As the COVID-19 pandemic has created growing social and economic disruption, Sylvia Group and our Alera Group partners have continually updated the resources available to our clients. Those resources are now compiled in a comprehensive employer reference guide: Infectious and Communicable Disease: Epidemic, Pandemic Workplace Preparedness. If you’re a business or civic leader attempting to determine how best to protect your staff, your customers or constituents and the future of your organization, we hope you’ll find it helpful. (Scroll down and click on the image to access the guide.)
We’ll also be updating this blog post with relevant information as it becomes available. Check back for periodic updates, and don’t forget to check out the Alera Group’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
UPDATE (April 20): Unemployment assistance; small business grants; strategy webinar
People ineligible for standard unemployment benefits — including self-employed workers, independent contractors, gig economy workers and those with limited work history — can apply for federal assistance under the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. According to an April 20 release from the office of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, PUA “provides up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits who are unable to work because of a COVID-19-related reason but are not eligible for regular or extended unemployment benefits.” Guidance on applying for PUA is available on the Mass.gov website.
Also on April 20, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce began accepting applications for $5,000 grants available to businesses with between three and 20 employees. According to the Chamber, applicants also must be “located in an economically vulnerable community” and “have been harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. The grants are part of the Chamber’s Save Small Business program.
If your business is interested in addressing not only immediate needs but also the way forward when the pandemic subsides, you’ll want to sign up for the next event in Alera Group’s popular series of coronavirus-related webinars. Talent Strategy for the Crisis and Beyond is scheduled for Thursday, April 23, from 1-2:30 p.m. EDT. To register, click on the button below.
UPDATE (April 10): Whitepaper on insurance coverage related to COVID-19
Alera Group is offering a whitepaper for businesses what their policies cover in relation to the pandemic. Mark Englert, Alera Group’s Property & Casualty Practice Leader, addresses lines of coverage such as.
- Business Interruption
- Civil Authority
- General Liability
- Contract Surety
- Medical Malpractice
- Cyber Liability
- Environmental Liability
- Directors & Officers Liability
- Workers’ Compensation
- Captives
UPDATE (April 3): CARES Act webinar recording is now available
In Alera Group’s most recent webinar on issues facing employers amid the COVD-19 crisis, Director of Compliance Danielle Capilla welcomed guests Stacy Barrow, a partner at the Boston specialty law firm Weatherhead Lent, LLP, and Brad Shaps, Alera Group’s Vice President, Benefits Consulting, to answer questions regarding the CARES Act and other legislative updates.
UPDATE (March 31): Webinar on legislative update for employers
So much has happened since Alera Group, Inc. March 25 webinar on what employers need to know regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. This week’s webinar takes place on Thursday, April 2, from 1-2 p.m. Attorney Danielle Capilla, Alera Group’s Compliance Director, will bring you up to date and answer your questions regarding legislation, compliance and HR issues related to COVID-19.
UPDATE (March 30, 5:15 p.m.): COVID-19 e-newsletter
Didn’t receive a copy in your email inbox? Here’s the web version.
Inside, you’ll find:
- information on the next Alera Group Coronavirus webinar for employers
- links to resources for federal financial assistance to small businesses
- information on state and local resources for small businesses
- details on the extended deadlines for tax filings and payments;
- and more.
UPDATE (March 26, 1 p.m.): Employer webinar recording, slides available online; update on MA Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) services
Alera Group’s Director of Compliance, Attorney Danielle Capilla, on Wednesday conducted three employer-guidance webinars. The presentations were highly informative, featuring excellent images illustrating the subject matter and concluding with insightful Q&A sessions. Alera Group has combined the webinars into one recording, to include unique Q&A responses from all three sessions. You can view and download slides from the presentation here.
If you’re wondering how the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles is conducting transactions during the COVID-19 crisis, you’ll want to check our blog post on current RMV operations. Eight sites remain open for in-person services — by appointment only.
UPDATE (March 24, 3:30 p.m.): Automated updates from the Commonwealth
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday introduced a new automated resource for updates, guidance and other information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. To receive text message alerts from the Commonwealth, text “COVIDMA” to 888-777. Once you’ve done that, you’ll also have the option to receive alerts by email.
UPDATE (March 19, 6:15 p.m.): Recording of webinar now available
The recording of today’s employment practices and compliance webinar, along with a lot more, is now available in the Alera Group Coronavirus Resource Center. This is your comprehensive source for #covidー19-related updates, documents and presentations.
