OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER Q4 NEWSLETTER – DECEMBER 2015 Issue 7
Oregon Chapter
Newsletter
In This Issue ORACC NEGOTIATION Message from the President Page 1 WORKSHOP Sponsor Article Page 2 Upcoming ACC Events Page 2 Sponsored by Willamette Chapter Leadership Page 3 University Executive Development Executive Development Page 3 Center Member Spotlight Page 3 January 12, 2016 Featured ACC Resources Page 5 Welcome New Members! Page 6 REGISTER! Thank You ORACC Sponsors Page 7
President’s Message Witt. Both events have limited capacity so we opportunities to be involved in our chapter encourage you to sign up early. All of our activities. chapter events, newsletters and CLE materials are posted on our chapter website: -Jim Williams Dear Oregon Chapter http://www.acc.com/chapters/oreg/. ACC Members: We had a busy Fall with CLE programs on “The Happy Holidays. It Top Trending Topics in Employment” hosted by was great to see so Barran Liebman in October and “Arbitration and many of our chapter Class Action Waivers” hosted by Ogletree members at the Deakins at our annual chapter meeting in Holiday Social hosted November. We held a new ACC member by Barran Liebman breakfast in November. We also hosted our
last week at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. 2015 quarterly “At 5” Social at the Raven and Rose was another remarkable year for our chapter. and a welcome reception for Oregon Chapter There were several highlights: Veta T. Members at the ACC Annual Meeting in Boston. Richardson’s (CEO of the ACC) visit to personally present our chapter with the Chapter I am excited to welcome our new chapter of the Year award was a tremendous honor for leaders for 2016. Bonnie Page is our new our chapter. Our Wine Tasting Tour was a new Chapter President. I can’t say enough ORACC Ski & CLE social event that was a huge hit. Keep an eye wonderful things about Bonnie. She has put her out for an invitation to the “2nd Annual Wine heart and soul into serving our chapter and I am February 5th 2016 Tasting Tour” as I anticipate this will become an confident she will lead our chapter to a whole annual event. Our 7th Annual Golf Event took a new level. I am also excited to welcome our twist this year. We had nearly 40 chapter new board members: Gary Lau, David Meisels, Register Here members participate in the relaxed “pitch and Robert Scott and Anthony Stark. Our board will putt” format at McMenamins Edgefield. be holding our annual retreat in January to plan our 2016 programs and initiatives. Keep an eye I’m very excited for 2016 and beyond. We on your e-mail for a survey. Our board will Discount Lift Tickets, already have two exciting programs and events review the survey responses at the board retreat th planned for early next year. On January 12 , so please take a few minutes and give us your Rentals, Free we are hosting a Negotiation Workshop led by honest feedback and suggestions. Transportation, and Willamette University’s Professor of Negotiation for Business, Sukhsimranjit Sing. On February Please contact any Oregon chapter board Après Ski! 5th, we are holding a Ski and CLE Event at Mt. member if you have questions about our chapter Hood Meadows sponsored by Farleigh Wada or if you would like to learn more about OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER | 2
instructions on these reporting forms came companies, and the C Forms are completed UPCOMING CHAPTER EVENTS late in the game, leaving many employers to by employers. wonder if they will ever separate the new information from the old, but as the New Year What is the deadline for these tax forms? All event details are available online! approaches, we have compiled the questions Forms 1095-B and 1095-C are due to we see most frequently on ACA reporting. Cheers! individuals by February 1, 2016. All B Forms January 12, 2016 and C Forms must be filed with the IRS by What is the purpose of ACA reporting? February 29, 2016 if filing on paper and Negotiation Workshop March 31, 2016 if filing electronically. Some Sponsored by Willamette University ACA reporting serves the dual purpose of employers have the option to complete Executive Development Center assisting the IRS with enforcing the employer alternative Forms 1095-C to distribute to penalty portion of the ACA (pay or play) and employees, but full Forms 1095-C must be 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. the individual mandate. Employers must filed with the IRS regardless of the document Smarsh Inc. Offices report which full-time employees received an actually distributed to employees. 851 SW 6th Ave., Ste. 800 offer of coverage and whether that coverage Continued on Page 4. Portland, OR 97203 was affordable. Insurers (including employers who self-insure), in turn, report who actually REGISTER had insurance coverage under a particular
plan. February 5, 2016 How do I know if my employer needs to Ski & CLE complete ACA reporting?
