeting, member checks were cut. MTM staff has now completed two weeks of member dividend deliveries. While some of the dividends were mailed, we prefer to hand deliver as many as possible. The reason for this was to thank our members in person for their support of MTM. In the last two weeks, I have personally made 50 deliveries to members. I’ve been to places like Sterling Heights, Warren, Plymouth, Iron Mountain, Ludington, Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Jackson and Bad Axe. This is NOT a complete list of all the towns/cities I have visited.

I can report that no member was unhappy to see me. All of our member’s shops are busy, but not so busy as to say hello, accept a member check and take a picture. Attached are a few of the member pictures taken these last two weeks.

The Board, management, and staff continue to work hard to make these member dividends possible in the future. This is the third consecutive year for member dividends. And over the last three years, a total of $9.5 million has been returned to MTM members. We still have about two weeks left in the delivery cycle, so if you haven’t seen us, you are about to and we are looking forward to it.

Various happy clients are shown receiving their annual dividend checks…

The February MTM Finance Committee and Board Meetings are the most important company meetings of the year. Well, with over 80 MTM members present, the October Member’s Meeting is very educational and fun too. However the member dollars are reviewed in February. Last month the Finance Committee and Board reviewed the year-end results including: loss reserves, loss trends, claims account funding, independent actuarial report, and management recommendation to determine if a member dividend is warranted.

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One of the key benefits of being an MTM member is the owner dividend. Management is working hard at putting the 2016 financial numbers together. MTM is a state insurance regulated business. All of our numbers are required to be analyzed by an outside actuary and then submitted to the State of Michigan Insurance Department. As part of the state review, an outside actuary must look at each loss year and determine the adequacy of monies set aside to pay the losses for that year. A similar detailed review of company investments is done and included in the 2016 financials. These steps slow the process from a normal, generally accepted accounting principles process.

Once this process is completed about February 1st, a management dividend recommendation goes to the MTM Finance Committee. The MTM Finance Committee meets the first week of February and includes:

• Jack Accardo, Chairman, Haller International Technologies
• Jerry Decker, Precision Boring Company
• Gerd Walter, Creative Automation
• Gary Sievert, Wellington Industries
• Teena Kowolski, Loc Performance Products

The Finance Committee will review, debate, and amend management’s recommendation before sending their input to the full MTMIC Board. The MTMIC Board meets on February 16th, and will look at management’s recommendation and amendments made by the Finance Committee. The full Board is made up of:

• Kurt Heuser, Chairman, Bokum Tool Company
• Joe Keppler, Vice Chairman, HTI Cybernetics
• Jack Accardo, Haller International Technologies
• Bobby Cox, Acorn Stamping Company
• Jerry Decker, Precision Boring Company
• Bradley Lawton, Star Cutter Company
• John Moll, Gemini Group
• Doug Mack, retired shop owner
• Richard Smith, Wolverine Bronze Company
• Karen Schluckebier, Rogers Group

The full Board will make the final decisions regarding the MTM member dividend. Interestingly, please note that all voting members are active MTM insureds, with one exception. Our members’ best interest is achieved because members are making the decision. We will anxiously wait to give you updated information after the February Board meeting and then delivering checks in March.

At this time I like to thank these Board and Committee Members for their input and hard work. Management and staff are very capable insurance technicians, however, having the Board and Committee direction keeps us on track and focused.I will update you further on this important topic.

The Inn at St. Johns, the site of our Annual Meeting which is held in October

By
– Megan Brown, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
– Patty Allen, Sales & Marketing Assistant

• In need of Client Portal access for billing, claims, and safety info? Please contact Marketing for a user id and password:  sales@mtmic.com/blog.
• In need of more Claim Packets? Please contact Marketing to have them sent out: sales@mtmic.com/blog.
• In need of additional sets of labor law posters? Contact Patty Allen in Marketing with your request: patricia.allen@mtmic.com/blog.
• Is need of adding additional recipients to receive the monthly Newsletter? Contact Marketing to have them added: sales@mtmic.com/blog.
• Stay tuned in the upcoming months for information about our Annual Luncheon held in October.

Well 2016 just wrapped up. Early indications are that 2016 will be a good loss year for MTM members.

As a refresher, 2014 was a good loss year. At the February 2015 Board of Directors meeting the Board reviewed the December 31, 2014 financial results. The Board then declared a member dividend of $2.5 million. At the end of 2015, we again had a good loss year. And at the February 2016 Board meeting, the Board approved a $3.5 million member dividend.

In January our CFO will put together the 2016 numbers and will also get the loss trend analysis from our independent outside actuary. With all of this data, the MTM management team will prepare MTM year-end financials for presentation to the MTM Board on February 16th. Included in that presentation will be member dividend data and options for the Board to consider and ultimately decide. MTM members are well represented by the Board since all Board members are MTM insureds.

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In this newsletter you will see pictures of the MTM annual members meeting. This meeting was held October 19th at the Inn of St. John’s in Plymouth. There were over 80 members in attendance. It was the largest MTM meeting ever. At the meeting, attendees had a great meal and two short presentations. One of the presentations was from two of our nurse case managers on how they coordinate medical care for an injured worker, get the worker back to work and also save money for the employer. The second speaker was the president of an outside insurance rating organization, Demotech. He gave a brief description on insurance company rating and why it’s done. He then went on to inform the group of the MTM “A” financial rating. He went into some detail on why this rating of MTM’s financial finances was well deserved.

