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Yearly Archives

2017

Driving Without Incident: Strategies that May Surprise You

By Safety
We hear a lot about the dangers of drunk driving, but did you know it is only the Number 3 cause of accidents? The Number 1 cause, by far, is distracted driving. Per a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), 80 percent of automobile accidents and 65 percent of near-accidents involve some form of driver distraction within three seconds of the incident. Although talking or…
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June Is National Safety Month…Are You in the Driver’s Seat?

By Safety
In June, the National Safety Council will be promoting National Safety Month, a nationwide advocacy effort to increase safety at work, on the road and in homes. The campaign focuses specifically on raising awareness to reduce the incidence of the leading causes of injury and death. In conjunction with this effort, Marathon is working to expand education about two important issues for businesses: worker driving safety, which we will feature this week, and leading causes…
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Workplace Injuries Are Costing Firms a Fortune

By Safety
Despite decreasing over the past decade, disabling, non-fatal injuries in the U.S. workplace still cost employers approximately $60 billion in direct compensation costs, which equates to $1 billion each week, per the 2017 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index. Direct costs are those that directly impact the bottom line, including workers' compensation payments, medical expenses and costs for legal services. The index, which ranks the top 10 causes of disabling work-related injuries and their direct costs…
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Health Insurance Options May Expand for Small Businesses

By Benefits
The U.S. House of Representatives recently took action to make it easier for small businesses to offer employee health coverage through association health plans (AHPs). These plans, which offer businesses and other association members access to more affordable insurance plans than they can procure individually, have long been appealing but not widely available. If this bill passes the Senate and the President signs it into law, all that may change for the better. On March…
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Georgia’s Non-Compete Rules Have Changed Dramatically

By Legal
A non-compete agreement is the cornerstone of many employment contracts. Company owners want the reassurance that should an employee leave, he or she will not go to work for a competitor or use company information for another firm’s benefit. Many business owners assume non-compete agreements are relatively straightforward and that they have a fair amount of latitude in creating them. However, some legislatures, including Georgia’s, have changed their laws and statutes in ways that significantly…
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Is Cell Phone Usage Reducing Office Productivity?

By HR
Cell phone usage in the workplace is at an all-time high, and evidence is mounting that employee cell phone use causes unwanted distractions in the office. In a 2015 study by CareerBuilder, 44% of business leaders ranked cell phone usage as the number one productivity killer—placing it atop the list of workplace distractions. Yet, many company leaders struggle to manage cell phone usage effectively. Here’s a simple solution. Unless workers need their cellphones to perform…
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Pregnancy Leave Laws—What You Need to Know

By Benefits, Legal
With the new Trump administration comes updated plans and approaches, and one issue currently up in the air is pregnancy leave. A few proposals under consideration could potentially impact small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Following is a rundown of the current situation. As many business owners recognize, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires organizations with 50 or more employees within 75 miles to provide 12 weeks per year of unpaid job protection for…
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Affordable Care Act Tax Statements: A Primer

By Legal
The Affordable Care Act (ACA; also known as Obamacare) requires all Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) to offer their employees health insurance. In general, employers qualify as ALEs if they have at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent (FTE) employees—a combination of part-time employees that count as one or more full-time employees. Each year, employers must send a statement—Form 1095-C—to all employees eligible for coverage. Form 1095-C involves numerous special codes, some of which can…
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It’s Time to Post OSHA 300 Forms: What You Need to Know

By Legal
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), maintaining injury and illness records is “easy and beneficial." For many employers, this requirement is anything but easy, so they outsource this important task to a firm such as Marathon. From February to April of every year, affected employers are required to display a summary of the injuries and illnesses recorded the previous year at the workplace. This information helps employers, workers and OSHA evaluate the…
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W-2s and You

By Legal, Payroll
Until this year, employers had two dates to keep in mind when preparing 1099’s and W-2s. Beginning with 2016 forms, employers will now have one filing deadline for all Federal information returns - January 31, 2017. This applies for both employee and agency copies, or whether filing paper or electronic returns. The state of Georgia has also adopted the new January 31 filing deadline. You also need to know that the penalties for missing the…
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