News and Updates
Category: PEO
Choosing the Best Workers' Comp Partner for Your Business
Even though the 2023 BWC policy year just started, we’re already looking ahead to 2024 Group Rating and Group Retro programs. It can be hard to feel like a savvy buyer when it comes to workers’ comp in Ohio, but Spooner would like to share some pointers for how to understand the timeline and choose the best partner. If you’re thinking of changing your partner for Group Rating or Group Retro, be sure not to complete the renewal that your current TPA sends this summer. Most employers don’t realize that cutting a check for a renewal in summer of 2023 will obligate them to their current TPA through June of 2025. Make sure your accounting team is aware of this, too. We’ve seen too many unhappy customers of other TPAs get trapped this way. Are you under the impression that because you’re a member of XYZ Chamber of Commerce, you have to utilize their partner for workers’ comp programs? Not the case. The sponsoring organization frames it that way because there’s money on the table. For example, if you are an XYZ Chamber member (who happens to be partnered with a specific TPA) and you want to leave that TPA, XYZ Chamber makes less money. Naturally, they want you to stay with their TPA and may even advise you can’t get that discount outside of their partnership. This is patently false. Most TPAs have access to all of the same Group Rating and Group Retro programs for all industries, and the sponsoring orga
Is it Time to Leave BWC Behind?
Ohio employers have started receiving notifications from Ohio BWC regarding their rates and EMR for the approaching 2023 policy year. If your business is one of the lucky ones to see a rate decrease, congratulations! If your business is one of the thousands of policies that are seeing an increase, or your EMR isn’t going to help you win any bids - it may be time to explore different options. We know that the phrase “PEO” can make some employers gasp at the thought of sacrificing control for lower workers’ comp premiums, or an aesthetically pleasing EMR – but not all PEOs are created equal. Spooner Risk Control Services designed SuretyHR to be a very different PEO (Professional Employer Organization) than the ones employers have told us so many stories about. We don’t need to take over your day-to-day operations, or make you change brokers and retirement plan administrators. We have solutions for those services if you need them – but if it’s not broken, we won’t insist on fixing it. SuretyHR was built to improve and support your business, and free up time for management and owners to focus on the important things. Instead of spending time behind the scenes, leadership stays in front of the business to focus on employee engagement, business development, client retention, and creating cultures that retain the best talent. Employers happy with their BWC rates and EMR can still benefit from partnering w
How SuretyHR Fits Into the Spooner Family
You may have noticed some of the SuretyHR content looks a lot like the content published on Spooner Inc’s website and LinkedIn. Maybe you also picked up on our employees having multiple logos on their emails, or you might have both Surety and Spooner business cards for the same employee. We get plenty of questions about this, so we want to help you make sense of it all. Surety HR is part of the Spooner Risk Control family of companies. Spooner Inc (our TPA) and Spooner Medical Administrators (our MCO) both have long and storied histories of helping employers navigate the claimant-favoring, monopolistic Ohio workers’ compensation system. We’ve saved thousands of companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some even into the millions with our claims and program management. As Ohio BWC continued making changes to programs, eligibility and inflating administrative costs, we found that offering solutions for only our state-fund and self-insured clients wasn’t enough. Enter SuretyHR, our professional employer organization (PEO). We began building the departments that would make up Surety HR in 2015, with the addition of payroll services. By 2017, we had added in-house legal counsel, HR experts and additional support to our existing teams handling workers’ comp, safety, unemployment, and absence management. In September 2019, we were granted self-insured status by Ohio BWC, which greatly increased the amount of savings we could
Outsourcing FMLA May Be the Break Your HR Department Needs Right Now
FMLA has been maligned by HR departments for years, not only because of the amount of work involved – but also the amount of expertise. Do you ever feel like your management team shouldn’t be the ones determining if a claim submitted actually qualifies? Throwing COVID-related leave into the mix didn’t help, either. Private companies that employ at least 50 workers (within a 75 mile radius), and public employers regardless of size are required to offer FMLA – 12 weeks unpaid leave during a 12 month period. While many question its value, considering the leave is unpaid – it was put in place to protect the jobs of those experiencing one of the following conditions: • Birth or adoption of a child • Care of a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition • A serious health condition that renders the employee unable to complete their essential duties • A qualifying emergency related to a spouse, child or parent being on active military duty Non-compliance not only puts you on the radar of the Department of Labor (which could result in major fines), but could also expose you to private lawsuits from disgruntled employees. We hear a lot of businesses say, “We jus
Are Missing Group Retro Refunds Complicating Your Budget for 2022?
Back in August, we told you that Ohio BWC wouldn’t be paying Group Retrospective refunds to employers who participated in Retro during the 2018 and 2019 policy years. For the past 12 years, many businesses have counted on those checks to budget for the coming year. Normally, Retro refunds would have showed up last month (October), but this time those employers were left empty-handed. Companies that were anticipating tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands, in some cases) in Retro Refunds are now faced with an end of year shortfall and difficulty budgeting. Our actuarial department estimates that Group Retro refund totals for all participating policyholders during the 2018 and 2019 policy years would have been as follows: • $190,000,000 for the 2018 policy year • $155,000,000 for the 2019 policy year That’s $345 Million in refunds not being paid back! If you are concerned with how the state is managing your premium dollars - and more importantly, your refunds - you have options. Self-insuring is one option, or you can look into a partnership with SuretyHR through our Self-Insured PEO program. This provides a lot of the same savings and benefits of self-insuring for workers’ comp, but without the risk and financial burden of directly paying excess
Surety HR: Not Your Average PEO
When we talk to prospects about Surety HR, our self-insured PEO (professional employer organization), we get a lot of very different reactions - confusion, curiosity, blank stares and occasionally – a crossed-arm refusal to hear anything else about it. We knew when we began building our PEO that several employers have a bad taste in their mouth about PEOs, usually after having (or hearing about) a bad experience. That’s one of the many reasons we sought out these opinions to help build our framework based on what employers feel does or does not work. The biggest thing we want to make clear is that we are not our competition. We don’t charge based on a percentage of payroll, baking everything together so that you’ll never really know how much you’re paying for any of our services. When employers are looking for some of the solutions a PEO can provide, they are not always looking to move all their employment-related needs under one umbrella. This is why larger, mature, and sophisticated companies have avoided entering into a PEO relationship. Surety HR is a sister company of Spooner Incorporated – an unrivaled TPA and consulting firm with less than 2% client turnover. Because of this foundation, our focus is more on lowering workers’ comp premiums instead of bundling services that you may not need or want. It also means if and when you decide it’s time to exit the PEO, the process will b
Is There Room for Improvement With Your Payroll Provider?
If so, you should experience the Surety HR difference. Spooner's sister company Surety HR offers a customized payroll service that caters to the client’s wants and needs. The result is a payroll support team that knows your business and will excel at meeting your payroll needs. Our payroll service includes: Payroll processing with a full service payroll specialist & customer service rep Payroll tax specialists offering compliance support with Federal, State, Local and other authorities Detailed reporting options General Ledger support and consultation ACA support, reporting and consultation Employee self-service for paystubs and W-2s Please email Brian Davis if you have any questions. Brian can be reached at
