A large crowd of area professionals, including those that work in human resources, security, administration, small business owners and more, attended a lunch seminar on Pennsylvania’s new medical marijuana law and how it relates to workplace drug policy on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Columbia Mall. The workshop, which was organized by the Chamber and PA CareerLink Columbia/Montour Counties and sponsored by PPL Electric Utilities, featured Juan Mayo, a workers’ compensation health & safety training specialist from the PA Department of Labor & Industry. Lunch for the event was provided by Steph’s Subs. Among the topics of the presentation were the basics of the law, which allows medical weed cards to be published by a licensed physician for a limited number of conditions. Smoking of marijuana, for medical or recreational purposes, remains illegal in Pennsylvania. The differences between THC and CBD, two of the chemical components of marijuana, were also discussed, as was a clarification on the differences between hemp and marijuana. Most importantly, some guidelines and suggestions for how employers should accommodate medical marijuana in the workplace were also presented. Employers should be able to treat medical marijuana just like any other drug that is prescribed to an employee for a specific condition and could have side effects that could make it difficult or unsafe to do certain jobs, such as operate heavy machinery, etc. It was recommended that employers, if they don’t already do so, designed any specific positions as safety-sensitive, which makes disclosure of any medical prescriptions that could affect one’s ability to satisfactorily perform a job necessary on the part of the employee. For those that may have been interested in the seminar but were unable to attend, the entire presentation, which runs just over an hour, can viewed below or on the Chamber’s YouTube channel. 
One of the many components to helping employers find and keep employees is quality childcare and early childhood education. Access to quality care allows parents to be more reliable, focused employees. Also, a growing body of research shows that early education programs give children a significant head start in learning, development, and future potential. To increase the awareness of these benefits, and advocate for improved access, the Chamber has created an early childhood education task force.
Members with an interest are invited to join the task force. Meetings are held the fourth Tuesday of each month at 8:00 a.m. at the Chamber. If interested, contact Fred Gaffney at the Chamber at 570-784-2522 or email.
Member News
- Profile Coffee and Roasters will be hosting several other local small businesses at its coffee shop, located at 185 S. Market St., Elysburg, for a Small Business Saturday shop local event on Saturday, Nov. 24 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. There is no cost to attend. There will be 8-10 craft vendors and other small businesses featured.
- During September, a number of local businesses, organizations and communities, coordinated by Service 1st Federal Credit Union, joined together to “Go Gold,” raising awareness about pediatric cancer and $20,000 to support the ThinkBIG® Pediatric Cancer Fund, which is dedicated to minimizing the stress families battling pediatric cancer experience by providing financial support for everyday cost of living expenses and unpaid medical bills.
In 2015, Woody Wolfe approached Old Forge Brewing Company and Service 1st Federal Credit Union and asked, “Why not go gold?” Going Gold soon grew into a month-long awareness effort. Last year, events were held in Bloomsburg, Danville, and Lewisburg. This year’s initiative expanded to include the communities of Mifflinburg, Shamokin, Watsontown, and Williamsport. Businesses involved in Going Gold 2018 included: Brendan’s Towne Tavern, Lewisburg; Brewser’s SportsGrille, Shamokin; Bull Run Tap House, Lewisburg; Brickyard Restaurant & Ale House, Williamsport; Heart to Hand Ministries; Marley’s Brewery & Grille, Bloomsburg; Old Forge Brewing Company, Danville; Rivals, Williamsport; Rusty Rail Brewing Company, Mifflinburg; Service 1st Federal Credit Union; The Stonehouse, Williamsport; Watson Inn, Watsontown; West End Ale Haus, Bloomsburg; and 505, Williamsport. Many of the events featured this year’s Gold Dust Pale Ale, brewed by Marley’s Brewery & Grille, Bloomsburg and Old Forge Brewing Company, Danville. $1 per pint of the pale ale was donated to Going Gold. Rusty Rail Brewing Company donated $1 per goblet of their Fool’s Gold to benefit ThinkBIG® as well.