Overwhelming response to the webinar — more than 2,500 people registered caused — technical difficulties that made some registrants unable to join the meeting. As promised, Alera Group posted the recording of the 54-minute webinar as soon as it was available. You can view it here:
UPDATE (March 18, 5:30 p.m.): COVID-19 webinar Thursday afternoon
Sylvia Group Business Insurance and Employee Benefits clients are invited to join Danielle Capilla, Alera Group Director of Compliance-Employee Benefits, as she moderates a panel discussion with attorneys from Marathas Barrow Weatherhead Lent on legal issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
These benefits and employment law attorneys will cover numerous issues, including:
- HSA eligibility for waived COVID-19 testing
- telemedicine
- best practices during layoffs
- how to handle collecting participant contributions if their paycheck falls short
- FMLA and paid leave
- general employment law principals that apply to this situation.
UPDATE (March 18, 11:55 a.m.): Scheduling appointments; additional resources for small businesses
As of 3 p.m. today, in-office client services will be by appointment only. We are maintaining limited office staffing, with most of our employees working remotely. To schedule an appointment, please email your account manager directly or submit a request via our info@sylviagroup.com email address. If contacting us by phone, please allow for extended response time.
For small-business owners in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, here are resources for unemployment assistance and other government aid, in addition to the resources we highlighted in our previous update:
UPDATE (March 17, 3:15 p.m.): MA and federal assistance
Massachusetts and the federal government are offering financial assistance to small businesses.
As reported by the New Bedford Economic Development:
“The Baker-Polito Administration announced economic support for small businesses with a $10 million loan fund to provide financial relief to those that have been affected by COVID-19. The fund provides emergency capital up to $75,000 to businesses impacted by COVID-19 with under 50 full- and part-time employees, including nonprofits.
“Loans are immediately available to eligible businesses with no payments due for the first 6 months. Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) has capitalized the fund and will administer it. Please complete the application found on MGCC’s website: EmpoweringSmallBusiness.org.”
For information on federal disaster loan assistance funds, visit the U.S. Small Business Administration website.
How to plan and respond
To download the guide, click on the image at above right. Inside, you’ll find:
- planning steps to prepare for the impact to your organization;
- planning steps to prepare for the impact to your employees and customers
- a checklist of policies to be implemented during a pandemic;
- a checklist of resources to protect your employees and customers;
- steps for communicating with and educating your employees;
- steps for coordinating with external organizations and assisting your community.
Assistance online and by phone
As we all contend with the effects of COVID-19, we’ll do our best to maintain the level of service you’ve come to expect. The impact of the coronavirus on our insurance carriers and our need to protect our own employees do, however, pose significant challenges. So while we’ll continue to keep you updated about your insurance and benefits programs, responses from carriers may take longer than usual and require some patience.
In keeping with the practice of social distancing advised by public and private health officials, we ask our clients to take advantage of convenient remote access to services, online and by phone, for such tasks as:
- filing a claim
- paying a bill
- requesting a custom quote
- accessing commercial insurance policy information or certificate of insurance through our online client portal.
Using these resources not only will save you time, but will also enable you to practice social distancing, as health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and elsewhere urge in their efforts to limit the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. While we’re united in combating the pandemic, we’re also resolved to observe these social distancing practices. So while our offices remain open at this time, we urge you to work with us remotely, especially if you’re experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.
By MAUREEN SYLVIA ARMSTRONG
Managing Partner, Sylvia Group
About Maureen Sylvia Armstrong and Sylvia Group
For more than three decades, Sylvia Group Managing Partner Maureen Sylvia Armstrong has served her clients and her community, distinguishing herself as a recognized business and civic leader on Massachusetts’ SouthCoast. From the time Maureen entered the agency founded by her grandfather, Sylvia Group has grown from a staff of 10 employees to a team of almost 50 highly trained professionals providing insurance, employee benefits and financial planning solutions to businesses and individuals throughout the SouthCoast and beyond. A graduate of Bishop Stang High School and Boston College’s Carroll School of Management with degrees in finance and marketing, Maureen has been honored by the SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce as Small Business Person of the Year, by SouthCoast Media Group as Woman of the Year and by Bristol Community College as a Benevolent Entrepreneur. In October 2018, she was inducted to the Bishop Stang High School Hall of Honors.
Sylvia Group uses SPS – the Sylvia Protection System – to empower businesses and individuals with performance-based insurance, benefits and financial planning programs. SPS makes our clients active participants in managing risk and containing premiums, resulting in coverage that is both customized and cost-effective. In addition to making a difference for our clients, we make a difference for our community as a whole by actively supporting and serving many of southern New England’s most reputable and effective nonprofit organizations and institutions. Founded in 1950, Sylvia Group became an Alera Group company at the outset of 2020, enabling us to combine the local, personal service for which we’re known with the scope and resources of a national firm.
