August 2015 Business Magazine

A u g u s t 2 0 1 5

The Manufacturer & Business Association.

We don’t sell energy. We represent you, our members – employers who face increasing energy costs in an increasingly competitive environment.

Through our new service, called EnergyAdvisors, we analyze your specific energy use, your energy needs, your energy costs. And then we work with pre-qualified energy suppliers who bid on your business, offering long-term fixed-rate pricing, variable rates indexed to the Day-Ahead Market and blended rate programs. What you receive are the best energy buys for your business.

We can also provide energy curtailment options – how you can earn back as much as 40% of your bill simply by being on standby for reducing electricity during emergency power demands.

If you want to save big-time on your energy bills, call me at 814-833-3200.

Chuck Jenkins cjenkins@mbausa.org

A MEMBER SERVICE OF MBA

2171 W. 38th Street • Erie, PA 16508 • MBAenergyadvisors.com

BUSINESS M A G A Z I N E Manufacturer & Business Association

Medical Lab Tests, Invests in Community / Page 10

VOLUME XXVIII, NUMBER 8

AUGUST 2015

The Manufacturer & Business Association.

We don’t sell energy. We represent you, our members – employers who face increasing energy costs in an increasingly competitive environment.

Through our new service, called EnergyAdvisors, we analyze your specific energy use, your energy needs, your energy costs. And then we work with pre-qualified energy suppliers who bid on your business, offering long-term fixed-rate pricing, variable rates indexed to the Day-Ahead Market and blended rate programs. What you receive are the best energy buys for your business.

We can also provide energy curtailment options – how you can earn back as much as 40% of your bill simply by being on standby for reducing electricity during emergency power demands.

If you want to save big-time on your energy bills, call us at 814-833-3200.

A MEMBER SERVICE OF MBA

2171 W. 38th Street • Erie, PA 16508 • MBAenergyadvisors.com

10 3

August 2015

Blue Ocean Strategy Center

EDITORIAL >

FEATURES >

7 / Health Matters

3 / Spotlight

What your company should consider when it comes to having employees fully insured or self-insured.

Edinboro University President Julie Wollman shares an update on the current changes at Porreco College and plans to offer low-cost associate and job training programs.

JOHN MILLS

9 / Legal Brief How a recent court ruling could create a roadblock for worker classifications.

W. PATRICK DELANEY

10 / Associated Clinical Laboratories Health-care experts explain how the regional reference laboratory ACL is a regional asset and resource for physicians and patients living and working in the service area.

13 / On the Hill

SPECIAL SECTION 20 / 2015 Roar on the Shore

®

See photos from the ninth annual Roar on the Shore charitable motorcycle rally benefiting Erie Homes for Children and Adults’ Project First Step. Be sure to save the date for next year’s rally — July 13, 14, 15, 16 & 17, 2016!

Guest columnist Keith Williams explains why lawmakers should pass a paycheck protection law and restore fairness and transparency to the collective bargaining table.

5

ES S BMUa Sg IN a z i n e Manufacturer & Business Associatio

n

VOLUME XXVIII, NUMBER 8

AUGUST 2015

Medical Lab Tests, Invests in Community / Page 10

Read on the Go!

DEPARTMENTS > 4 / Business Buzz 16 / HR Connection

For the most current Business Magazine updates, visit www.mbabizmag.com, fan us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

18 / Legal Q&A 21 / People Buzz August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 1

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SPOTLIGHT > Beginning last year, Edinboro University announced that its Porreco Center in Millcreek Township would undergo an $11-million expansion and be renamed Porreco College, offering low-cost associate and job training programs, similar to those that a community college might offer.

Now, a year later, the Business Magazine asked Edinboro University President Julie Wollman to provide an update on the current changes at the college.

VOL. X X VII, NO. 8 AUGUST 2015

To give our readers some background, what drove the University’s decision to rename and expand the Porreco campus?

Responsiveness to the evolving needs of the broader community is part of Edinboro University’s mission, and our 2013-2018 Strategic Plan included the creation of Porreco College as a means of influencing the development of a thriving region. The university had the resources of our Porreco campus, the expertise of our faculty and staff, and an innovative plan to fill a longunmet need in the Erie region. Through the privately funded Porreco Promise scholarships, we are able to provide a high-quality, workforce-focused university education at a cost comparable to community colleges in Pennsylvania.

What changes have taken place so far and what has yet to be done?

The biggest changes have been the addition of associate degree programs that can be completed in their entirety at Porreco College. In terms of physical changes, the kitchen is under renovation, thanks in part to a grant from the Erie Community Foundation, so that food service is available to the growing population of students. In addition, we’re exploring the most costeffective options for expanding classroom space to meet the demand, which has been even greater than we anticipated.

To learn more about What programs do you offer and what are some Porreco College, see page 14 of the newest additions? in this month’s magazine.

This fall we are offering associate degrees in Applied Technology, Business Administration, Human Services — Social Services, Criminal Justice and Liberal Studies. In addition, participants in Penelec’s Power Systems Institute training program for prospective line workers are beginning work on their Applied Technology – Electric Utilities Technology associate degrees. Students interested in early childhood education can also take classes leading to credentials in that field.

Why did you decide to look at the community college model? How will your new associate and job training programs help address the growing skills gap in our region?

Meeting the needs of employers, raising educational attainment and addressing poverty in our region require high-quality educational programs that are delivered affordably and targeted to existing jobs. That’s essentially the community college model. At Porreco College, we are doing all of those things through private support for students and close collaboration with employers to ensure our offerings match workforce needs. Our partners include GE Transportation, Penelec/First Energy, LECOM Health, Erie Homes for Children and Adults, and others. We also are working with the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership on its Project Jobs initiative, which is designed to determine the workforce needs of today and in five years.

What is the current enrollment and how have these plans for the campus impacted that number?

Enrollment continues to exceed our targets. More than 230 new students enrolled in 2014-15, for a total of more than 400, and by early July more than 350 additional students had applied for admission this fall.

We would be remiss if we did not mention the influence that late Erie businessman Lou Porreco had on the Porreco College. What do you want our readers to know about his contributions and involvement and what he envisioned for the campus?

Lou and his wife, Debbie, have been great supporters of Edinboro University’s efforts at Porreco College. Their financial contributions have been tremendous — notably Lou’s gift of the Millcreek property to the university in 1986 and Lou and Debbie’s commitment of $1 million to launch the Porreco Promise scholarships in 2014 — but Lou also was very personally interested in the work we are doing and the opportunities we offer students. He believed in education and shared our commitment to student success.

Is there anything you would like to add?

We at Edinboro University and Porreco College are very proud to be working with many great partners in the Erie region’s business community, and we invite other employers to collaborate with us to create solutions to their training needs.

