Use your health care benefits. They were hard won!

November 15, 2015

Last year, the voters of Massachusetts strongly affirmed the principle that paid sick leave for oneself and to care for a family member is a right not a privilege. The labor movement was the first to introduce the right to have sick leave without jeopardizing your pay and/or job, and it is union benefits that have become the model for health care protection for people who haven’t had such protection before. Here’s an overview of your benefits. We hope you exercise your right to hard won sick leave, paid or unpaid, and related benefits.

There are 9 primary ways that the right to health care is secured for employees represented by the BEU, either in our collectively bargained contract or by statute: 1) sick days awarded annually; 2) the Sick Leave Bank (SLB); 3) health insurance, or payment for opting out; 4) accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act; 5) protection of your job while you are on leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA); 6) Dental Insurance; 7) Long-Term Disability Insurance; 8) the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA); and 9) The Flexible-Spending Account. This is just a summary. Be sure to look into the details.

Screen Shot 2015-11-25 at 2.38.43 PM Here’s how it works: teachers and administrators (and others in Units A and B) receive 12, and Paras 10, sick days a year (adjusted according to full or part-time status). If an educator runs out of sick days (and hasn’t opted out of the program) he or she may apply to receive paid sick days from the Sick Leave Bank. Fellow members of the units of the union contribute 1 sick day per year to the bank to support one another. Paras may receive as many as 45 Sick Bank days per year, teachers up to 60 in their first year, and 90 per year from then on. Twenty-five percent of days used will be paid back over time. A form requesting the days should go to one of the BEU reps on the SLB committee, Melanee Alexander and Janet Campbell.

Benefits help offset the costs of illness or disability and protect your job. If the costs of your healthcare are insured through Brookline, the Town of Brookline will pay 87% of your premiums. If you opt-out of having this insurance after having a plan for at least a year, you will be paid $1000 for individual plans and $2500 for a family plan. If you are disabled, short or long term, the Americans with Disability Act requires that your employer work with you to come up with reasonable accommodations (if possible) that enable you to do and keep your job. The Family Medical Leave Act protects your job while you are taking care of a family member or yourself. You are entitled to 60 workdays per 12-month cycle (as bargained by the BEU. In other places the 6o days can include non-workdays). You may sign up for dental insurance through the town (you pay the full premium). You can also purchaseLong-Term Disability Insurance, sponsored by the BEU. The latter insurance is paycheck insurance. If you cannot work, you will receive up to 60% of your pay, tax-free until you reach age 65. We are currently in an open enrollment period. If you sign up before the end of Winter Break, you cannot be denied. For information, contact Brian Fitzgerald at 781-224-1724 or at brf@mosseandmosse.com. An informational packet on Long-Term Disability Insurance is posted at beu.groupsite.com.

Finally, you may be eligible for a refund of some of your co-pays (in- or out-patient care, imaging). For details and a form, call Benefits Administrator Scott O’Shea (617) 730-2120 or email: info@cpa125.com. Another benefit is the Flexible Spending Account that allows you to set aside tax-free money to pay for healthcare expenditures.

There will be information on your town benefits in the months to come.

Finance For Educators — “And the truth will set you free” (and dramatically reduce the rate!)

November 15, 2015

OpenClipartVectors / Pixabay

“Joe the plumber” – no kidding his real name – recently took a break from completing some work in my house and asked, “What are you writing about?” “Finance and Fees,” I answered thinking that would put a quick damper on his questioning. Much to my surprise, Joe immediately asked “What fees?” and went on to describe his wife’s portfolio and express his frustration with her investments that “only seemed to go down.”

Since I had already had the Morningstar website open – an independent financial group that provides information on mutual funds and stocks including performance and fees – I provided him with some quick feedback on his wife’s portfolio. The first name from her list of mutual fund investments was MFS Equity Income A, “a name” both meaningful and ominous.

To begin with, once I heard the first three letters “MFS,” I knew it was a “load fund,” a fund that stealthily piggybacks an additional payment on top of the standard management fee. In the case of, MFS Equity Income A (EQUNAX), it imposes a “front load” or charge of 5.75% that is subtracted from the original investment. For example, if you invest $10,000 in this fund, the fund company charges you $575 at the time of purchase, leaving you with a sum of $9,425 in your account. To rub more salt into the wound, that same fund charges an additional management fee of 1.08% or another $102.00 a year.

This maddening story of an advisor not providing complete transparency and full disclosure to the likes of Joe and his wife proves not that uncommon. Under the status quo in the financial industry, advisors must only provide “suitable” investments, which is so vague that it opens up a loophole large enough to fly a fully loaded 747 through it. Unfortunately, advisors still need not act as a “fiduciary” where they are both legally and ethically bound to place their client’s best interests ahead of all other factors. Like Joe, many investors are victimized by advisors who benefit from “soft dollars” where they receive undisclosed fees from selling overpriced investments with hidden fees.

