Martha B. Yoder, Director
Michigan Occupational Safety & Health Administration (MIOSHA)

MTMIC is pleased to announce that Martha B. Yoder will be speaking at our upcoming Annual Meeting in October. Martha will be discussing how to Be Proactive in Creating Safe and Healthful Workplaces.

On March 1, 2012, Martha B. Yoder was appointed Director of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). In that role, she oversees the MIOSHA program, which is responsible for enforcing workplace safety and health standards and providing consultation, education and training, and outreach services. She is also responsible for overseeing the Wage and Hour Program, which protects the earned wages and fringe benefits of Michigan workers.

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Denise Williams, PhD, MS, SPHR, SHRM-CP

We are excited to announce that one of our speakers at the MTMIC Annual Meeting will be Denise Williams, PhD., MS.SP
HR, SHRM-CP. Denise will be speaking on The Distracted Worker: A Hidden Risk to Employee Health and Productivity. Denise is a Performance Consultant serving the staff of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers (HHC.) In this role, Denise collaborates with leadership and employees to create, support, promote, and optimize a culture of inclusion, equity, and diversity that welcomes and supports the health of staff and patients. Her liaison work supports recruitment, employment, education, training, and retention of superior staff to position the University of Michigan Health System as a national exemplar in the areas of health equity and inclusion.

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Are you going back to the Inn at St John’s in Plymouth? We are.

The 2015 annual members meeting is October 15th.

More information to follow…

SAVE THE DATE!

Mark your calendar now to join us for lunch at the MTMIC Annual Meeting to be held on October 15, 2015 at the beautiful Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth.

Watch for more information to follow.

The MTMIC Board of Directors is pleased to inform you that at the last Board Meeting the Board Members unanimously passed a resolution setting the stage for a Policyholder’s Dividend in the first quarter of 2015. Final determination of the dividend will be made in February 2015 once the 12/31/14 financial results are finalized. It is anticipated that the Policyholder Dividend will be based on policyholder premiums paid with eligibility determined by account loss history. While we do not yet have year-end results and final determination of the dividend, the Board Resolution is the first step in the process of a Dividend Declaration for early 2015.

2014 MTMIC Annual Members meeting:

Location: St. John’s, Plymouth

Surveys were given to each attendee. The comment on the meeting location – all checked “Excellent”. Hand written comments added “St. John’s is Awesome”, “Very Nice, and “Keep the same location”. Food also had unanimous “Excellent” grading.

Our guest speakers were: Keith Castora, Workers Compensation Claims Magistrate and John Harris, President of Shadow Investigations. Both were informative. John had interesting investigations stories that were enjoyed by all. For full disclosure, a couple surveys commented that the audio system needed to be turned up for the Magistrate as he was soft spoken and hard to hear. We will have a more rapid response to the speaker system next year.

General comments about the meeting:

“The meeting location was beautiful. I enjoyed my first time at the annual members meeting.”

“I was happy I attended and wish I had come in the years past. It (the meeting) moved quickly and was time well spent. Also I enjoyed the networking opportunities with other members, including Board Members.”

“This was my first time attending the Annual Meeting and it was a very positive experience! The site, food spectacular and the hospitality was excellent. Looking forward to 2015.” The plans have already begun for next year as we have already reserved our meeting rooms at St. John’s. When it gets closer to the meeting date, we will give you specific information and hope you will put this on your list of things to do.

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It’s hard to believe summer is over and with that the MTMIC staff started the annual task of preparing for January 1 policy renewals. Nearly half of all MTMIC policy holders renew on January 1. I should mention that before we start the individual account review, some significant big issues are taken care of. The first is regarding an overall company rate change: great news is that since February 1, 2013 we have not had a rate increase. Secondly all employer experience modifications have been ordered from the state rating agency. When our policyholders talk about workflow peaks and valleys, we fully understand the challenges. For each renewal, we contact you or your broker for the 2015 estimated payrolls, we review current Loss Control reports, study loss history and contact you with any questions we might have. The end goal of this whole process is to make sure we properly renew your account and use all the available discounts you are entitled too. Thanks for your help in this process.

On another item, the MTMIC annual members meeting is going to occur on Thursday, October 16th. This year the meeting is being held at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth. The meeting begins at 11:30, wraps up by 1:30 and includes lunch. We promise to use your valuable time efficiently. Our guest speakers for this year are Workers’ Compensation Magistrate Keith Castora who will present an “Update on the Workers’ Compensation Mediation Process”. John Harris from Shadow Investigations, Inc is our second speaker and will discuss “Social Media Impact on Workers’ Compensation Investigations”. We think you will find their presentations interesting and helpful. We hope you will join us as all MTMIC staff will be in attendance.

Please mark your calendars for our upcoming Annual Meeting on October 16, 2014. This year the meeting will be at:

The Inn at St. John’s ~ Nazareth Room
44045 Five Mile Road
Plymouth, MI

Invitations will be going out in the next couple of weeks. Please contact us in the meantime if you have any questions.

While I normally provide our newsletter with current issues in Michigan Workers’ Compensation, this month is different. I am asked regularly about MTMIC ownership and governance. These are great questions for a small, specialty driven workers’ compensation carrier like MTMIC. For our first 30 years of operation, we operated as a Self-Insured Fund. Since January 1, 2007, we have been licensed as a member owned mutual insurance company. Everything we do is based on what is in the best interest for our member owners and we have no outside investors that direct our pricing decisions or we pay fees to. I report to the 10 member Board of Directors, many of them have a long history with the company. The ten Board members include:

6 – Business Owners
2 – Chief Financial Officers
1 – Human Resource Vice President
1 – Retired Business Owner

Their firms cover the range of 10 to 400 employees. Some have business in other states and a couple have business in other countries. Needless to say, my “bosses” have a wide and vast range of skills and experiences. My focus and the company course is set by the Board. In the next few newsletters you will see profiles of these important people as they are an integral part of the MTMIC success story.

In fact this is a time to give you an early invitation of the Members’ Annual Meeting which is Thursday, October 16th. This year the meeting is at The Inn at St. Johns in Plymouth and lunch begins at 11:30. MTM Board members and the entire staff attend the meeting. Feedback from members who have attended previous meetings is that it was time well spent. In the next couple months, I will have more meeting details.

On June 5, 2014
9:00 am – 11:00 am

This FREE Coffee with MIOSHA event at Vis Ta Tech will include representatives from administration, wage and hour, general industry and construction. This is a great opportunity connect with MIOSHA to have your questions answered and meet MIOSHA staff. MIOSHA will also provide information on program services and resources.

Vis Ta Tech at
Schoolcraft Community College

18600 Haggerty Rd – Livonia, MI 48152
RSVP To: Jennifer Clark-Denson
clark-Densonj@michigan.gov