Contact: Karen Torres

Manufacturer & Business Association Board of Governors

Harry Eighmy Andrew Foyle Mark Hanaway Donald Hester Bill Hilbert Jr. Timothy Hunter Phil Katen C. Bruce Kern II Paul Kenny Jeff Plyler Mark Rose Greg Sbrocco Mike Weber

Editor in Chief

Ralph Pontillo rpontillo@mbausa.org

Executive Editor

Managing Editor & Senior Writer

John Krahe jkrahe@mbausa.org Karen Torres ktorres@mbausa.org

Contributing Writers

W. Patrick Delaney John Mills Keith Williams

Feature Photography

Rob Frank R. Frank Photography 814/520-3985 www.rfrankphotography.com

Additional Photography

Christine DeSantis Casey Naylon Karen Torres

Advertising Sales

Patty Welther 814/833-3200 pwelther@mbausa.org

Design, Production Printing Concepts Inc. & Printing printcon@erie.net

ON THE COVER: From left: ACL phlebotomist Gissett Galan, Managing Director Jymme McQuillan, courier Michael McLaurin and medical technologist David Zacherl represent the 470 employees of Associated Clinical Laboratories in Erie. For the full story on how the regional reference laboratory is not only testing, but also investing in the local community, see page 10.

Mission Statement The Manufacturer & Business Association is dedicated to providing information and services to its members that will assist them in the pursuit of their business and community interests.

– Board of Governors Manufacturer & Business Association 2171 West 38th Street Erie, Pa. 16508 814/833-3200 or 800/815-2660 www.mbausa.org © Copyright 2015 by the Manufacturer & Business Association.

All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial, pictorial or advertisements created for use in the Business Magazine, in any manner, without written permission from the publisher, is prohibited.

Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless accompanied by a properly addressed envelope bearing sufficient postage. The magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

The Business Magazine and Manufacturer & Business Association do not specifically endorse any of the products or practices described in the magazine. The Business Magazine is published monthly by the Manufacturer & Business Association, 2171 West 38th Street, Erie, Pa. 16508. Phone: 814/833-3200 or 800/815-2660.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 3

Business Buzz SAVE THE DATE TO CELEBRATE MANUFACTURING DAY IN ERIE Manufacturing Day is an annual event designed to highlight the importance of manufacturing to the economy and draw attention to the many rewarding jobs available in manufacturing fields.

The goal of Manufacturing Day is to introduce as many people as possible to the important role played by manufacturing through open houses, tours, workshops and other events.

This year, national Manufacturing Day will take place on Friday, October 2. In honor of Manufacturing Day, the Manufacturer & Business Association, in conjunction with the Erie Regional Manufacturing Partnership, Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership and Career Street, among others, have planned two days of events to give everyone a way to celebrate and learn more about the backbone of our economy.

On Thursday, October 1, the Bayfront Convention Center will be converted into a massive display and celebration of American manufacturing – featuring presentations, demonstrations, exhibits and displays from local manufacturing industries and others related to manufacturing.

On Friday, October 2, a series of company tours hosted by local manufacturers will provide students, educators, elected officials, media and others within our community with a firsthand look at modern manufacturing.

For more information, visit www.ErieMfgDay.com.

PENN STATE BEHREND BEGINS CONSTRUCTION OF ‘INNOVATION COMMONS’ Earlier this summer, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, began construction of a $112,000 “Innovation Commons,” a collaborative lab

BY THE numbers 83 participating businesses

4,348 engaged students

41

school partners

Research and Economic Development Center.

It will offer an instant support network for small businesses and start-ups — a key goal of the three-year, $1.5 million Ignite Erie initiative, a partnership of Penn State Behrend, Mercyhurst University and the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority.

Penn State Behrend students and faculty members will have access to the lab, which will be equipped with AutoCAD modeling programs, scanners and 3D printers. So will employees at Knowledge Park, a research complex with 20-tenant companies.

The space will include whiteboards, soft seating and a small conference area. Twin 65-inch touch-screen monitors will link students to InnoCentive, a crowdsourced innovation management platform that has seeded more than $40 million in business and engineering projects.

where students, faculty members and industry partners can develop product ideas, create prototypes and consult with lawyers, bankers, marketing experts and others who can support entrepreneurial projects.

The lab was funded in part by a $50,000 “Invent Penn State” grant. Penn State President Eric Barron launched the initiative in January, leveraging the University’s research, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit to bring to market needed ideas, products and services.

The lab will be located in the Jack Burke

For more information, visit psbehrend.psu.edu.

Are you one of them?

Join local employers, educators and non-profits as they work in partnership to provide career exploration opportunities to Erie County youth.

Workplace tours Career day speakers Career fairs

Job shadowing Internships Mentoring

Help us pave the way for a skilled and engaged workforce.

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available experiences AND GROWING! 4 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

www.CareerStreetErie.org 814.464.8614

DEPARTMENTS > Contact: Karen Torres

EMPLOYERS ENCOURAGED TO USE WIN LEARNING PROGRAM Local employers struggle to find employees for both entry level jobs and jobs requiring training or college degrees, which is why the 16 public school districts of Erie and Crawford counties have engaged in a project to provide students with academic and soft skill credentials that will inform employers of the levels attained by the student.

With funding from the Erie Community Foundation and the participating districts, more than 18,000 students are now registered in a software program known as WIN Learning.

Students will graduate with a certificate that notes their academic level in three academic areas: Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information and Locating Information. These three areas are directly related to the ACT Workkeys program, which profiles hundreds of jobs and identifies the student performance level of these academic skills needed to perform the job.

“When students are exploring various careers with the WIN Learning software, they will know the academic levels required to do the job and will know their present academic level,”

explains Richard Scaletta, superintendent of the General McLane School District. “Students can work to improve their levels to qualify for the job they want. A similar process is used for the soft skills identified by the Fortune 500 as necessary for success.”

If your company would like a 30-minute demonstration of how you can take advantage of this program, please contact Scaletta at richardscaletta@generalmclane.org.

ACOUSTICSHEEP LLC WINS BIG IDEA CONTEST Ben Franklin Technology Partners announced that this year’s winner of the BIG IDEA contest is Dr. Wei-Shin Lai and her team with AcousticSheep LLC. The company, which is located right off Peninsula Drive in Ebco Business Park, is developing software and phone apps, that when coupled with their latest generation of SleepPhones®, helps people get a good night’s sleep without using unreliable and expensive solutions or medication.

“We have an idea that will transform SleepPhones from being headphones that help you sleep better to a community participating to improve sleep throughout the entire world.

Winning this amazing prize will allow us to create a new technology to eliminate sleepless nights cheaply and completely drug-free for everyone,” said Dr. Wei-Shin Lai, inventor and founder of AcousticSheep LLC. Stephen Brawley, president and CEO of Ben Franklin commented, “Our very popular BIG IDEA competitions help us identify likely entrepreneurs in the region and create a pipeline of startup activity that otherwise might go untapped. This year, the $200,000 BIG IDEA Contest attracted the attention of thousands of folks.”

For more information about Acoustic Sheep, visit www.sleepphones.com.

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The RCTC is a division of the Erie County Technical School, an equal opportunity educational institution.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 5

Manufacturers have Cyber Exposures Liability for Loss of CONFIDENTIAL Customer Information… you may be liable for damages incurred by your customers for the loss of drawings, specifications, unique formulas or recipes from your systems. You may also be liable for damages to your customers if access into their network is due to a link through your network or if your system transmits a virus to a third party’s system and their data is destroyed. Are you the weakest IT security link in the supply chain? Cyber Liability Insurance may provide you protection from these types of losses.

