By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

Employees are often eligible for multiple benefits with their employer. Workers’ Compensation coverage is mandatory in the State of Michigan. Optional benefits may be Short Term Disability (STD), Long Term Disability (LTD), Sick Time, Personal Time Off (PTO), Family Medical Leave (FMLA).

Of these programs, FMLA is “unpaid” with time limited to 12 weeks away from work, but the employee’s job is “protected” – meaning a position is to be available to the employee at the end of 12 weeks at the same rate of pay and same benefits.

STD and LTD generally pay a percentage of the employee’s wages. Of the STD cases I have seen (and handled), the employee has been paid approximately 65% of their wages. STD is generally limited to a set number of weeks, and LTD may or may not have a time limit (but again, recipients are paid at a lesser rate of pay).

Sick Time and PTO may or may not pay for days missed and generally have a time limit of eligible days that can be taken.

(more…)

We are proud to announce a new Association member program effective August 1, 2018. This partnership, MFG Works Partners, is a collaboration between the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) and MTMIC will offer our policyholders who are members of MMA an additional 3% discount on your workers’ compensation insurance premium. This discount will be automatically applied at your next policy renewal.

For 115 years, the MMA has been serving Michigan manufacturers and related industries by providing effective representation at Michigan’s Capitol, timely educational seminars; quality and competitive-rate insurance programs, informational e-newsletters and a monthly magazine. Visit www.mimfg.org for more information on the benefits of joining the MMA or contact Brett Gerrish, at 800-253-9039 ext. 533 or 517-487-8533.

Both MMA and MTMIC are excited about this new partnership and its potential for keeping your business competitive. Watch for more information on the MFG Works Partners program in our monthly newsletters and additional publications. For more information on the MFG Works Partners program contact Megan Brown: megan.brown@mtmic.com/blog or (248) 715-0012.

This Year’s Annual Meeting Speakers:
Kenneth L. Wolf, Ph.D. and Marilyn Knight, M.S.W.

We are pleased to announce that this year’s annual meeting speakers are Dr. Kenneth L. Wolf, Ph. D & Marilyn Knight, M.S.W. Our speakers are experts in their field and will be speaking on the topic of “Crisis Recovery After Active Shooter and Traumatic Events”.

(more…)

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

The Michigan Workers’ Compensation Act & Administrative Rules originated in 1912. The Act was revised with Amendments in 1969. Then in 2011, at 100 years old, the Act was updated with Statute changes to accommodate the past amendments and hopefully, better address, with clarity, issues facing our ever changing world. One of the updated issues was to define “disability”. No longer is the injured worker considered disabled because they cannot return to the job that caused their injury. Disability as defined by the Workers’ Compensation Act is: “A limitation of an employee’s wage earning capacity in work suitable to his or her qualifications and training. . . . . . The establishment of disability does not create a presumption of wage loss.”

(more…)

By Travis Halsted, Loss Control Consultant

First and foremost, I hope everyone is having a spectacular summer! Whether you are spending time on the water, relaxing and reading a book on your front porch or traveling, I hope that you are all able to enjoy this beautiful Michigan weather. I am not quite sure how it worked out this way, but I find myself scheduling a great deal of my Loss Control visits on the west side of the state this time of year. It must be some kind of coincidence.

With these elevated temperatures, the need to use the air movement fans also rises. The air movement fans have a plethora of different hazards that can cause injuries. Within the first week of July, MTMIC had two injuries directly related to fans. Some of the most common hazards that are found with fans include, but are not limited to:

(more…)

Last year I wrote you about the best part of my job – “delivering member dividend checks”. I can report that the ranking has not changed. From the pictures in this newsletter and last month, you can see the fun I (and staff) have with this MTM “job”. What I rarely talk about is the second best part of my job. So here it is – touring your shops. While you live in your shop and it’s old hat to you, our members design, build, melt stuff, mold, inject, stamp, drill, weld, print, bind, deliver,…. amazing products. Sometimes the product is a simple part of a big part and sometimes it is an intricate part that makes this accounting, actuarial type guy wonder – how do they do that? I was at one shop that was making overpass steel beams. The beam in process was just over 100 feet in length. I asked the plant manager what the tolerance was?

For the poor handy skills I have – the answer would be if I could get anything 100 feet long within 3 inches, I would go out for a celebration dinner. The answer in our members’ world was .005. Our members are amazing.

Also in each of my plant tours I asked if I could operate some of our member’s equipment. Can I do that? I think I can weld, drill, stamp. Can I try that? Our members clearly sensed my lack of skills and the answer – NO. I am 0 for at least 200. Not one of you has let me turn a dial, control a robot, use a forklift, tool, print press or other fun looking machines. This could be an underground conspiracy. I have checked my safety glasses and hard hat. Thought they might have something printed on them such as “extremely clumsy” or warning “NO eye/hand co-ordination”. I have found no such warnings. Ah, maybe I should check the back of my MTM jacket. Lack of success or skills does not sway my determination – I will keep you informed of my challenge.