Sponsored by Farleigh Wada Witt Two types of employers have ACA reporting Willamette University's Details and registration available at link responsibilities: 1) employers who had an Atkinson Graduate School of below: average count in 2014 of 50 or more full-time equivalent employees, and 2) employers of all Management Executive REGISTER HERE sizes who self-insure their health plans. A health plan is self-insured if the employer Development Center offers a pays for claims out of its general assets rather Business-Focused Program than paying premiums to an insurance company, such as Providence or Moda, that for In House Counsel. pays the claims. ORACC has teamed up with Willamette How do I know my employee count? University, which has allowed Willamette to offer its Leadership for Attorneys in For ACA purposes, employers always look Business program (LAB) to ORACC one year back to count their employees. members at a $500 discount! What this means for purposes of reporting is that 2014 is the relevant year for the 2015 Leadership for Attorney’s in Business is ACA Reporting is Coming to reporting that employers will complete in early designed for general and associate counsels 2016. The count includes both those to gain a greater understanding of the Town, and the IRS Wants to employees working on a full-time basis in a business environment and learn how to add Know if You’ve Been given month (they each count as one) and an greater value to their organizations. This equivalency count for those employees highly interactive 4-day program provides Naughty or Nice. working on a less than full-time basis. All tools, resources and concepts to increase the employees within the same controlled group value, productivity and effectiveness of By Iris Tilley & Allison Jacobsen, Barran count toward an employer’s employee count. attorneys working within companies. Liebman LLP The IRS’s explanation of the counting process can be found here: Participants learn to: While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care- been nipping at the heels of employers for Act/Employers/Determining-if-an-Employer-is- Offer legal advice that enables the more than five years now, for many an-Applicable-Large-Employer achievement of business goals employers, the ACA just got real. In early 2016, and for the first time ever, certain What tax forms are at issue? Understand financial reporting and the employers will be required to report (both to financial impact of legal advice ACA reporting is comprised of four different employees and the IRS) whether they offered tax forms with confusingly similar numbering: particular employees health insurance Work effectively with interdisciplinary Form 1094-B, Form 1095-B, Form 1094-C, coverage. Some employers will also be teams and internal clients and Form 1095-C. Generally speaking, the B required to report exactly who was covered under their health plans. The IRS’s final Forms are completed by insurance OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER | 3
Build relationships with key decision- This Quarter we interviewed Erin Austin. Erin makers and frame advice for maximum is General Counsel for David Evans and CHAPTER LEADERSHIP impact Associates Inc. David Evans is a national leader in sustainable design and management Participants will complete a personal President solutions. They provide transportation, James Williams, Senior Counsel strengths profile and prepare a professional energy, water resources, and land Xerox Corporation development plan during the program. As a development design, planning, and [email protected] follow-up, one hour of individual leadership management. The firm is consistently ranked coaching is available and will be scheduled among ENR's “Top 100 Pure Design Firms” in President Elect upon program completion. Bonnie Page, General Counsel the United States and is a leader in local Smarsh Inc. markets. Leadership for Attorneys in Business will [email protected]
advance general counsels, and those aspiring How many people work in your legal Treasurer to that role, on their path to becoming an department and in how many locations? Bill Barber, VP/Senior Counsel Umpqua Bank invaluable leader in their organization. Currently there are 2 people in my group. I Attorneys who have completed the program [email protected] have an experienced contract manager and say they participate more confidently in myself. We are very lean! Secretary business meetings, are coming to be seen as Marc Bocci, Associate General Counsel, supporters rather than obstacles, and frame Other than your colleagues and clients Corporate Secretary Portland General Electric Company their legal advice more appropriately for what do you like most about your job? addressing strategic business risks. [email protected] I get to think about and help resolve a new question or issue every day. My company Vice Presidents Tuition for the program is $3,850 and includes Tamara Kessler, General Counsel an opening dinner with a panel of in-house has been generous in allowing me to seek outside support from other attorneys and Advantage Professional Management, LLC counsel, four full days of instruction with [email protected] materials and a one-hour