Category Archives: Insurance / Employee Benefits

A new program focused on the research and development of new insurance policies and products to promote the adoption of clean technologies across New York state is on the way. 

The program will provide funding for products that manage the financial risk associated with climate change, supporting the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal of reducing carbon emissions 85 percent by 2050. 

 “New York state is leaving no stone unturned in our fight against climate change, and that includes investing in industries that will develop and advance clean, green technologies,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “By promoting innovative policies that will create more sustainable climate technology, we are taking bold action to meet the challenges of climate change. My administration remains laser focused on supporting key initiatives that will benefit both businesses and consumers while contributing to our state’s nation-leading climate efforts.” 

 The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will select a program administrator to develop the new initiative, manage operations, leverage industry expertise, and boost research and development to establish new risk models. 

The program administrator will also select innovative insurance ideas, products, and services, such as insurance for residential and commercial renewable energy projects, that will develop new business models to enable future climate technology solutions. 

The program administrator will be awarded up to $1.5 million to work with managing general underwriters (MGUs) and managing general agents (MGAs) that can research, develop, and test new insurance products, and it will award up to $5 million in competitive grants which are anticipated to be announced in 2023. 

SUNY Empire State College has been accepted as a premier member into the Amazon Career Choice program, an education benefit that empowers Amazon employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. 

SUNY Empire is the first institution within the SUNY system to partner with the Amazon Career Choice program.

Officials said partnership with SUNY Empire will make it more convenient for Amazon’s hourly employees to earn their undergraduate degree online, in person at SUNY Empire locations, at Amazon Career Choice classrooms located across New York state, or a combination of all three. 

Through its Career Choice program, Amazon provides funding for employees’ tuition, books, and fees with no lifetime limit on participating.

SUNY Empire and Amazon are collaborating to hold fall information sessions for Amazon employees across New York state, beginning with the company’s two Staten Island distribution centers, as well as distribution centers in Albany and Buffalo. The goal is to eventually expand the partnership to eligible employees in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. 

The college will also begin offering college courses on site at Amazon’s Career Choice Classrooms in Staten Island and Albany in the spring of 2023. In the U.S. alone, the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 Amazon employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs. 

By Susan Elise Campbell

The Employee Assistance Program of Warren, Washington, and Saratoga Counties (Adirondack EAP) will turn the corner on 40 years with a new executive director at its helm.

Richard J. Demers is soon to retire as executive director after 36 years.

Over the decades Demers and his staff established Adirondack EAP as a valuable community resource providing free and confidential assessment, counseling, and referrals for employees of member organizations and their families, according to Tracey Riley, president of the board of directors and vice president of human resources at Finch Paper.

Adirondack EAP is a local, rather than a national EAP, with its  main office at 559 Glen St. and affiliated offices in Plattsburg, Saratoga Springs, Albany, Clifton Falls, and other locations.

Today there are 60 member companies and 25,000 employees and their families have been served, Riley said.

EAP counselors work in a consultative role with managers and supervisors of member companies, providing them mindfulness training or other assistance, such as helping with transitions if there has been a tragedy in the workplace, McManus said.

By Lisa Balschunat

Ninety staffers nationwide at Fingerpaint Marketing are getting help paying off their college student loans.

Edward Mitzen, founder of the Saratoga Springs-based company, saw an opportunity to assist employees in reducing or paying off their student loans. He gave each of them $30,000 for that purpose,  with no strings attached.

“We recruit the best and the brightest,” Mitzen said. “We always look for ways to do right by staff.  We cover 100 percent of their health care premiums. We offer paid sabbaticals … We had student loan program that paid out about $100 per month to a staffer. It was a nice program, but it wasn’t helping enough. It barely covered the interest on a monthly loan payment.”

Fingerpaint is a health and wellness marketing firm with a global team of more than 580 people. Known for its innovate and data-drive approach, the firm provides marketing solutions to healthcare clients specifically in the pharmaceutical, rare disease and gene therapy sectors.

“We conducted a staff survey about how much debt people were carrying due to college student loans,” he said.  “What we found was that some people’s monthly payments were bigger than a monthly mortgage payment. Someone with a $40,000 loan who is paying into it for five years will still owe $40,000 in five years due to the interest.”

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has announced reductions in employer contribution rates to the New York state and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) for both of its systems—the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS).

He said the adjusted rates will impact payments in the State Fiscal Year 2022-23.

In addition, DiNapoli lowered the long-term assumed rate of return on the Fund’s investments from 6.8 percent to 5.9 percent.

“The fund’s strength gives us the ability to weather volatile markets. Our prudent strategy for long-term, steady returns helps ensure our state’s pension fund will continue to be one of the nation’s strongest and best-funded,” DiNapoli said. “While the reduction in employer contribution rates is welcome news for taxpayers, our investment decisions are always made based on what is best for our 1.1 million working and retired members and their beneficiaries.”

By Jill Nagy
Altek Energy Systems’ president is selling the company to the employees and it will not cost them a penny, he said.
Mike O’Connor, currently the owner and a co-founder of the company, created an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that will hold the company’s shares on behalf of the employees. As people retire or otherwise leave the company, they will receive the value of their shares.
Shares will be allocated among the employees based upon the amount of time they have been with the company and how much they earn. Their shares will vest over a five-year period.
O’Connor said the new corporation will be what is known as a Subchapter-S corporation. Subchapter-S corporations do not pay corporate income tax. Rather, their earnings are allocated to the shareholders and taxed as regular income.
As a conventional corporation, Altek pays $400,000-500,000 in taxes a year, O’Connor estimated.
After 40 years with Altek, O’Connor said he sees the transition as a graceful exit strategy. It will leave the company intact and allow him to remove cash from the company. He also foresees considerable tax savings.