What should the individual investor do to protect their investments? First, perform a little “due diligence” with your own mutual funds and identify what you’re paying for each investment. Here’s a trial run using MFS Equity A, ticker symbol EQNAX.

• Go to Morningstar.com

• Type the ticker symbol, EQNAX, for MFS Equity A in the in the quote box

• This page provides information on the Yield, Load, Assets and Expenses

• In the case of MFS, the load of 5.75% is provided in column #2 under Load and the yearly management fee of 1.08% is under column #3 under Expenses.

Finally, if you own a load fund based on the advice of a financial advisor, you should ask WHY and consider “unloading” your advisor. Then you should seriously consider replacing your mutual funds with high management fees with low cost index funds.

The solution for Joe and as well as the vast majority of investors can best be framed by Churchill’s quote about the truth. “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” The simple and incontestable truth about investing endures: actively managed dollars with high fees, like Joe’s mutual fund, consistently underperform passively managed dollars (index funds) with low fees.

— Robert Miller (retired)

Your Healthcare

November 12, 2015

Representatives of the town unions (the Public Employees Committee known as the PEC) and the Town will soon begin renegotiating our healthcare agreement, which expires on June 30, 2016. Early in the new year, the GIC (the state agency that regulates and administers our health insurance) will announce new guidelines and premiums. The Public Employees Committe (PEC) will hold the line for the 83/17 split (see article above) that was negotiated by the PEC and is the envy of many employees around the state.

For the most part we pay lower premiums with the GIC, but all people are being made to pay greater copays and deductibles. This is a nationwide problem that is being widely debated. Our friends at Healthcare for All are working to pass a Massachusetts bill, “an Act to keep people healthy by removing barriers to cost-effective care” (S.606 and H.984) which would end copays for people with chronic conditions. The bill would establish a state panel of experts to recommend high-value (meaning they are highly effective and prevent much more costly complications) and cost-effective services, treatments, and prescription drugs.

Meanwhile, our statewide union is on record as supporting Medicare for All, the single payer system similar to the health care approach in most economies like ours. It is lately being championed by Bernie Sanders.

— Sheila Leach, PEC Rep

Contract Corner 183rd Day

March 8, 2015

Dear Contract Corner,

I understand that all Unit A members must fulfill 6 hours of professional development. I’m confused about how to do this. Can you help me?
                       Signed,
                       Uncertain
Dear Uncertain,
Yes, some years we are told how to fulfill these hours and some years we have more choice. This year, we have some choice. Here is some of the contract language on the professional development day:
The Professional Development day may be converted to a minimum of six (6) hours of pre-approved professional development learning activities related to a goal(s) of the Public Schools of Brookline. The administration will publish a list of specific learning opportunities that may be used to fulfill this requirement and employees may select from this list or propose to participate in and seek approval for other learning opportunities not included on such list. All professional development activities used to satisfy the 6-hour minimum requirement must be pre-approved by the employee’s appropriate supervisor(s).
Signed,
Contract Corner
Dear Contract Corner,
   I’m still not sure what I can use to apply towards my 183rd day. Can you clarify?
               Need Confirmation

Dear Need Confirmation,

Here are some Q&A from Gabe McCormick, the Professional Development Director for the PSB:

Q. Do release days count toward the 183rd day?
A. No. Release days of any kind do not qualify for the 183rd day.

Q. Can I use an A day to complete a course for the 183rd day?
A. No, because A days are for important personal reasons not professional development and more significantly, it’s double-dipping, you can’t be paid twice for one day.

Q. Do courses from the summer 2014 qualify for the 183rd day?
A. Yes, any course taken during the FY 14 (July/Aug) qualifies for the 183rd day.

Q. Does RETELL course work count?
A. Yes, six hours of the RETELL course does qualify for the 183rd day.

Q. How many hours do Part Time Employees need to qualify for the 183rd day?
A. They need to complete hours on a pro-rated basis based on their FTE and will only be compensated at that proportion. For example: a .4 employee completes 0.4*6 hours of PD and is compensated accordingly.

Q. What should we do about employees taking a leave during the year?
A. They should make every effort to complete the 183rd day while they are still working. If there are extenuating circumstances preventing completion, contact Human Resources and will we consider the appropriate accommodate.

Q. Can a two day for 3 hours/day after school qualify for the 183rd day?
A. Yes. Any combination for a total of a six-hour course would work, such as the cultural proficiency course being offer.

Q, Should the teacher or supervisor submit documentation to the OHR/PD?
A. The teacher is responsible for submitting all required paperwork including the course approval form and selected evidence of course approval.

Dear Readers,
You can find the form to fill out by clicking on the Professional Development link on First Class. From there, click on Gabe’s entry called 183rd day. You should see the form attached.
Signed,
Contract Corner