follow-up coaching participate in outside groups and Jay Nusbaum,Vice President and General session. Your ORACC leadership has organizations which provide me with a wealth of information and ideas. I’ve been involved Counsel collaborated with Willamette University’s Vestas American Wind Technology, Inc. Atkinson Graduate School of Management with a national group of attorneys for almost 20 years. Last spring I presented a motion to [email protected] Executive Development Center to provide a $500 member discount for this program. To the US Supreme Court to admit 22 fellow J. Stuart Patterson, Vice President and attorneys to the US Supreme Court Associate General Counsel learn more or to register, go to Hewlett-Packard Company http://www.willamette.edu/go/lab. To claim Bar. Afterward, Justice Ginsberg came to our reception room and we all swooned. [email protected] your member discount when registering, enter “ORACC” when asked, "How did you learn Joshua Simko, Assistant General Counsel, about the LAB program?" What is one thing about your company Licensing you would like the world most to know? NIKE, Inc. I work with incredibly smart and dedicated [email protected] This program will be held May 2, 2016 - May 5, 2016, at the Willamette University Portland engineers and technical staff that believe I Ben Buhayar, Attorney Center. Taught by faculty from Willamette know something they don’t - what an ego NWEA University’s Atkinson Graduate School of boost! I appreciate their vision and dedication [email protected]
Management and College of Law as well as to making our environment a better place for Katerina Kogan, Attorney industry practitioners, it is expected to be all of us. Many of the roads, bridges and ESI, Inc. approved for 24 Oregon CLE's and 23.5 parks in Oregon were designed or otherwise [email protected] Washington CLE's, as it has been in the past touched in some fashion by our firm from the renovation of the Hawthorn Bridge, Milwaukie Yumi O’Neil, Associate General Counsel Cambia Health Solutions Light Rail design to Sunriver Resort. [email protected]
What is the best job you had before this Gary Lau, Associate General Counsel Member Spotlight one, either in the legal profession or Cambia Health Solutions outside of it? [email protected]
I have been working for David Evans and Robert Scott, Vice President and General Associates, Inc. for over 18 years. I have to Counsel think back pretty far to consider prior Opal Labs Inc. [email protected] positions. I have gained something from every position I have had even when the work Anthony Stark, General Counsel and Vice wasn’t always enjoyable. My summer job President of Corporate Development during college was at a salmon cannery in DiscoverOrg, LLC Alaska. My summers in Alaska provide me [email protected]
with some of my most fond and fun David Meisels, General Counsel memories. It was hard work, but I gained D&M Holdings many rich cultural experiences including [email protected]
OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER | 4
Kodiak Bear encounters, my first salmon roe Employers with a 2014 count of 50 or more expensive individual-only coverage, the sushi, and an adventure hitchhiking from full-time equivalent employees file the C employer will enter 1A on line 14 and skip line Alaska to Washington State. Forms: 1094-C and 1095-C. Form 1094-C is 15. Then the employer will enter 2C on line 16 a transmittal form providing generalized if the employee enrolled in coverage or 2G if Who are your primary outside counsel and company information, and each employer will the employee waived coverage. what do you like best about them? typically file only one Form 1094-C. We’ve used Tonkon Torp for many years. I (Employers who find doing so administratively If an employer cannot meet the $93.18 also use Lane Powell for litigation. The helpful can opt to file multiple Form 1094-Cs if threshold but all other factors noted above individuals I work at with these firms are doing so is administratively helpful.) Form apply, the employer will enter 1E on line 14 service oriented and make an effort to 1095-C is an individualized form that will be and the cost of the least expensive individual address my budget and time needs. I’ve completed for each full-time employee. The only coverage available to the employee on developed relationships with lawyers and law ACA defines “full time” as 30 hours per line 15. 2C will be entered on line 16 if the firms across the country, particularly in a state week/130 hours per month. An employee employee enrolled in coverage but either 2F that we have offices, so that if I have an issue must work on a full time basis for at least one or 2H where the employee did not enroll. If I have individuals I can call for immediate month within the reporting year to be neither 2F nor 2H apply, the employer will assistance. The best outside counsel are the considered full time for ACA filing purposes. leave line 16 blank. ones that make my internal clients happy and Exceptions exist when an employee was in Where can I go for more information? make me look good! I also have a list of what is called a limited non-assessment The best resources for information at this industry GC