If so, you should sign up for AutoPay! We divide your annual premium into twelve monthly payments and automatically pull the money from your checking account on the due date, saving you time, postage, and fear of your payment being late. If you are interested you can contact Chris Doebler at chris.doebler@mtmic.com/blog or Glenda Moyle at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog. Already into your policy year? We can take the rest of your scheduled payments via AutoPay at your request!Another option is to pay the year in full up front. Not only will you receive a 3% discount on your annual premium but you don’t have to worry about making any monthly payments. You can make your payment by check or via AutoPay.
This time of year with so many renewals in January, one of the top three questions is “I don’t understand my experience modification.” It is a topic I have covered once or twice in the past, but a refresher course might be helpful. First, the Michigan Workers’ Compensation experience mod is an individual experience modification that is based on each company’s loss experience. Six months after every policy expires, Michigan Workers’ Compensation insurance carriers are required to submit payroll by class code and loss details for every policy that they write. This information is analyzed at a rating bureau, the Compensation Advisory Organization of Michigan (CAOM), and a single experience modification is published for every employer. A handful of exceptions exist such as large self-insured employers. But the vast number of employers have a standard Workers’ Compensation experience modification that is used by all carriers.
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By Ruth Kiefer, ARM, Loss Control Manager
Each year we look at January as a new beginning, with the coming of a new year, I would also like you and I to make a renewed commitment to safety and keeping our employees safe in our workplaces. Our Loss Control team has worked hard to inform you of recent MIOSHA changes, provide current and up to date training videos along with safety program templates. All of these and more are at your finger tips when you log onto our on-line portal. So this is a new year and new beginnings for many of us and I wanted you to be aware of this years focus of the compliance department of MIOSHA and MTMIC. I say MTMIC, because we too see the injury trends in the industry and we have worked hard to make you the tools to assist you with the MIOSHA Initiatives. These initiatives are created to help reduce injury trends in the workplace and I want to review a few of them with you.
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By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims
Every generation has had great accomplishments that benefit humanity. Even with all the negative that occurs in our world, we are living in wonderful times. Think of what your grandparents or great grandparents would think if they were living in today’s environment! Wouldn’t they be amazed? Or, look at the reverse. The younger generation don’t have “land line” telephones, much less know what a “party-line” is! Even though they can type on their computer or phone – what’s a typewriter? I read an article in The Detroit News a couple of weeks ago about scientists developing technology to “objectively” measure a person’s pain. As we know, pain is “subjective”. We all experience pain differently – as well as there being different “kinds” of pain. Muscle pain is different than nerve pain – think in terms of a sore elbow verses a tooth ache or ear ache. A migraine verses a tension headache or caffeine withdrawal. How we react to pain is ingrained in us as children. People playing sports are trained to “walk it off” or “play through” the pain. Typically, a doctor will ask a patient to measure their pain on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worse. A pain level of 3 to one person, may be an 8 to another.
(more…)Three important items to update you on:
- You are probably well aware of our partnership with Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) which began July 1, 2018. We have had many joint events and announcement mailers. In November MMA held its Annual Awards Ceremony. This dress-up event had 300 professionals in attndance. Our own Megan Brown, MTM VP of Sales & Marketing presented the MFG Emerging Leader award. There was also a fun award for “the most interesting thing made in Michigan”. Lots of cool stuff. One item was the gorgeous stainless steel pontoon boats made by Avalon & Tahoe. You may recall I highlighted this company/product just a couple months ago. It was hard to pick a winner, but the final tally went to a 115 year old company in the U.P. that makes the historic Stormy Kromer hats. MTM was honored to participate in this gala event. I recommend putting this event on your calendar for next November.
- Another important item, about half of MTM members renew their coverage in January. The MTM staff has been working hard gathering updated payroll data, state experience modifications, claims and Loss Control information to prepare these members’ renewals. Except for a handful, all have been delivered. Please call us or your agent if you have any questions on your renewal.
- Lastly, but probably the most important, the MTM Finance Committee and MTM Board of Directors reviewed 2018 preliminary financial data. On December 14th, a resolution was passed that a dividend of $3.5M be returned to members. This dividend is paid in March of 2019 to members with active policies on February 21, 2019. This is the 5th year in a row of MTM dividendsUntil next time, please enjoy family and friends during this holiday season.
By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant
Election Day 2018 has come and gone. A new governor was elected and several important issues were settled. While each item that was voted on holds a level of significance to many, one particular item has left companies from every industry scratching their heads. Proposal 1’s passage has provided more questions than answers, but I hope that I can help clear up some of the questions that you may have. Although Michigan voters passed the proposal to legalize marihuana for adult recreational use, employers can still “just say no” to hiring or retaining employees who violate workplace drug policies. The spelling of Marihuana versus the more common marijuana spelling dates back to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Michigan utilized the federal spelling at that time, which was Marihuana. An act of Michigan Legislature is required in order to change the spelling to the informal spelling (marijuana), administrative rules will be using an “h” in the spelling.