Lost Income and Operating Expense from a Security or Data Breach… the Sony hackers didn’t simply steal data, they erased it and rendered the entire computer system unusable. Hackers have been known to attack industrial control systems and cause breakdowns of machinery! What if you are compromised via a vendor’s computer system? If your operations or manufacturing processes are dependent on a network, the lost income and the extra expenses needed to recover lost production due to a network cyberattack or cyber extortion scheme can be significant. Again, cyber insurance may provide you a remedy for the financial impact of such losses.

Corporate Data, Personnel Data, and Privacy Notifications… you can’t just apologize for an event. You need to respond and there are 47 state laws with which you may need to comply. Cyber insurance will help you with the cost to comply with regulatory notifications and remedies. Cyber insurance breach response and notification coverage (with the technical help of a Breach Coach provided by the insurer) may help keep you out of litigation. Regulatory coverage may be available for state, federal, foreign and privacy related regulations.

It’s an evolving and complex issue that at a minimum is worthy of a discussion…why not give us a call or drop us a line.

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www.eriefcu.org 5/5/15 2:57 PM

Fin that fi

Health Matters

EDITORIAL > By John Mills

Self-Funded or Fully Insured?

Which is Best for Your Business For many companies, deciding how best to deal with the cost of health insurance is a major concern. Often, the first decision to be made is the most important: Should a company choose to be fully insured, or would being self-insured be preferable?

Choosing the right kind of health plan is an important part of the success and growth of a company. There are many misconceptions about which plans are right for which kinds of companies. All of the evidence needs to be examined before any decision is made.

The Options The traditional definition of a selfinsured, or, self-funded plan, is one in which a company pays for its own medical claims directly, usually while a third-party administrator processes claims, issues ID cards and performs the function of a health plan.

In contrast, when a company chooses to be fully insured, or, fully funded — which is the more common option for smaller businesses — the company pays a set premium price to the carrier that is fixed for the year and is based on the number of employees enrolled each month. The insurance company assumes the financial and legal risk of loss if claims exceed projections.

Advantages of Self-Funding Companies with fewer than 250 employees may be reluctant to be self-funded because of a fear that they will be exposed to too much risk with a self-funded plan. However, smaller companies can still afford to be self-funded because they can purchase stop-loss insurance, which limits the amount of claims expenses an employer would be liable for, per covered employee, per year. This

protects a company against some sort of catastrophic event involving one or more employees. Stop-loss insurance reimburses an employer’s health plan for claims above a pre-set limit.

The most obvious advantage of a self-funded plan is that a company pays only for actual claims incurred by its employees. This means there is no chance of a company being “penalized” if its employees in a given year use fewer medical services than anticipated.

This also means any positive results that come from a company instituting wellness programs and smoking cessation campaigns can have a direct result on the bottom line. Also, a company can easily obtain a company specific claims report that can reveal, for instance, what percentage of claims are out-of-network and how much is being spent on emergency room visits. This kind of information can provide direction when it comes to customizing benefit changes.

Advantages of Fully Funded Plans The major advantage of fully funded plans would be cost certainty. You know at the beginning of the year what your health-care costs will be and they remain in place until a new deal is struck.

In addition, there is the understanding that all of the risk will be assumed by the health insurer and the company is spared any exposure.

Disadvantages to Self-Funding Self-funded plans that greatly exceed anticipated costs can create problems.

Although stop-loss coverage can protect an employer from paying excessive claims in a given year, after a major incident, the cost of the stoploss coverage the company purchases

is likely to rise. It also may be more difficult to get lower rates from other stop-loss providers.

In addition, higher-than-expected claims in self-funded plans can make it more difficult to return to a fully funded plan later. Any organization that chooses to run a self-funded plan internally, rather than use a third-party administrator, can run up higherthan-expected administrative costs.

Self-funding is not a quick fix and savings are not always guaranteed or immediate. However, choosing to be self-funded could be the right move for a company. In order to make the best decision, study past coverage utilization, cash flow and the health status of the employees being covered.

For more information about UPMC Health Plan’s offerings, visit http:// www.upmchealthplan.com/ employers/learn/.

John Mills is senior director for Consumer Products for UPMC Health Plan, which is part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division. The UPMC Insurance Services Division offers a full range of insurance programs and products and also includes: UPMC WorkPartners, UPMC for Life, UPMC for You, UPMC for Kids, Community Care Behavioral Health, LifeSolutions, EBenefit Solutions, and Askesis Development Group.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 7

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8 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

Legal Brief

EDITORIAL > By W. Patrick Delaney

Employee or Independent Contractor?

Uber Ruling Could Create Roadblock for Worker Classifications Uber is the highly successful car service based in San Francisco that is competing with cab companies around the world. They provide service in 300 cities and are expanding rapidly. Consumers love it. With the use of a simple smart phone app, a car arrives at your location and transports you to your destination. No tipping is expected and payment is automatically collected through your credit card, which is registered with Uber. The company is expected to reach $10 billion in revenue in 2015.

One key to Uber’s success is its equipment/driver arrangement. The car is owned by the driver, who gets to keep 80 percent of the fare.

The driver and the car are screened carefully by Uber to assure quality. But here’s the real kicker: Uber treats the driver as an independent contractor as opposed to an employee. That means no mandatory health-care expense, no Social Security contribution, no unemployment compensation expense, and no workers’ compensation premiums to pay.

But now the California Labor Commission has recently ruled that Uber’s drivers are “employees.” The ruling only applies to California and Uber has appealed, but if the decision sticks and other states/countries follow, Uber is in trouble and its 160,000-plus drivers may need to find some other way to spend their time.

So, what’s the difference between an independent contractor and an employee?

The question has come up frequently, mostly in the context of a worker

seeking coverage for unemploy- ment benefits or workers’ comp- ensation benefits. The test is an objective one. In other words, it does not matter what the parties subjectively believed or intended, the determination is based on a review of the circumstances surrounding the relationship.

In Pennsylvania, the test for determining whether a worker is independent or an employee was set forth in Morin v. Brassington, 871 A.2d 844 (Pa. Super. 2005). The analysis involves an eight-point test that includes a review of whether the worker is paid by the time or by the job, the right to end the engagement at any time, and who supplies the tools/equipment to do the work. But the courts have said that the most important factor is, “Who controls the manner in which the work is done?”

If the worker controls the “manner” in which the work is done, they are likely an independent contractor. If the person or entity that engages the worker controls the “manner” of the work, the worker is likely an employee.

These are often hard calls — or, what lawyers and judges refer to as “fact intensive cases.”

The outcome of this analysis is vitally important to the person or entity that engages the worker. It has a major impact on labor costs. But the determination of whether one is an employee or independent contractor also dictates who is liable for harm caused by the worker. The basic rule is that a person who engages the services of an independent contractor is not liable if that contractor causes

harm. On the other hand, an employer is liable, together with the employee, if the employee injures a third person.

So, back to Uber. If a driver in the Uber system causes an accident and injures the passenger in the car, is Uber liable in addition to the driver?

No doubt the driver will have liability insurance on his or her car, but what if the coverage is not enough to compensate the victim? Can the injured party look to the deep pockets of Uber? We don’t know as yet. The outcome will depend on each state’s determination of whether Uber is an employer or a company that has engaged independent contractors to provide car services to the public.