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Audit Reviews

Large audit additional premium due – scary words. Each workers’ compensation policy is written with estimated payrolls for the upcoming year. When the policy expires, an audit is completed to get actual payroll. We then calculate the actual premium from the audit payroll, and subtract member payments during the year. The end result is that we have an audit additional due from our member or premium refund due back to our member. More than 97% of the time, this system works out well. The estimated payroll is close to actual and we end up with a small additional premium that is no burden to our member, or we end up with a small return where MTMIC sends a check back to our member. This high success rate does not mean that the other 3% goes easy. The large additional audit dollars affects the budget and causes stress to our member. It also causes discomfort at MTMIC. We do not like to do things that aggravate our members. Remember, most of our members have been with us for years, and that personal relationship and trust is greatly valued by our member and by the MTMIC staff.

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A Tribute to a Legacy

The Hancock legacy began with John Hancock Sr. who in 1939 started Crescent Tool and Die and has been with MTMIC for 40 years. That decision 4 decades ago was made by John Hancock Sr. who joined a group of bold shop owners to start and support their own insurance company. Their goal was to improve loss control efforts for their shops and hence the long term availability and pricing. Saving money for members was the focus of the group.

Crescent supplied, repaired, and built tooling and custom machinery for the big three.

Crescent formed a new manufacturing Company in 1963 and thus Hancock Enterprises was born and moved into a larger facility. Crescent Tool and Die was closed in 1984 and Hancock Enterprises took over as the mother company.

John “Corky” Hancock was the second generation owner and CEO of Hancock Enterprises and working with his father until he passed away in 1996 oversaw all operations during his long and successful career. The shop manufacturers and sells metal gutter fittings for the rain carrying industry and sells nationally and internationally.

Hancock has over 50 employees.

Being introduced to his shop, I found that many have been with Corky for over 20 years. His business savvy, hard work and dedication to his employees made all this possible.

Corky was an avid golfer and his office is filled with historical golf treasures – pictures, trophies, letters. Every wall is covered with a picture that draws you close to see who signed it. Mixed in with the golf pictures I learned that Corky also had a political side. Pictures with Presidents, Senators, and Governors – interestingly in my conversation with Corky he not once mentioned these fascinating encounters.

The sad news is that Corky passed away last month after a long battle with cancer. We will miss this kind and effective man. Over the last few years he transferred much of the day-to-day operations to his cousin, Bob Joly. Bob has been at Hancock Enterprises for 35 plus years, so he is well tuned to all the business issues. The company is now in the good hands of Bob and Cindy Joly and Corky’s wife, Catherine Teifer. I expect they will continue the legacy of John “Corky” Hancock.

By Ruth Kiefer, MSc, ARM Loss Control Manager , MSc, ARM, MiOSHA Level 1 Certified 

Effective January 1, 2017: Plastic Injection Mold Industry:Die Change Procedures for Horizontal Injection Mold Machines

s many of you in the plastic injection mold industry know, there will be a MIOSHA rule change in the standard pertaining to injection mold machines that takes effect on January 1, 2017. I have received various responses to this change, for most of you, you are already adhering to the ruling so its no big deal. For other manufacturers, this change has brought up a few questions in recent months, so to help you get ready for the rule change, here are some of the questions that have been posed to our department and to MIOSHA.

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The MTMIC Annual meeting is in about 3 weeks and we are still taking reservations. We are excited about the agenda and hope that you will be able to attend. Please contact Patty Allen at patricia.allen@mtmic.com/blog or (248) 715-0013 to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Please vote on November 8th – AND ALSO in the next week or so, when you receive the MTMIC Board ballot. The MTMIC Board is made up of 10 men and women from Michigan. They represent you and all MTMIC members. The Board members are shop owners, CEOs, CFOs, HR directors, and VPs. They work in shops that are small, medium, and large. They are dedicated to making sure that the company and the management act in the best interest of our member owners. Every September, members vote for three or four board members for the next 3-year terms. In this year’s election, you are voting for four individuals. The incumbents running for re-election are:

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Every once in a while I highlight a manager or department. Recently when reviewing some HR records, some interesting data popped up. This data involves the MTMIC claims department. Let me share what I found.

The MTMIC claims department is made up of five people. The Vice President of Claims is Donna Motley and her distinguished career was highlighted a few months back. What’s impressive is the four career professionals behind Donna on the MTMIC team.

Cindy Boyce is a Senior Claims Adjustor for MTMIC. She has been with MTMIC over 25 years. Her total industry experience is over 30 years. She is an incredibly strong right hand, number 2, and handles most of the litigated cases at MTMIC. Next in the order of tenure, is our Claims Technician, Marci Merath who has been with MTMIC for over 25 years, and has equally has the same industry claims experience. The third claims person is Kimberly Davis. Kimberly has been with MTMIC, 12 years, and has over 20 years’ experience in workers’ compensation claims adjusting. Finally, on the MTMIC claims team is Debbie Sagan. Debbie is the newcomer in the MTMIC claims department with five years of tenure, and over 25 years of workers’ compensation claims experience.

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