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We are excited to announce that we have enhanced our customer portal so that you will now have the ability to upload medical documents as a means to get them to the claims adjuster that is handling your claim. This can be done by following these simple steps:
- Log into the portal
- Go to the claims tab
- Click on the open claims tab
- Look up the name of your injured employee
- Click the Upload Documents button and attach the documents in either a .pdf or .jpg format
As soon as the documents are uploaded, the claims adjuster assigned to the claim will receive an alert that there is medical documentation waiting for them. You will be able to view the documentation after it is uploaded. Please contact Patty at (248) 715-0013 or patricia.allen@mtmic.com/blog with questions.
The bill regarding Michigan’s Minimum Wage was just signed by the Governor on December 13, 2018. The new legislation is under review by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division. Therefore, the MTMIC State and Federal Labor Law Posters will not be mailed out in December as in past years due to the late changes made on the Michigan Minimum Wage section. We are waiting for updated information from LARA’s Wage and Hour Division. Unfortunately we have been told that the updated information will not be released until January. We apologize for the delay ~ posters will be sent as soon as we receive the updated information.Â
On Thursday, October 18th, MTM held its annual membership meeting. (Pictures are included in the newsletter.) At each MTM annual member’s meeting we try to spend most of the time relaying helpful information to our members. This year, that topic was active shooter and crisis management (Crisis Recovery after Active Shooter and Traumatic Events). Given all the things we’ve read and heard in the last couple of years on this topic, it seemed wise to have a professional in this field present toMTM members. The speaker was Dr. Ken Wolf who consults on workplace violence, active shooter survival, crisis management strategies and downsizing reductions in force. His resume is quite impressive and details his work in many crisis situations. Dr. Wolf assisted the US Army on-site at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks, assisted following the mass shootings at the United States Post Office in Royal Oak (1991) and Dearborn (1993). He also responded to the Northwest Air disasters #255 (1987), #299 and #1482 (1990). Dr. Wolf assisted Ryder System and the UAW – GM after the Oklahoma City Terrorist bombing. He has been a news analyst for the Detroit affiliates of ABC, NBC and CBS. In the reviews of his presentation, the common topic critique included: learned lots, time well spent, can we have him back for more? His presentation was educational, interesting and at times scary. The topic and presentation captivated your attention.
Dr. Ken Wolf
While most of the meeting was spent on the above topic, I did give a quick nine month financial/dividend view of 2018. The year is not over and good/bad things can still happen, with nine months we are starting to get a pretty good picture of how the year’s finances/losses are doing. Overall, the results are not on pace for the record year of 2017, but 2018’s results still look good. And only two months to go before we close the year.
The loss year does look different than 2017. While the accident frequency in 2018 is nearly the same as recent prior years, we are seeing an increase in accident severity. Just in the last couple of weeks, we had an electrocution, an employee on his first day with an amputation, and third, a second amputation in the same week which required an air lifting to a trauma center. In the third case, we found in the accident investigation the employee had developed a creative way to bypass the tag out switch. So, my request to you as owners and managers of all our shops, please focus on guarding, looking for creative tag out measures, and training of new employees. Your goal, like ours is to always send the employee home in the same condition as they arrived. Be safe, John
The 2018 Annual Meeting was a great success. Here are a few snapshots from the event:
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By Ruth Kiefer, Loss Control Manager, ARM
With the ever tightening labor force and your need to fulfill orders and production, more of you are turning to a temp agency to fill this need. So what are your obligations to this temporary worker? Or to your new hires for that matter? I’m here to tell you that there is no longer an experienced workforce, or the days where you can find a good lathe operator, someone who knows the ins and outs of the presses in your shops. Those days are gone, the good ones are already working or retired, so you are left with inexperienced workers to choose from. As you know, schools no longer have in house training programs, it’s now left to you, the businesses to do the training, to create and form the “experienced worker”. It’s now on you to educate the younger workers entering the manufacturing sector.
We are excited to announce that we have enhanced our customer portal so that you will now have the ability to upload medical documents as a means to get them to the claims adjuster that is handling your claim. This can be done by following these simple steps:
Often I have stated that the strengths of MTM are based on three pillars:
- A Board made up of members (Board is directly focused to member benefits/improvements),
- Professional long-term committed staff members,
- Members who support employee safety and save money through loss control efforts.
Last month I profiled one of our MTM members, Avalon & Tahoe Mfg. Inc. This month I have the honor of introducing two new MTM Board committee members.
Brady Schlesener – Director of Sales and Marketing, Gemini Group, Inc.
Brady is a graduate of Cedarville University with a BA. He then went
on to receive his MBA from Michigan State University. For the last 12 years, he has been an executive at Gemini Group, Inc.
Brady is a team player with great functional experiences – perfect fit for our MTM Board Marketing & Underwriting Committee.
Our second new Board committee member is Barry Kavanagh FCCA, CMA, VP of Finance at Avalon & Tahoe MFG, Inc.