That determination may well dictate whether this increasingly popular car service can survive.

For more information on worker classifications, contact W. Patrick Delaney at 814/870-7658 or pdelaney@mijb.com.

W. Patrick Delaney is a partner in the law firm of MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton LLP, where he is chairman of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group. He is a 1976 graduate of Capital University Law School.

His practice focuses on issues of business litigation in the state and federal courts throughout western Pennsylvania.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 9

ACL’s management team includes (from front, left): Cozella Eckroat, lab director, Saint Vincent; Todd Cooper, IT manager; Managing Director Jymme McQuillan; Barb Bridger, lab manager; Valerie Cox, HR manager; and Lynda Williams, quality/compliance manager. Back row, from left: Jeffrey Richmond, M.D., medical director; Ginger Dawson, field operations manager; Kathleen Sullivan, Ph.D., technical director; and John McCarthy, controller.

Medical Lab Tests, Invests in Community Blood glucose screenings. Cholesterol panels. Routine urinalyses.

Laboratory tests, such as these, play a critical role in health assessment, health care, and ultimately, the community’s health and wellness.

The truth is, laboratory testing affects people in every life stage, and almost everyone will experience having one or more laboratory tests conducted during their lifetime. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates upward of 7 billion to 10 billion lab tests are performed each year in the United States. These test results influence approximately 70 percent of medical decisions.

In Erie County, the majority of that laboratory testing is performed by the regional reference laboratory Associated Clinical Laboratories (ACL). Tests performed at ACL help physicians diagnose, monitor and treat disease.

They can determine the cause of an infection and use sophisticated equipment to analyze blood’s chemical components. The nationally CLIA-accredited (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) lab also is responsible for supplying regional health-care providers and hospitals with a wealth of critical clinical and diagnostic information.

“Our mission statement is to provide the highest quality and most efficient medical laboratory services to the medical providers and patients in the communities we serve,” states Jymme McQuillan, who has served as ACL’s managing director for the past two years and has 13 years of service with parent company Quest Diagnostics. “We know it’s our job to provide the physicians with accurate and timely results to enable them to diagnose and treat their patients. Early detection and preventative wellness is the key to improving the health of every patient we impact. We take our part in that very seriously.”

local laboratory facility facing increasing competition from larger, commercial labs and the need for a larger regional laboratory partner, the city’s two hospital giants entered a historic joint venture in 1986 with Clinical Pathology Facility, Inc. out of Pittsburgh. Since that time, the joint venture has allowed the community to share the expense of costly resources through group purchasing and remove duplication of services while bringing sophisticated laboratory capability to Erie.

“The night we inked the deal in ’86, myself and Tom Elliot from Saint Vincent drove the first two courier cars back,” notes Steve Danch, senior vice president and chief financial officer at UPMC Hamot and board member for ACL. “The organization has blossomed under what was then a regional partnership to now a national partnership.”

Clinical Pathology Facility was acquired by what eventually became Quest Diagnostics — the largest national laboratory in the country, which, as of 2014, reported annual revenue of $7.4 billion. Quest is ACL offers an onsite phlebotomy training program, which involves two to three weeks of classroom training followed by six to nine weeks field training with a designated trainer.

History

ACL — including its 18 patient service centers across northwest Pennsylvania and southwest New York — has been a regional asset for physicians and patients living and working in the service area for decades. Before that, laboratory testing was performed under Regional Clinical Laboratories, which was formed in 1972 by then Hamot Medical Center and Saint Vincent Health Center. However, with the 10 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

ACL performs 406 different tests.

presently ACL’s majority owner, with the remaining shares divided between Tri-State Regional Associates, LLP — a holding company of 17 regional hospitals — and Pathology Associates of Erie, Inc., whose members serve as the medical directors of local hospital laboratories, as well as ACL. ACL provides these hospital partners, health-care providers and their patients with access to a multitude of services, technology and expertise, performing 4.1 million tests each year. To handle this volume, ACL is also one of the region’s larger employers with a highly skilled and trained staff of 470 that includes administrators, phlebotomists, technical staff, medical directors, Ph.D. level scientist and couriers.

In fact, at a time when laboratory managers around the world face a rapidly aging population of laboratory staff and a higher incidence of unfilled vacancies for skilled workers, ACL has stayed ahead of the curve. The laboratory has actively invested in the local workforce through its ongoing certification training and continuing education reimbursement program, recruitment efforts and job fairs, as well as its on-the-job courier training and highly successful 12-week-long phlebotomy training program.

ACL is always striving for advancements that can be made to improve the quality and accuracy of the testing, as demonstrated by its investment in the Walk-Away Specimen Processor (shown here).

It’s an investment that is paying off. Presently, ACL’s employees have 5,700 years of total service. “When I talk to people about what keeps them at ACL, it is the love of what they do,” notes McQuillan. “The ability to impact patients and the enjoyment of being in the health-care field, people here are very passionate about being part of the medical team and having a positive impact on patient care.”

Advanced Services and State-of-the-Art Technology

With 406 various types of tests available, ACL’s depth of services and technology is far and wide. The labs, which are staffed by skilled technologists 24/7, offer testing for chemistry (including automated chemistry, endocrinology, special chemistry, and toxicology); hematology; coagulation; urinalysis; blood bank; blood irradiation; histology; and infectious disease antibody testing. Its microbiology/ virology lab includes comprehensive services for bacteriology, mycology, mycobacteriology, virology, molecular infectious diseases and parasitology.

Kathleen Sullivan, Ph.D., D(ABMM), ACL’s technical director for Microbiology, Virology & Immunology, is the lab’s resident expert in the microbiology world and has worked for Quest for 25 years, including 22 years at ACL. She explains how critical the lab’s work is to population health, especially at a time in medicine when multi-drug resistant organisms and infectious disease pathogens are re-emerging, such as measles and pertussis, and new ones are being identified.

“We’re constantly challenged,” says Dr. Sullivan. “We want to keep up with the newest information that will help us provide a good quality answer more quickly. This allows for the physicians to receive the information needed to help them make a diagnosis and also to treat any infecting microorganism appropriately.”

As Dr. Sullivan can attest, advances in technology have indeed made testing faster and more accurate, and ACL has been able to stay ahead of the curve with her team’s expertise and the support of Quest. ACL was the first lab in northwest Pennsylvania to serve as a test site for the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry equipment — the “Cadillac” of infectious disease laboratory testing technology. Many hospitals and laboratories across the country, as a matter of fact, are considering implementing the MALDI-TOF because of its ability to gain high-quality, accurate, rapid identification of bacteria, fungi and mycobacteria.

For the past seven months, the lab also has implemented the WalkAway Specimen Processor (better known as WASP), a revolutionary instrument for liquid sample processing for microbiology. The equipment automatically de-caps, plants, streaks and recaps specimens in seconds — and takes care of time-consuming preparation work.

“We’re always striving for advancements that can be made to improve the quality and accuracy of the testing,” notes Dr. Sullivan, “and there have been so many changes in the last 20 years that have really helped us move forward. We’re committed to innovation, so we’re really focused on high-quality work with a good turnaround time, and we’re investing in innovation to help us make that happen for now and for the future.” >

Associated Clinical Laboratories (ACL) is a regional reference laboratory serving northwest Pennsylvania, Chautauqua County, New York and Ashtabula County, Ohio. Formed in 1986, the laboratory is a regional asset and resource for physicians and patients living and working in the service area.