- Pretty Petals & Gifts by Susan, located at 158 East 9th St., Bloomsburg, as well as at 1168 State Route 487, Paxinos, is celebrating the first anniversary of its Bloomsburg store this month by offering a chance to win free flowers every month for a year. Stop in the store anytime during November and register to win. No purchase is necessary and the winner will be drawn on Nov. 30, which is also the first day of its two-day Holiday Open House (not to be confused with the Chamber’s Holiday Open House on Dec. 13). On Nov. 30, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and on Saturday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., stop in the store for refreshments and numerous gift ideas. There is no cost to attend and no purchase is necessary. For more information, check out the November ChamberPack flyer.
- NEPIRC will conduct a free leadership training seminar titled “Leadership Development Essentials” on Thursday, Dec. 6, from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation, located at 725 West Front St. (Rt. 11) in Berwick. This program is intended to help individuals become stronger, more impactful leaders. While joining other managers and supervisors to discuss workplace challenges, attendees will explore topics that include self-awareness, power & authority, risk & failure and leadership style. Using self-assessment tools and experiential learning, attendees will examine their strengths and weaknesses while exploring best practices of exceptional leaders. Register via the NEPIRC event website.
- Wild For Salmon will host a holiday tasting event at its retail store on 521 Montour Blvd. (Rt. 11) in Bloomsburg on Saturday, Dec. 8, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. There is no cost to attend. Much like its other public tasting events throughout the year, this event will feature some dishes specially prepared by Wild For Salmon’s in-house chef featuring salmon and other seafood for attendees to taste, only this time, there will be a winter and holiday theme to the menu selections.
- HR4ALL will hold a free luncheon and executive briefing on affordable healthcare options and human resources consulting services on Thursday, Dec. 13, from 12-12:45 p.m., at the Farrington Place, located at 416 W. 3rd St., Williamsport.
This event will feature a trio of strategic partners, including HR4ALL, a professional human resources expertise consultant, speaking about a group of small and medium-sized businesses getting together to pool resources that will hopefully enable them to access less expensive, self-funded health plans in the future. For more information, call 570-592-0518, or see the event flyer at right, and to RSVP, text HR4ALL to 555888. 
More than 400 businesses and organizations belong to the Chamber to receive benefits and support efforts to strengthen their businesses and our region. Increased membership allows us to offer additional programs and benefits, have a stronger voice in advocacy and be involved in more activities and initiatives in our communities. The Chamber welcomes its newest member, The Hilltop Bar & Grill, to help us fulfill our mission.
The Hilltop Bar & Grill is a bar/restaurant located in Danville at 115 Liberty Valley Rd., and it has the same ownership as both Mayberry Hospitality and The Pub II, who are also recent new members to the Chamber. The Hilltop is an American Roadhouse serving families, travelers and locals great food in a casual unique setting featuring an outdoor deck with a spectacular view of Montour Ridge, as well as an occasional deer or turkey. It has daily food specials, which can be found on its website, in addition to its full menu. The Hilltop is open Tuesday-Saturday from 3 p.m. – 2 a.m., and can also be reached on its Facebook page, by email, or call them at 570-275-9292.
More than 400 businesses and organizations belong to the Chamber to receive benefits and support efforts to strengthen their businesses and our region. Increased membership allows us to offer additional programs and benefits, have a stronger voice in advocacy and be involved in more activities and initiatives in our communities. The Chamber welcomes its newest member, The Pub II, to help us fulfill our mission.
The Pub II is a bar/restaurant open seven days a week and located in downtown Danville at 133 Mill St. and has the same owner as Mayberry Hospitality LLC, another recently new member. The warm and inviting atmosphere, featuring a custom-built red oak bar and wainscoting set against the signature red wall color blends well with the collection of Rolling Stone tour posters and memorabilia. The restaurant menu features fresh ingredients and house recipes, as well as its signature iron skillet pizza. It also has several beers on tap, as well as a few taps open for local craft beers. The Pub II is open Monday-Thursday from 3 p.m. – 2 a.m., Friday from 11 a.m. – 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday from 3 p.m. – 2 a.m., and during the NFL season, from 12 p.m. – 2 a.m. on Sunday. It can be reached at 570-275-2462 or by email, and also check out its website for a list of menus and daily specials, and its Facebook page.