Barry received his BA from Waterford Institute of Technology in his native Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the main accountancy body in the UK, Europe and Asia, and holds the Certified Management Accountant certification from the U.S. Institute of Management Accountants.
For five years, Barry has been the VP of Finance at Avalon & Tahoe MFG. Inc. Prior to that Barry was the Controller at another MTM member for over eleven years. With Barry’s financial skills and his 12
year history working with MTM, he is also a perfect fit for the MTM Board Finance committee.
Thanks to these new Board committee members, I am anxious to see how they contribute to the committee’s and MTM’s success. Brady will be working with Chairman Brad Lawton, Star Cutter Company. The Board Finance Committee is chaired by Teena Kowalski.
As we visit your shops, we are finding nearly every shop has a hiring sign in the window. This year we are seeing more accidents from low experienced individuals who may have gotten less training than desired. Our members focus on keeping employees safe. It is that important third leg of the MTM success stool. As always, we will keep our Loss Control Representatives busy visiting your shops, giving advice and doing anything that will help improve the safety of our member’s employees.
Until next time, be safe.
Thurs., Oct. 18 • 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
The Inn at St. John’s
It is almost time for the MTMIC Annual Member Meeting and there is still time to RSVP if you haven’t already done so. Contact Patty Allen at patricia.allen@mtmic. com by October 10th so that you don’t miss out on our Crisis Recovery after Active Shooter and Traumatic Events presentation provided by Kenneth Wolf, PhD.
Payroll renewal forms have been sent out to all insureds that have an effective date in January 2019. We are asking for your estimated annual payroll for 2019 which assists in reducing the chance for additional audit money due at the end of your policy. Please complete
the form and return it to Glenda Moyle or an additional copy can be requested at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog.
By Glenda Moyle, Premium Accounting Manager
Each year we evaluate officer coverage and rating rules. Currently, officers are included in your Workers’ Compensation calculation with a minimum payroll amount of $20,800 and a maximum of $45,000 each.
Effective 1/1/19 or later the minimum payroll amount for an officer is $26,000 and the maximum included will be $50,000.
These new amounts will automatically be applied to renewals effective 1/1/19Â and after. If you have any questions, please contact me at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog.
I have mentioned in previous newsletters that the best part of my job is delivering member dividend checks in March. I have also said the second-best part of my job is going to and touring MTM member’s facilities. One MTMIC member that makes a particularly interesting product is Avalon & Tahoe.
You probably have heard the name before, but if not, they build pontoon boats. Before my tour, my image of a pontoon boat was anything but sleek, plush, and cool. My tour was arranged by Avalon & Tahoe’s CFO, Barry Kavanagh. Mr. Kavanagh handed me over to their plant Operations Manager, JJ Dudick. This tour changed my vision completely. Before getting to that, let me tell you what their brochure says, and now with the tour knowledge in hand I can say these statements are very accurate.
By Chris Demeter, Senior Loss Control Consultant
It’s 10:00 a.m., you hear a knock on the door, you get up and see someone who looks very official standing there, you open the door and they introduce themselves. “Hi my name is Kristin, I’m with MIOSHA CET…” your heartbeat quickens, you are no longer listening to the woman at the door, you’re thinking, is the boss here? What am I going to do? Before you know it, she has passed you a business card and turned away, leaving you standing there. You take a second and realize she is not coming in, so you just pass it off as a near miss and put the card in your desk without a second thought. That might be a mistake not inviting her in for a non-enforcement hazard survey. You may already know this, but MTMIC has had an alliance with MIOSHA CET for many years and have assisted many policyholders with CET services with positive results. As you know we are a proactive insurance company and are always finding ways to reduce injuries and provide our policyholders with valuable resources to use.
By Ruth Kiefer, Loss Control Manager, ARM
Outside the cicadas are singing their song signifying the end of summer, and the kids are getting ready for school, but I can’t seem to enjoy this annual transition from the winding down of summer to fall because my mind can’t stop wondering why we are having so many traumatic injuries this year. My team and I have been called out to conduct way too many accident investigations regarding amputations. This traumatic event, in which a part of the body is violently removed from your employee has plagued us since the beginning of the year. So, I must ask myself, why the sudden increase in this type of traumatic injury?
At a recent MTM Board meeting, I was asked for a “wrap up” report from the spring dividend. It was the normal report with management members, but one set of numbers is worth sharing with our members. The question was how does the MTM dividend compare with similar and competing mutual insurance companies with special focus on mutual companies. Here was what was reported to the Board:
MTM returned 83.4% of its 2017 profit as member dividends. We reviewed 3 well-known companies to provide the following comparison. Company A, a nonmutual returned 7.6% of its profit as member dividends. Mutual competitor number one returned 18.9% while mutual company number two returned 5.3%. The MTM member owner dividend is in a completely different ballpark compared to commercial carriers, and even other mutual companies. These numbers prompted a whole different conversation of why MTM is so different.