As a locally based laboratory, the medical directors, technical staff, support staff and administrative staff are readily available to both physicians and patients should questions arise regarding ACL’s services. Members of Pathology Associates of Erie serve as the medical directors of local hospital laboratories, as well as ACL. This oversight ensures that the laboratories focus on meeting the service needs of physicians and patients in the regional community.

ACL’s ownership is divided between Quest Diagnostics, Pathology Associates of Erie and Tri-State Regional Associates. Tri-State partners include: Bradford Regional Medical Center, Brookville Hospital, Charles Cole Memorial Hospital, Clearfield Hospital, Corry Memorial Hospital, DuBois Regional Medical Center, Elk Regional Health Center, Grove City Medical Center, Kane Community Hospital, Meadville Medical Center, Millcreek Community Hospital, Punxsutawney Area Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital, UPMC Hamot, Warren General Hospital, WCA Hospital and Westfield Memorial Hospital Tests performed each year: 4.1 million Number of tests performed onsite – 406 different assays Courier stops: 13,000 stops per month, 125,000 miles driven per month Patient encounters: 780,000 per year Number of employees: 470 with 150 phlebotomists; 130 technical staff, and 50 couriers Total years of employee service: 5,700, including six employees with more than 40 years of service Patient service center locations: 18 total in Pennsylvania and New York Hospital laboratories ACL manages: • Saint Vincent Hospital • Millcreek Community Hospital • Corry Memorial Hospital • Bradford Regional Medical Center • Olean General Hospital August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 11

A Regional Asset

ACL’s 50 couriers travel more than 125,000 miles combined each month.

ACL’s hospital partners and health-care providers are raving fans when it comes to the quality and services that ACL provides to the region.

“What it means for UPMC Hamot is, first of all, quality,” says Danch.

“You’ve got to make sure that there is a delicate balance when you go through lab testing. You have to make sure that you are meeting certain requirements as you go through and process those tests. ACL/ Quest consistently keeps us abreast of what is the latest technology, the latest equipment and latest testing requirements that we have to meet.

It’s something that the average patient takes for granted — the comfort of that national expertise.”

For UPMC Hamot, Danch says, ACL, in conjunction with Quest, has brought the hospital the scale that it needed to maintain its quality of care and low cost in the laboratory industry, at the same time meeting the patient convenience needed to serve patients in the region.

At Saint Vincent Hospital, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Al Mansfield, also an ACL board member, echoes these remarks. “Probably the biggest benefit to the Erie community is the fact that ACL brings high levels of expertise and technology into Erie making access to that technology faster. From an employer’s point of view, ACL helps contain the cost of health-care services in Erie while enhancing access to very sophisticated testing.”

Saint Vincent employs ACL to provide all of the hospital’s clinical laboratory requirements. “We believe that working with a sophisticated partner like ACL enhances our ability to meet our patients’ needs on a cost efficient basis,” Mansfield says.

For instance, Saint Vincent expects that the vast majority of its morning blood draws and morning specimens will have results on patients’ charts by 7:40 a.m. For rapid turnaround tests, the threshold is less than 60 minutes. The ACL employees located at Saint Vincent, along with the core lab, work collaboratively to consistently achieve and beat these goals.

“Everything that we’re trying to do is focused on improving the process of delivering excellent, sage and efficient care to patients,” Mansfield says.

At ACL, the importance of quality and turnaround time goes hand-inhand with the employees’ dedication to the work they do. McQuillan states, “When you talk to the employees here, they have a high dedication and commitment to our patients and clients. We’ve served them for over 30 years, so when the hospitals, CEOs, CFOs and lab managers call us, and they have a request for their patients, we make sure it’s a high priority for us, and we make sure that we can make it for them.”

Health-care providers believe that as the Affordable Care Act impacts the health-care landscape, the testing resources that ACL provides will play a larger role in population health management and reduced costs.

ACL performs 4.1 million tests per year, providing its hospital partners, health-care providers and their patients with access to a multitude of services, technology and expertise.

It’s a reality that Jonathon Izbicki, D.O., co-owner of Izbicki Family Medicine, has already seen. The Erie-based practice utilizes ACL’s services frequently and has a unique relationship with the longstanding regional laboratory. Izbicki Family Medicine was the first medical practice in the region to convert from insurance-based to a direct primary care, as of September 2013. Patients pay a monthly fee to be a part of the practice, giving them the personal service of same-day appointments, technology visits, where they don’t have to come into the office, as well as an in-house pharmacy.

When the Izbickis decided to pursue their direct primary care model, they turned to ACL to enhance their lab service benefits. One of the highlights of this relationship is the direct purchasing that the practice gets from ACL. Izbicki Family Medicine orders and pays for the labs and then bills its patients — at negotiated prices vs. retail prices. For patients with high-deductible insurance or no insurance, the savings can be significant.

“Many of our patients oftentimes save more on labs and medications than they actually pay for their monthly membership in the practice, so they come out ahead, cost-wise, and have the added benefits of having a direct primary care physician, where the patient-doctor relationship is truly patient centered,” says Dr. Izbicki.

Commitment to the Community

ACL administrators stress the importance of being patient centric as it continues to improve the convenience and testing available in the area.

Just recently, ACL invested $3.9 million in its facilities, including heating, air conditioning, electrical upgrades to its Peach Street headquarters in Erie. To improve patient access, ACL recently opened its newest patient service center location in Seneca, Pennsylvania.

Says McQuillan, “We continue to evaluate opportunities to better meet the needs of our partners and the physicians we serve. For patients, we are constantly evaluating where our patient service centers are located to ensure our patients have the best access to our laboratory services.”

ACL and its employees also believe in the importance of being good community partners. The regional laboratory has supported such organizations as the City Mission and the United Way, as well as the Second Harvest Food Bank and American Cancer Society. This year, ACL is focused on the efforts of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“We are proud of the communities we serve, and we are committed to being more involved,” says McQuillan.

ACL’s own strategic plan is to be a visible and integral part of the health and well-being of the community.

“Right now, we are in challenging times with health-care reimbursement, so we really have to continue our business transformation journey,” says McQuillan. “I am very confident, with the team we have here and the partnerships we have, we can continue to be successful in the future.”

For more information about ACL, visit www.associatedclinicallabs.com.

12 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

OntheHill

DEPARTMENTS > Contact: Lori Joint

Lawmakers: Mary’s Law is Worth Fighting For Keith Williams is a high school English teacher in the Conewago Valley School District in Adam’s County.

For the past 14 years, I’ve taught high school English in an Adams County public school, but I’m not only a teacher — I’m also a parent. My wife and I have three children attending public school in our district. You can see why I care deeply about education in Pennsylvania.

I want what’s best for students, what’s right for myself and my fellow teachers, and what’s responsible for my neighbors, who provide a significant investment in public education through their property taxes.

But doing the right thing is not always easy. In fact, it is rarely so.

Most often, it requires sacrifice and can be uncomfortable.