Till next time, spring looks to be finally here. Let’s enjoy it.

By Cindy Boyce, Senior Claims Adjuster

I have worked for MTMIC for 26 years in growing capacities, and currently am the Senior Claims Adjuster. In this role I handle the majority of the litigation in the office, especially the complex ligation issues. I have had the pleasure of working with a great deal of you throughout the years, however since we have seen growth in the number of our insured’s some of you may not know me. If you don’t know me, that’s a good thing as most likely your company has not involved in a complex claim or related issue. I am licensed in the State of Michigan as an Insurance Claims Adjuster and have a degree in business and as a medical assistant, along with extensive training and experience in all aspects of workers’ compensation claims including, causal relationships of injuries, medical issues, medical treatments, and remedies related to typical and complex cases. In addition to being knowledgeable, you will also find me easy to work with and comfortable that you will always be in good hands!

(more…)

The MTMIC Annual Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 18th.

We will be meeting at the same location, The Inn at St. John’s and providing lunch along with a brief meeting and exciting speakers.

Please mark your calendars and be on the lookout for more details to follow.

(more…)

As President of MTM, my principle duties are to work with members, help MTM staff and work with the MTM Board of Directors and its Committees. However, there are some other duties that I must budget time for. One of those duties is to monitor insurance regulations and legislative matters. To accomplish this, I spend one or two days a month in Lansing meeting with the insurance association, insurance department and legislators. While nearly all of this designated legislative time deals with workers’ compensation issues, a recent item surfaced that departed from my normal focus. As a Board member and member of the regulatory oversight committee of the Insurance Institute of Michigan, I was made aware of nearly 20 bills that had been submitted for consideration dealing with the Larry Nassar case. As I listened to some of the testimony, I and everyone in the hearing were disgusted with this physician’s actions and the systems that should have caught his criminal activities over many years they occurred.

Most of these bills deal specifically with Larry Nassar and the systems surrounding him, however some bills are not so restricted and will bring other groups/1employers into the mix. Some of the bills being considered dramatically increase the reporting period for sexual misconduct incidents from two or three years to 30 years. Some of the bills change the burden of proof so that a mere allegation can be sufficient to warrant legal action, defense, and ultimately settlements. As defense attorneys look at how they would manage these cases, trying to pull witnesses together and accuracy of testimony (which could be many years or decades old) is daunting.

While MTM usually does not get involved in non-workers’ compensation issues, this case and the possible impact on our over 900 shop owners and managers warranted some involvement. Most recently, more moderate amendments have been considered that open up slightly the reporting period, except for alleged victims under 16. These bills seem to be progressing through the legislative process.

While it is too early yet to tell what exactly will come out of the legislature process, there is no doubt that changes to the existing law will happen.

While our focus continues to be on workers’ compensation and how to maintain and improve cost-effective coverage for our MTM members, occasionally we have to lend our weight to other issues. Protection of our members justifies it. As we learn more, I will bring you up to date on this topic. In the meantime, the MTM staff will continue to focus on providing our members with the most cost-effective and focused services for their workers’ compensation exposure.

By Chris Demeter, Senior Loss Control Consultant

Every year, workers are unnecessarily exposed to hazardous energy sources such as mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, gravity, or other energies utilized by machines in manufacturing. This occurs during servicing, maintenance, or setting up on equipment. Accidental start-up of machinery or unintended release of stored energy often presents catastrophic risks including but not limited to crush, amputation, shock, and burn injuries as well as equipment damage. This exposure can cause serious physical injuries or death to workers unaware that someone else has started a machine or energized a circuit. MIOSHA requires employers to establish a Lockout-Tagout program and use procedures for affixing appropriate lockout devices or tag out devices to energy isolating devices, and to otherwise disable machines or equipment to prevent unexpected re-energizing, start up or release of stored energy in order to prevent injury to employees.

(more…)

(more…)

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

As I was reading the newspaper recently and a heading caught my eye – “OFFICE FASHION – TATTOOS ARE IN – TIES ARE OUT”! WHAT? I was shocked. I know I’m going to “date” myself (first of all, I was “reading” an actual newspaper), but when I first started in the world of Claims for a large self-insured company, the claims were handled within the Law Department. As is somewhat customary, there was a senior attorney and a junior attorney. I worked for the junior attorney – and he had a “moustache”. You would have thought he committed a crime – attorneys at that time were frowned upon if they had any facial hair! (Again, I know I am dating myself.) Now, when at the Workers’ Compensation Agency, in addition to facial hair, I’ve even seen a pony tail or two!