friends I call regularly for ideas, period for all months within a calendar year in point are your benefits broker, benefits reality checks and practical advice. They which he or she worked full-time hours. attorney, payroll provider, and the IRS’s have been an invaluable resource! Employers with insured coverage complete published information. In particular, this IRS Parts I and II of Form 1095-C, while page provides some good background: Do you use social media in your employers with self-insured coverage https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care- professional life? If so, which ones? complete Parts I, II, and III of Form 1095-C. Act/Employers/Questions-and-Answers- Not too many people want an Instagram of my Employers with self-insured health plans will on-Reporting-of-Offers-of-Health- contract edits! I’m on LinkedIn but it isn’t also report certain COBRA coverage for Insurance-Coverage-by-Employers- much benefit. The industry organization I former employees, using Forms 1094-B and Section-6056. belong has a listserv that is amply used by the 1095-C. member attorneys. Because I also have an Bear in mind that final reporting outside relationship with these individuals, the If I had fewer than 50 full-time equivalent instructions were not released until email exchanges are very helpful. employees in 2014, but I-self-insure, what September 2015, so older online sources do I do? often contain outdated information. What is your favorite place in Oregon or southwest Washington and why? Employers with a 2014 employee count of Happy reporting, and please let us know how My husband and I have been making an effort fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees we can be of assistance. to visit the coast recently. We have more are not required to complete ACA reporting if Iris Tilley and Allison Jacobsen are attorneys opportunity now that our boys are college- they have either insured health coverage or at Barran Liebman LLP. They advise aged (no more soccer weekends!) and we live no health coverage at all. However, those employers about all aspects of employee on the westside of the state. A weekend trip employers who self-insure will complete the B benefits, including ACA compliance. Contact to the coast was a little harder when we lived Forms. Like Form 1094-C, Form 1094-B is a them at 503-228-0500 or [email protected] in Bend, OR. transmittal form that will go to the IRS. Form and [email protected]. 1095-B will be used to report which What is the last book you read? employees, spouses, and dependents are Besides the trash novels that sit next to my covered by the employer’s plan. bed for de-stressing, I try to read some of the books my son recommends from college. He How do I complete Lines 14 through 16 of is an English major and recommends his Form 1095-C? favorites. I have just started reading “We Think the World of You” by J.R. Lines 14 through 16 of Form 1095-C request
Ackerley; The last book was “Disgraced” a employers to report whether they offer
novel by J. M. Coetzee - a provocative book coverage to full-time employees, and if so, with themes of life purpose and career which kinds. The IRS has assigned a slew of choices set in post-apartheid South Africa codes to the various situations that can arise, and a personalized conversation with your ACA Reporting is Coming to Town, and the consultant or attorney is often helpful in IRS Wants to Know if You’ve Been Naughty identifying the specific codes. However, here or Nice. Continued are some general rules: Where an employee has offered ACA- If I had 50 or more full-time equivalent compliant coverage to the employee, spouse, employees in 2014, what do I file? and dependents, with the cost to the employee of $93.18 or less for the least- OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER | 5
Featured ACC Resources
Click the following links for ACC Resources related to ACA Compliance (acc.com login is required)
What Keeps You Up at Night Regarding Your Employee Benefit Plans? How Much Could Non-compliance Really Cost?
The US Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Financial Services Industry- A Review of Compliance Issues Relating to Employer Responsibility Requirements and a Discussion of Future
Obligations (webcast)
Increased EEOC Systemic (Class) Investigations and Litigation
Employers Must TakeWelcome Heed of the New EEOC’S Members! Scrutiny of Overbroad Medical Authorizations and Employer Sponsored Wellness Programs
Todd DuChene
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
FLIR Systems, Inc.
James Henry
Staff Counsel
Blue Harbor Senior Living Hannah Hemry
Associate General Counsel
Wilson Construction Company Christine Martinez
Senior Compliance Counsel
Precision Castparts Corp. Ryan Boyle
Senior Legal Counsel
NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc. Vicki A. Ballou
General Counsel
Vigor Industrial LLC Julie M. Skirvin
Assistant General Counsel
Vigor Industrial LLC
OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER | 6
THANK YOU CHAPTER SPONSORS PLATINUM SPONSOR
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OREGON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER Q4 NEWSLETTER – DECEMBER 2015 Issue 7