In September of 2001, I proudly served with my search and rescue team in the recovery efforts immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York City. I spent weeks combing through debris to find personal effects and remains because I felt it was the right thing to do.

Standing up in the face of powerful forces, criticism or threats is the only way I can ever hope to make a difference.

When I testified this summer before the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee in support of a critical government reform called paycheck protection, I was also hoping to make a difference.

Why is this issue so important to me — a teacher, taxpayer and father? Until this school year, no one in the school district where I teach had to pay a union in order to keep his or her teaching job. Then, in March of 2013, the local union membership in my district voted to become an “agency shop,” forcing me and dozens of other teachers to choose either to leave or pay a fee to a union we didn’t want or need.

I shouldn’t have had to make that choice, but it’s even worse for taxpayers who have no choice at all when it comes to supporting teachers’ unions.

In my district and across the state, school district offices, staff, and accounting systems supported with taxpayer money are used by a political lobbying group — the teachers’ union — to siphon money from the paychecks of educators and funnel it to Harrisburg lobbyists and political Super PACs. Using public resources for political gain is currently illegal for everyone — except teachers’ unions and other government unions.

If you think this is an issue that doesn’t affect you personally, consider this: In the November election, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association donated a combined $1 million of teachers’ dues money to the Super PAC called PA Families First, according to public campaign records. This Super PAC spent that money — collected from teachers’ paychecks using public resources — to run attack ads in the gubernatorial election that you probably saw on TV. It doesn’t matter whose side you were on in the election — this shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

And it’s not just political attack ads. A college professor from Williamsport, Mary Trometter, recently filed a charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board against her union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). Days before the election, the PSEA sent Trometter’s husband a partisan political mailer urging him to vote for Governor-elect Wolf — falsely claiming Trometter was, too.

It’s bad enough that the PSEA would presume to steal members’ endorsements, but what motivates me to stand up and demand change is that you and I helped collect the political dues money used to send that offensive letter.

It’s really just common sense that teachers shouldn’t have to support candidates they don’t approve of, and taxpayers shouldn’t be collecting money to fund anyone’s political agenda.

I was pleased to see committees in both the Senate and House advance paycheck protection bills this summer. Now, lawmakers have another chance to finish the job and pass a new paycheck protection bill named after Mary Trometter: “Mary’s Law” could soon be a reality.

As a teacher, a father of kids in public schools, and a taxpayer, I urge all our elected officials to join me in standing up for what’s right. Pass a paycheck protection law and restore fairness and transparency to the collective bargaining table, and do it now.

Teachers like Mary Trometter and me, other public servants, and Pennsylvania’s taxpayers deserve nothing less.

Reprinted with permission from the Commonwealth Foundation.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 13

MISSION: POSSIBLE Partnerships enable Porreco College to fulfill ambitious workforce-readiness objectives

F

potential of education to create change, and I know that we have the resources in northwestern Pennsylvania to make it happen. We just need to make the pieces of the puzzle fit.”

“I’m passionate about finding solutions to the challenges that stand between employers and the skilled workforce they need and between workers and good jobs,” says Ritchey, who is also dean of Edinboro’s College of Science and Health Professions. “I know the

Assembling and sometimes even creating those pieces is at the center of Edinboro University’s vision for its Porreco College. The college in Millcreek Township has three primary goals: improve educational attainment in Erie County, enhance workforce readiness and ultimately reduce poverty in the region.

or Nathan Ritchey, Ph.D., bridging the gap between the skills of the region’s workers and the needs of its employers is more than his job as Edinboro University’s Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. It’s a personal mission.

14 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

To achieve these goals, the university has:

1

2

Devised an award-winning approach to making quality higher education affordable through privately supported Porreco Promise grants. The grants of up to $3,000 per year make the cost of attendance comparable to community colleges for Erie County residents enrolled full- or part-time in Porreco College programs.

Made building training partnerships with business and industry a priority at Porreco College.

The GE Transportation apprenticeship program and the Penelec/FirstEnergy Power Systems Institute are among Porreco College’s notable partners to date.

The university also recently launched a Nurse Aide Training Program created in collaboration with LECOM Health and Saint Vincent Hospital.

In addition, the university has achieved an unprecedented level of cooperation with providers of technical education at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

Ritchey says these collaborations enable the ideal mix of training components to meet the needs of employers and workers at an affordable cost.

“The people who provide training in the region are working together,” he says.

“We have a strong desire to provide a complete education and a complete solution to employers’ training needs.”

At the university, the centerpiece of these efforts is the Associate of Applied Science in Applied Technology (AAS), a flexible degree program that awards up to 27 credits for diploma or certificate training at an approved technical school.

In addition, articulation agreements signed in March with five career and technical schools in Erie and Crawford counties award up to nine credits toward the AAS to students who successfully complete one of 34 secondary-level technical programs and earn the relevant industry credential.

A 60-credit program that combines mathematics, communication and business coursework with specialized technology training, the AAS is designed to give technically skilled workers the broader background needed to assume leadership roles in their workplaces and advance in their fields.

To fulfill the GE apprenticeship program’s requirements for technical

training and degree attainment, a number of participants are combining the AAS program at Porreco College with training at Erie Institute of Technology, Ritchey says. Last fall, a customized version of the AAS, the Electric Utilities Technology Concentration, was developed specifically for Penelec.

“We’re honored to have the Electric Utilities Technology Concentration of our Associate of Applied Science in Applied Technology degree program become part of FirstEnergy’s awardwinning training program,” Edinboro University President Julie E. Wollman says. “This is a win for the community, an opportunity for area residents to train for well-paying jobs. It’s also a boost for Porreco College, which is growing and moving forward even more quickly than we expected in fulfilling its mission to meet the educational needs of the region.”

The first group of 24-28 individuals chosen for the Power Systems Institute will begin coursework at Porreco College this fall.

“The Power Systems Institute already has provided Penelec with more than 130 highly qualified employees who are working in the field today, using the training they received from this unique program to help keep the lights on for customers,” Scott Wyman, regional president, Penelec, said in December.

“We look forward to developing this training partnership with Porreco College because it offers a great opportunity for someone interested in a career in the utility industry.”

Ritchey says he recognizes that academic degrees and training programs for 10 or more individuals are not what every worker or workplace needs. His current quest is to devise training opportunities that begin with as few as 12 college credits and are applicable to a number of businesses so that cohorts can be assembled with one or a few individuals from each.

He hasn’t abandoned his commitment to academics, however. In fact, his belief in university-level education is so strong that he knows a few courses will make such a difference for employers and workers that they’ll see the need for more.

“What we’re striving to do,” Ritchey says, “is to build pathways from technical training all the way to master’s degrees.”

For more information or to apply, call (814) 732-2761 or visit porreco.edinboro.edu.

Businesses and other potential training partners can contact Vice President Nathan Ritchey at (814) 732-2440 or nritchey@edinboro.edu.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 15

HR Connection REPORT: TRAINING CRITICAL TO DEVELOPMENT, RETENTION OF YOUNGER WORKERS The development of young people within the workforce needs to be a key area of focus for employers so they can retain great talent and improve business performance, according to a new report from the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD).

The research highlights that recruiting young people is just half of the equation and that once in work, more attention must be given to developing individuals and building the skills they need for future success.

