Improvements and Betterments covers a tenant’s modifications to a landlord’s building. Here’s an example:

Joe leases a building for his new restaurant and proceeds to change the lighting and install kitchen appliances, counters, and other items. Unfortunately, the business fails. Joe closes it and begins to remove the property he installed.

The landlord demands that Joe leave the equipment and other items "permanently installed in the restaurant." Legally, the landlord can keep anything that will render the building less useful if removed. If Joe can’t remove his lighting and replace the original fixtures, his lighting will have to stay. A proper lease will spell out what will remain and what the tenant can remove.

Improvements and Betterments insurance is important for both landlords and tenants. Landlords should insure items that will become part of the building and any other items that the lease allows them to keep. Tenants should insure items that they can take legally, and loss of use of any items that they can’t. If Joe can’t take his lighting, he can insure its use value, up to the end of the lease. The use value of tenant installed property, particularly at the early stages of a lease, can be substantial. Contact us with questions about Improvements and Betterments.

At the 2001 Employers Health Care Conference, the direct and indirect costs of alcohol and drug abuse were reported to come to an estimated $100 billion annually. Alcoholism results in 500 million lost workdays each year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates alcohol problems cost the country more than $99 billion annually.

Alcoholism, unlike other chemical dependencies, is particularly difficult for employers because it’s more socially acceptable. Alcohol dependent employees are more likely to be late for work, absent from work, and incur a higher accident frequency. The result: lost productivity and more Workers Compensation claims.

An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can be a useful benefit. EAPs provide counseling and referrals to help employees identify and resolve personal problems, including alcoholism and other chemical dependencies. The cost of an EAP can be small in comparison to the costs to the employer and employee of ignoring personal problems.

EEOC on Temps

After reviewing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued new enforcement guidance for workers supplied by outside staffing firms.

Until they make an offer for employment, neither the staffing firm nor the employer client can ask questions concerning disability or require medical examinations from the applicant. The staffing firm must provide reasonable job site accommodations to an outside employee; however, the employing firm is also responsible for these accommodations.

For more information on the new guidance material, go to www.eeoc.gov.

Work Hardening

Work hardening" is a new physical therapy technique that prepares an injured worker to return to work by combining conditioning with the practical and functional components of a job. The idea is for the therapy to help the injured worker recover from residual problems that prevent them from returning to work.

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, to be eligible for work hardening, an injured worker must have a target job or a job plan, be willing to participate, have identifiable problems that would interfere with the job, and be recovered enough to participate. The rehabilitation organization will want an on-site job evaluation by an ergonomic specialist or a physical therapist before creating a work hardening program. Individual programs can run for several months.

Work hardening programs can be an expensive addition to other methods that help prepare an injured worker return to work. Because Workers Compensation rates reflect rehabilitation costs, employers might view partial return to work programs or adjusted job duties as a better path to a full return to the old job. Medical management and insurance claim personnel also show some resistance to work hardening. One suggestion to curb the cost of work hardening is for the Workers Comp medical expense controller to determine a dollar figure for the program.

Professionals in medicine and insurance will scrutinize this new technique closely until significant sample studies of work hardening cases appear.

Workers Comp and Taxes

A worker receives Workers Compensation disability benefits minus income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare taxes (FICA). The reason for this is simple: Paying 100% without tax consequences would over-compensate the disabled worker and might encourage malingering. What’s more, employers aren’t required to pay their share of Social Security, Medicare, or unemployment taxes on the compensation benefits paid to claimants. Contact our agency with your Workers Comp questions.

Liberalization

Most Commercial and Personal insurance policies contain a liberalization clause or condition. When an insurance company offers enhanced benefits for policies newer than the one you hold, the liberalization clause adds those enhancements automatically. Examples of enhancements include dollar amount increases, or coverage of additional property.

There’s no additional premium charge for enhancements. Because individual states regulate insurance, enhancements come into effect only after your state implements the changes.