Jerry Leemkuil

When discussing insurance values with your provider, be sure you include anything that could affect value: new machines or equipment, inventory (raw material, in-process and finished product, etc.), property of others, remodels, etc. And, don’t forget to consider inflation and other valuation factors. The amount you have on your balance sheet or the item’s cost new may not be an accurate reflection of your contents’ replacement costs. Remember, you probably had time to shop around and buy the items at the best possible price, but you won’t have that luxury when you need to get your business back up and running as fast as possible.

We have a current employee who has been with the company for eight years in a Director role. We are considering outsourcing the work he does along with all IT work. I know we can go ahead and lay him off due to these business decisions and we would be putting together a separation agreement. My concern is that I read recently that anyone over the age of 40 is to be given the separation agreement at least 21 days in advance of the separation. True? We are concerned because he does have security controls, etc. and if we give him this advance notice – we are not sure what damage he might do to the company.

Chairman’s Circle Federated Insurances answers the question, “We have an exempt employee that separated in the middle of a workweek. We prorated his salary that week to reflect only the days he worked. He is coming back now stating that he had worked 40 hours that week before he left. Does that have any bearing on the pay, or are we ok with leaving it as is?”

As an employer, you are undoubtedly aware of “Obamacare,” a.k.a. PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), and all its implications. You are also likely hearing a lot of information about the pricing and plan designs offered through medical insurance providers in your state.