The report, Developing the Next Generation, explores and considers how organizations can identify the most effective learning and development programs for young people and the importance of outlining a clear business case for investing in their development.

The research found that a key step, but recurring challenge for organizations trying to develop young people, is establishing a clear business case. The case study organizations discussed how their development

programs for young workers have impacted significantly on the wider business, helping to drive engagement, increase efficiency and foster greater productivity.

Ruth Stuart, research adviser at the CIPD, said: “With over 300,000 young people entering the workforce every year, organizations need to establish effective development opportunities from the moment they’re employed, so they can retain them and build on the unique skills they bring.”

SURVEY: MAJORITY OF WORKERS WANT INCREASED EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT The global company WeSpire recently released its survey on the changing employee engagement landscape. The report, The Evolution of Employee Engagement, is the fourth iteration in a series based on research conducted since 2009 to assess how organizations engage employees.

Based on a survey of more than 400 respondents, the report reveals that only 27 percent of organizations have an official employee engagement policy. Further, 76 percent of employees under the age of 30

want to see their employer do more around employee engagement.

Other key findings: • Employee uncertainty around policies is often driven by inconsistent ownership of engagement initiatives within organizations. Survey respondents cited employee engagement ownership across Human Resources (31 percent), Employees (28 percent) and Management (25 percent).

• When it comes to employee engagement, organizations often aren’t doing enough.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they hope their employer will change their stance on employee engagement, and of those, 57 percent said they wanted their employer to do more.

• Age plays an important role in employee engagement. While 50 percent of survey respondents said they were interested in becoming more involved in their organization’s volunteer, sustainability, well-being or social responsibility programs, 71 percent of employees under the age of 30 expressed a desire to be more involved.

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16 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

DEPARTMENTS > Contact: Patty Welther

When and Why to Consider Bringing a Training Program ‘In-House’ When considering the many options available to you when it comes to employee development, the two instructor-led options come down to in-house or sending your employees to a public offering workshop with other company employees in attendance. In-house, or company-specific training, can be conducted onsite at the organization’s facility, or we are finding many of our members are selecting to hold the customized program for their employees at an “offsite” location. Those that choose to do so have found that it helps to eliminate interruptions and encourages the employees to focus on the learning experience.

We routinely request a company tour and conduct multiple discussions prior to conducting the workshop to assure that we are meeting the expectations and objectives for the workshop. This provides an opportunity for the instructor to get a feel for the culture, work environment and helps to better relate to the group’s discussions having seen what and where they are referring to during the program.

A question we get quite often is how many people do we need to have to be able to conduct a program in-house? We find that most often, our workshops contain anywhere

from 10 to 20 employees. We have conducted programs for as few as five and as many as 25. Anything smaller, or larger than that, can produce participant engagement challenges.

This is especially important to consider when conducting a workshop that is between three and eight hours in length. If it is a one or twohour presentation of information, and group interaction isn’t critical, the only thing that determines the limit on the size of the group is the room itself.

• It is easier for the material to be presented across departments, shifts and facilities at one time.

Company-specific training typically requires more planning, dialogue and coordination of schedules, but we find that the little bit of additional effort pays significant dividends.

There are many benefits of company- specific training:

To discuss more about in-house training or if you are interested in having any of our programs conducted for a group of your employees, please contact me at 814/833-3200 or pwelther@mbausa.org.

• The training can be scheduled when it is best for the organization from both a time of year and time of day standpoint.

• The materials and discussions can be patterned to meet the specific needs and objectives of the company and its employees.

• This training option assures that any sensitive company information is kept inhouse while at the same time able to be freely discussed.

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• A natural by-product of such a workshop is that some element of team building for the participants will occur. It’s common that many participants will spend more time in a single workshop session than they may spend together in a month or even a year at work. Plus, the workshop provides a common experience for the participants.

Patty Welther is the manager of Member Engagement for the Manufacturer & Business Association.

We give young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices.

Our corporate and community volunteers deliver relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship.

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August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 17

Legal Q&A UNDER THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA), DO THE 1,250 HOURS INCLUDE PAID LEAVE TIME OR OTHER ABSENCES FROM WORK? No. For an employee to be eligible to take leave under the FMLA, the employee must have been employed for at least 12 months, and have at least 1,250 “hours of service” during the previous 12-month period.

Hours of service means hours actually worked by the employee. It does not mean hours paid. Thus, paid non-working time, such vacations, holidays, sick leave, or other time-off (paid or otherwise), does not count for purposes of calculating one’s FMLA eligibility.

WE HAVE AN EMPLOYEE WHO HAS TAKEN LEAVE DUE TO PREGNANCY COMPLICATIONS. CAN WE COUNT THAT LEAVE AGAINST THE 12 WEEKS OF FMLA LEAVE FOR THE BIRTH AND CARE OF THE EMPLOYEE’S CHILD? Yes. An eligible employee is entitled to a total of 12 weeks of Family Medical Leave in a 12-month period. If the employee has to use some of that leave for another reason, including a difficult pregnancy, it may be counted as part of the 12-week FMLA leave entitlement.

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A GREAT DAY to help nonprofits!

August 11, 2015 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Erie Gives — The one day when your donation makes an impact. Last year, donors gave over $2.2 million to 300 nonprofits during Erie Gives.

On August 11, when you visit www.ErieGives.org and donate $25 or more to your favorite nonprofit(s), a prorated match will be added to your donation. This year, GE Transportation, Erie Insurance, Presque Isle Downs & Casino, Eriez Magnetics, The Erie Community Foundation and an anonymous donor increased the prorated match pool to $220,000! You, too, can make a difference!

18 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

DEPARTMENTS > Contact: Tammy Lamary-Toman

Third Circuit Adopts FMLA Test for Overnight Stays Recently the Third Circuit issued a decision in Bonkowski v. Oberg Industries, Inc. that focused on what constitutes an “overnight stay” under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Under the FMLA, an employee can take job-protected leave for “any period of incapacity or treatment connected with inpatient care in a hospital.” The FMLA regulations define “inpatient care” as “an overnight stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical facility, including any period of incapacity as defined in 29 C.F.R. Sec. 825.113(b), or any subsequent treatment in connection with such inpatient care.”

As with most cases, the outcome hinged on the specific facts. In this case, the plaintiff’s wife drove him to the hospital where he was admitted just after midnight. While at the hospital, the plaintiff underwent comprehensive tests and was released later that day, without any restrictions on his activities. His stay in the hospital lasted about 14 hours. After being released, the plaintiff’s employer terminated him claiming that he had walked off the job. The plaintiff filed suit under the FMLA claiming that his absence from work was a qualifying absence under

the FMLA protecting him from discharge.

The Western District of Pennsylvania found that the plaintiff did not prove that he suffered from a “serious health condition” because he did not receive “inpatient care.”

The District Court pointed to the definition of “inpatient care” contained in the FMLA regulations that requires an “overnight stay in a hospital.”

The District Court stated that in order for the plaintiff to establish that he suffered from a “serious medical condition,” he would have had to spend the entire night at the hospital, which would require a stay from sunset on day one to sunrise on day two. The District Court concluded that since the plaintiff was not admitted at the hospital until just after midnight, he did not prove that he remained at the hospital overnight.