(more…)

By the time you receive this newsletter, MTM staff will be in the final phase of delivering the 2018 member dividends. This year’s dividend is $4 million made up of two Board declarations. The $3.5 million amount matches the dividend amounts from March, 2017 and March, 2016. Plus this year the Board declared an additional $500,000 from savings of the tax bill signed into law in December. The total dividend amounts to an average dividend of 22% of member’s premium. Staff has 802 dividend checks. Delivery methods vary from mailing, to agency delivery, MTM Loss Control Reps, Megan Brown – VP of Marketing and Sales and me. Last year Megan and I drove over 12,000 miles in 3 weeks delivering checks to members. Each stop was a surprise, great conversation, plant tour and pictures.

(more…)

By Travis, Loss Control Consultant

Through every loss control visit, one particular hazard can be found in each facility. The hazard that I am speaking of is electricity. With each cord, disconnect, panel, receptacle and connection there are a plethora of hazards that must be guarded. Each of these electrical items have rules that pertain to them and failure to abide by these rules can not only provide the opportunity for severe injuries and possibly fatalities, but also the potential for substantial fines from the MIOSHA enforcement division. During a recent MIOSHA training class, the speakers informed the class that any and all electrical infractions will now hold a minimum $5,000 fine. That is only a minimum, as if they feel that the particular infraction is negligent then the fine will only escalate from there. While the fines are an eye opening factor, the safety of the employees should always remain as our top priority.

(more…)

MTM Member Dividends

On February 15th, the MTM Board of Directors met and approved a member’s dividend based on calendar year 2017 results. With the dividend proposal approved, we will be hitting the road beginning Monday, March 5th for delivery of those checks. Before I get into the details of the dividend, I will update you on the events of the last six weeks in case my recent article on this was missed.

(more…)

This is a time of year when we see many MTM member requests for a certificate of insurance or waiver of subrogation. Many of our shop members never need either of these items. However, if your shop does installation work of a product or is often at a customer’s plant location, you know full well about the use of these two documents. This year we’ve seen an uptick in the number of members that request these forms and thought it was a good time to review for all of MTM members.For a global perspective on these documents, you need to know that these are documents requested by customers of our MTM members. Neither document provides coverage for the MTM member, but rather it provides coverage certainty to the MTM customers. In the case of the certificate of insurance, if your worker is at a customer’s location and gets injured, the customer wants to know that you have workers’ compensation coverage. The customer does not want to “inherit” the injured worker’s claims costs. Similarly, for your shop if you hire a company to work at your plant and an employee of the hired company is hurt, does that company you hired have workers’ compensation coverage? If not, that loss most often moves to the next employer in line, which would be the MTM member. This “ladder” of coverage for workers’ comp was intended to find coverage for an injured worker. If his direct employer is not covered, then the system works up the ladder until coverage is found. With a certificate of insurance, you are getting certainty that an injured worker will be covered by his employer.

(more…)

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims

We’ve had good days and we’ve had bad days – winter weather that is. About a week ago it snowed 6 days out of 7 days – I know, because I had to shovel the snow! The most recent week, we’ve had a couple days of solid rain and it reached 60 degrees. All in February! What does that kind of weather do to a Claims Department that handles accidents and injuries?

(more…)

The MTMIC Annual Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 18th. We will be meeting at the same location, The Inn at St. John’s and providing lunch along with a brief meeting and exciting speakers. Please mark your calendars and be on the lookout for more details to follow.

Interesting Ending for 2017

On December 30th we closed the MTM financial year. The same day we sent all of our claims data and premium information to our actuary for loss reserve calculations. This review with independent peer evaluation takes about three weeks and is required by the Michigan Insurance department. When this is completed we will have a final picture of the financial results for 2017. One item different for MTM this year is that a member dividend was declared before the final results were completed. We have never done that before and have always waited until the complete financial picture is available before management’s estimates are disclosed. Our traditional method is the more precise way to handle our member’s dividend calculation.

However this year was different. Just before Christmas, President Trump signed a new tax law. Part of this law changed the company tax rate from 35% to 21%. This law affects your shops 1and MTM. Member dividends paid by MTM are a deduction from income and therefore reduce MTM taxes. On Christmas day, the MTM CFO contacted me to say he thinks we need to take advantage of the higher deduction in 2017 versus 2018 and declare the dividend early. This early dividend would reduce our taxable income for 2017. The net effect would be a 13% savings on every million dollars of income. Using the $3.5 million dividend from last year, a deduction on 12/28 results in a significant savings. This tax savings would turn into a benefit to MTM members.

On December 26th we ran the situation by the MTM Board Chairman, Jack Accardo. He jumped right in with management and contacted other Board members about the situation. A special Board vote was held December 27th and by a vote of 10 to 0, the Board declared a member dividend of $3.5 million payable in the usual time frame of early March. This was a little out of sequence but just as our shops sometimes have to do, you use the facts that are in front of you and manage the situation the best you can.A $3.5 million member dividend with a significant tax savings is a great way to start 2018.

Happy New Year.