Attention senior holiday shoppers! rabbittransit’s paratransit service can help you visit your favorite shops this season. Senior Citizens who are 65 years of age or older are eligible for paratransit, often referred to as “shared ride,” which is bus service providing trips that are grouped together between multiple customers. Paratransit offers door-to-door service. Most shared ride destinations are within your county of residence, although rabbittransit also provides regular trips to adjacent counties based on demand. There may be a co-pay for each trip you take, but that depends on several different factors. There is a required application and reservation process. Contact the mobility planning department for more information at 1-800-632-9063. The rabbittransit staff will be happy to answer any questions and help any interested and eligible individuals begin using rabbittransit for all of their transportation needs.
From ChamberChoice
Under the Affordable Care Act, (ACA) insurance companies must spend a minimum percentage of premiums on medical care rather than administrative costs, referred to as the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR). If an insurer does not meet this minimum percentage amount, it is required to provide rebates to policyholders.
Insurers are required to notify the plan whether a rebate is owed. Insurers also will notify individuals who are enrolled in coverage that an MLR rebate is being paid with respect to that policy. As such the employer, as the plan sponsor, needs to be prepared to answer questions from individual participants.
Once you receive your rebate, you must decide what you are required to do with the funds and what options you may have. You only have 90 days to complete the handling and distribution of any rebate. Plan participants should be notified about how the MLR rebate will be used by the employer, whether or not the employer distributes a portion of the rebate.
What Rules should the employer follow in determining what to do with the rebates?
There are specific rules issued by the Department of Labor as to how employers, as plan sponsors, can use these funds. An employer has to look to the terms of the insurance policy or wrap plan document to determine the amount of the rebate that can be retained by the employer and the portion, if any, that must be distributed to participants. If the employer does not have a wrap plan document, or the plan document does not address rebates, then the employer has to look at the source of premium payments.
• If the employer paid the entire costs of premiums, then the entire rebate can be retained by the employer;
• If both employee and employer contributed a percentage of the premium, then the portion of the MLR rebate that can be attributed to employee contributions has to be used to benefit employees (this is referred to herein as the “Employee Portion” of the rebate. The portion associated with the employer contribution is referred to as the “Employer Portion” of the rebate).
If the employer funds the health plan using a trust, the entire MLR rebate would be subject to distribution to employees, thus considered the “Employee Portion.”
Employers are allowed to retain the Employer Portion of the rebate (assuming the policy is issued to the Employer) and are required to follow their plan documents or use a reasonable approach to distribution of the Employee Portion of the rebate as described below.
How do I calculate the employee portion?
For medical plans that DO NOT use a trust to fund the premium or claims payments:
Employee Portion = Total Employee Contributions x Total MLR Rebate
Total Premiums
Example: Assuming the MLR Rebate received by the employer is $900. The amount attributable to employee contributions is calculated as follows:
Employee Portion = $60,000 (total employee contributions) x $900
$180,000 (total premium)
= $300 – this is the Employee Portion and must be distributed to or used for the benefit of participants.
If a trust is used for funding the plan, the entire rebate must be used to benefit the participants – either by following the plan language or distributing the rebate using a reasonable method.
Which Employees should receive the Benefit or Distribution of the Rebate and how is the Employee amount determined?
If the wrap plan document (or other plan document) allows the employer to keep the rebate and use it for the benefit of employees, there is no requirement to distribute any portion of it. Instead, the employer could retain the rebate and use it to benefit, for example, employees who participate in the plan during the next plan year by reducing premium contributions. The employer should start by reviewing plan document wording to see if any options are described there that would need to be followed.
If the plan document is silent on this issue, the employer could decide to use the Employee Portion in any of the following ways:
• Only employees who participated in the plan for the year in which the rebate was generated would receive the benefit of the rebate (this would include COBRA participants); or
• Only employee who currently participate in the plan will the benefit of the rebate, regardless of previous participation. This option is generally only advisable when the cost of distributing the rebate approaches or exceeds the amount of the rebate.
The employer then has to use a fair, reasonable objective method of allocating the Employee Portion of the rebate among the participants that will receive that rebate. This can be done, for example, by looking at the portion of the total contributions paid by each employee in comparison to the total contributions.
Example: Employee X paid $1200/year for coverage of the Employee and her spouse. All employees in the plan paid $60,000 in contributions for the year. This means that Employee X should receive:
$1,200
$60,000 or 2% of the Employee Portion of the Rebate
There are other reasonable methods that the employer could use to calculate each participant’s share of the rebate. The employer will need to determine this reasonable method by looking at how contributions are determined.