The plaintiff appealed to the Third Circuit.

While the Third Circuit rejected the “sunsetsunrise” rule used by the District Court, the Third Circuit still ruled in favor of the employer, holding that an “overnight stay” means a stay in for a substantial period of time, “from one calendar day to the next calendar day as measured by

the individual’s time of admission and his or her time of discharge.” The court added that a minimum of eight hours could meet the “substantial period of time “requirement but did not specify a minimum required length of time.

While this case is a win for employers, it does not address what constitutes a “substantial period of time.” Meaning, this lack of clarity leaves room for dispute when an employee’s stay meets the next calendar day admission and discharge requirement, but the stay was less than eight hours.

For more information, contact the Association’s Legal Services Division at 814/833-3200 or 800/815-2660.

Tammy Lamary-Toman is the labor and employment law counsel for the Manufacturer & Business Association.

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A K-6, tuition-free public school • 814/833-7771 • www.MontessoriErie.org August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 19

Events 2015 BIKE RALLY ERIE, PA JULY 15, 16, 17 & 18

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The ninth annual Roar on the Shore® bike rally was presented by the Manufacturer & Business Association, major sponsors Off-Road Express, Street Track ‘N Trail, Indian Motorcycle of Erie, Country Fair, Erie Insurance, PNC, UPMC Health Plan and Rocket 101, as well as the City of Erie and more than 60 other area business sponsors with proceeds benefiting Erie Homes for Children and Adults’ Project First Step. For complete photo coverage, visit the Photo Gallery on www.roarontheshore.com, sponsored by Erie Insurance.

Tina Ferraro (center) of Erie Homes for Children and Adults thanks the crowd for supporting this year’s charity, Project First Step, on the Country Fair Main Stage.

Joe Askins picks the winning tickets for one of the bike raffles donated by major sponsors OffRoad Express and Indian Motorcycle of Erie.

Thousands of bikers helped kick off the 2015 Bringin’ in the Roar® Bike Parade, led by Grand Marshal Jesse James Dupree and sponsored by Erie Insurance.

UPMC Health Plan sponsored Thursday night’s Jackyl concert.

Luda Burykin was crowned 2015-2016 Miss Roar on the Shore. The contest was sponsored by Sherlocks/ Park Place and Coconut Joe’s.

Russ Owens, and David and Debbie Lepley of major sponsor Street Track ‘N Trail call the HarleyDavidson raffle winner during the Saturday night drawing.

Organizers estimate 150,000 people attended the 2015 Roar®.

Association and Roar Chairman Bill Hilbert Jr. accepts a proclamation from Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott on the Country Fair Main Stage.

DMC of Run-DMC made a special appearance with Jackyl on The Country Fair Main Stage.

Nerthling’s Heating and Air Conditioning sponsored Wednesday’s concert with L.A. Guns on the Jagërmeister Stage.

Saturday night concert sponsor Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys with Dokken.

20 < www.mbabizmag.com < August 2015

Steeler legend Louis Lipps (center), sponsored by Industrial Sales & Mfg,, and April Wine concert sponsor PNC.

People Buzz ERIE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION APPOINTS NEW CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Erie Federal Credit Union recently announced that Chris Cortes has joined its team as chief operations officer (COO).

As COO, Cortes will work with the senior management team to ensure that the strategic direction and the overall quality of operations are executed across the areas of retail services and delivery along with retail operations and training.

Cortes is an experienced banking executive having worked at Northwest Savings Bank for more than 16 years and has served most recently as Corporate AVP Branch Operations Manager overseeing 165 branch offices. Cortes, who has 16 years of banking experience, completed the Pennsylvania Bankers Association’s (PBA) School of Banking in 2008 and PBA’s Advanced School of Banking in 2013 and is an active advocate for the March of Dimes of NWPA with the Cortes family serving as the Ambassador Family for the organization in 2013.

Since its inception in 1936, Erie Federal Credit Union has been serving its members in and around the Erie, Pennsylvania area and has a membership of nearly 52,000 with assets of more than $440 million.

LORD CORPORATION WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBER LORD Corporation announced that General James F. Amos, USMC, (ret.) has joined its Board of Directors.

General Amos most recently served as the 35th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. He is the first Marine Corps aviator to serve as Commandant.

“General Amos was selected because of his extraordinary leadership and understanding of the strategic factors shaping the environment in which we operate,” said Rick McNeel, chairman of the LORD Corporation Board of Directors. “We are honored to have General Amos join our Board.”

LORD Corporation is a diversified technology and manufacturing company developing highly reliable adhesives, coatings, motion management devices, and sensing technologies that significantly reduce risk and improve product performance. For more than 90 years, LORD has worked in collaboration with our customers to provide innovative oil and gas, aerospace, defense, automotive and industrial solutions.

BKD LEADER TAKES NEW ROLE BKD’s Pittsburgh partner Peter Kern has been named the firm’s new National SEC partner. Kern will move to BKD’s national

DEPARTMENTS > Contact: Karen Torres

office in Springfield, Missouri. He brings 25 years of experience to this position and led the SEC practice with a predecessor firm.

BKD, LLP is a national CPA and advisory firm, with approximately 2,250 professionals who provide solutions for clients in all 50 states and internationally. BKD and its subsidiaries offer a variety of tax, accounting and consulting services, combining the insight and ideas of thought leaders in multiple industries.

KNOX ATTORNEYS RECOGNIZED ON SUPER LAWYERS® LISTS

Bryan G. Baumann, Mark G. Claypool, Francis J. Klemensic and Peter A. Pentz, shareholders at Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C., have been selected for inclusion on the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® list for 2015.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Baumann is a full-time litigator and is AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated. He has extensive experience representing clients in commercial and construction disputes, injunction proceedings, and trust & estate disputes.

Claypool has been on the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® list since 2011. He is Board Certified in Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification, and his practice is focused on creditors’ rights, bankruptcy and commercial litigation.

Klemensic has 30 years of experience practicing medical malpractice defense, as well as general civil and insurance litigation in state and federal courts throughout Pennsylvania.

Pentz has been on the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® list since 2012. His practice is focused on workers’ compensation, representing employers and insurance carriers throughout Western Pennsylvania, and he is certified as a Workers’ Compensation Law Specialist by the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Additionally, four attorneys with the Knox Law Firm have been selected for inclusion on the 2015 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® Rising Stars list, which features the top 2.5 percent of outstanding young lawyers in the state. The selection process included peer nominations and independent research on candidates, including Neal R. Devlin, Elliot J. Ehrenreich, Jeremy T. Toman and Timothy S. Wachter.

Devlin focuses his practices on litigating complex and commercial disputes in state and federal courts throughout the country.

Ehrenreich, who is licensed to practice in both Pennsylvania and New York, concentrates his practice on business acquisitions and financings, health law and other general business transactions.

Toman, licensed in both Pennsylvania and New York, focuses his practice on real estate, business law and environmental law. He has represented commercial clients and individuals in all phases of commercial and residential real estate transactions, including acquisitions, sales, leases, financing, formation and organization of condominiums and condemnations.

Wachter focuses his practice on representing governmental entities, municipalities, school districts, authorities and special purpose entities.

August 2015 > www.mbabizmag.com > 21

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