Is the Rebate considered Taxable Income to Employees?
Generally, yes. If the employee or former employee receives a cash distribution of a portion of the plans MLR rebate, this payment will be taxable income to the employee. If the employer is allowed to retain the rebate and use it to benefit the employee and charges employees a lower contribution amount due to the rebate, the employee will have more taxable income because she will be contributing less to the health plan.
If employees pay their contributions on a post-tax basis, there is no taxable income when the employee receives the rebate because the employee has already paid income tax on the amounts associated with the rebate.
Conclusion
If the employer is permitted by the plan document to retain the rebate or if the employer decides not to issue rebate checks to employees who received a notification about the rebate from the carrier, it is especially important for employers to communicate that decision. No matter how the rebate is going to be used, however, we recommend that the employer describe the use of the rebate to employees and former employees, quoting plan language or describing the reasons for its determination on how to use the rebate. This notification and any distribution should occur within 90 days of receipt of the rebate.
LCP class members help winterize the butterfly garden at the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum.
October provided a unique opportunity for Leadership Central Penn (LCP) participants. They were joined by five pediatric and pediatric resident physicians from Geisinger, as well as 38 Geisinger Health Plan employees for a day of collaboration and learning. The morning started with a brief introduction and explanation of the day from Adrienne Mael, CEO of United Way of Columbia and Montour County. Adrienne explained that the large group would be split into community project groups. The LCP class was joined by the Geisinger residents and went to assist with one of three projects: strategic planning brainstorming at the Bloomsburg Area YMCA, multipurpose room cleaning and organizing, or butterfly garden winterization at the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum.
When the projects were completed, it was off to the Caldwell Consistory for a poverty panel discussion. The panel included Tom Dougher of the Gate House, Becky Stender of Central Susquehanna Opportunities-Community Action and Eileen Chapman from AGAPE. The group learned about rural homelessness and how organizations like the Gate House in Danville are trying to help. They heard about many community needs from food assistance to flood assistance and the many efforts of AGAPE and CSO. In the end, everyone learned that while they may be aware of poverty in our area, they don’t fully understand the depth and breadth. The only way to fully understand it is to experience it.
The poverty simulation held at the Caldwell Consistory.
After a great lunch from Lucy’s Kitchen & Catering, everyone got to learn first-hand what it is like to walk in the shoes of poverty for one month. The participants started by randomly selecting a card that then assigned them a real-life role in a family living in poverty. Some were a parent, a child, a grandparent, but each had unique issues to deal with due to their family’s situation. There were many struggles that plagued the families as the weeks went by. What bills could you afford to pay, what bills were the most important to pay, how do you get to work, how do you care for children, what do you do when school is closed, how do you find help, where do you look for help? The biggest challenge faced was figuring out where to start. The reality is poverty isn’t something people plan for and it also isn’t something that can be fixed by one nonprofit, charity or government agency.
When the day was done everyone shared how well they did, or didn’t do, and what they took away from the day. Some participants actually turned to crime and became Robin Hoods during the end of the month. Others lost their homes and children, and were defeated. Some managed, but barely. Only one group shared that they thought they did well with the hand they were dealt. All of the groups realized in the end that this is not a game, and that there is much work to be done to combat the issues of poverty in our area. We all can and need to be part of the solution.
The 2018-19 LCP program is sponsored by Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital, Kawneer, PPL Electric Utilities, SEKISUI SPI, USG and Williams.
The The Foundation of The Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce’s Future Careers Expo, scheduled for next Tuesday, Nov. 20, has unfortunately been cancelled. Please keep an eye out for another piece of workforce development programming in the near future.
The U. S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Assistance offers low interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private, nonprofit organizations to repair or replace real estate, personal property, machinery & equipment, inventory and business assets damaged or destroyed in a declared disaster. Applications may be submitted online. The deadline to file for physical damages is Dec. 24, 2018. See the fact sheet for additional details, and for questions or more information, the SBA Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955.
The Columbia Montour Chamber is also offering special bridge loans of up to $10,000 at a 3% fixed interest rate to members impacted by this summer’s flooding. Please see the full guidelines and application for this program, and questions can be directed to Chamber president Fred Gaffney at 570-784-2522 or by email.