Summer Classes At College of NJ
Looking Ahead: Technology Transfer
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Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on April 19, 2000. All rights reserved.
Now, Workers Comp For Owners
E-mail: BarbaraFox@princetoninfo.com
Under a new state law, business owners can buy workers
compensation insurance to cover not just their employees but also
themselves.
Up to this time, if the sole proprietor were to become injured in
the course of business, and had medical bills or became disabled,
he or she could not receive benefits under workers comp. Now, says
Sherry Acconzo of the Independent Insurance Agents of New Jersey
(IIANJ), the business can buy workers comp insurance for the proprietor.
The IIANJ is headquartered on Whitehorse-Mercerville Road, (609-587-4333,
Charles Stults of Allen & Stults and a member of the workers
compensation task force of the IIANJ says the new rules have other
implications. Now, says Stults, a contractor can require any subcontractor
to show a certificate of insurance for his or her coverage under workers’
comp. Before, when proprietor A hired proprietor B, A had to pay workers
comp for B, because B could not buy it himself. Now A can require
B to buy his own insurance.
Costs depend on what you do. If you are a roofer, Stults says, you
pay a very high rate of $27 per $100 of payroll. Drivers and chauffeurs
are insured at a rate of just under $7 per $100 of remuneration. Insurance
for desk-bound office workers, on the other hand, costs only 25 cents
per $100.
It can get complicated, says Stults. Newspaper publishers worked out
an arrangement so that they pay only $2.20 for delivery drivers, versus
$7 per $100 that messenger services pay. The downside is that publishers
also pay $2.20 per $100 for all their workers — including the
supposedly “safe” desk jobs such as clerical worker or editor.
“But the publisher is getting a big break on the delivery workers
and the press workers,” he points out.
“You can only do what god lets you do, and god is the Department
of Labor,” says Stults. He is the fourth-generation proprietor
of the independent insurance agency on North Main Street in Hightstown
(www.allenstults.com). A graduate of Roanoke College, Class of 1973,
Stults remembers going with his father and grandfather to visit clients
who had suffered a loss from windstorm or fire. “I used to think
it was pretty nice, giving money away, and from the time I was 11
years old I wanted to go into the business.”
He explains how workers comp got started: “It is the great compromise
between business and employees. Prior to 1913 in New Jersey there
was no such thing as workers compensation. Any employee had to prove
negligence on the part of the employer and sue the employer in court
in order to be compensated. In the garment district fires in New York,
for instance, each family had to bring suit in order to be compensated.”
“The courts started to recognize that there ARE negligent employers
and the tide turned. Employers started to lose. They were afraid to
open businesses because employees had this unlimited right to sue,”
says Stults. The workers comp policy, in contrast, guarantees benefits
to the worker but the worker does not have the right to sue.
The amount a worker can get from workers comp is substantial, says
Stults, from $600,000 to $700,000 for a permanent disability. Also
important is that workers get 100 percent of their medical bills paid
without any deductible, “and at any place of their choosing,”
says Stults. But the injury must be work-related.
Any new law has some pitfalls. “The unseen potential problem,”
says Stults, “is that some sole proprietor might not get to collect
on health or disability on a work-related injury if his business’s
policy was not approved in the state of New Jersey.”
Why? Some out-of-state policies have a trick clause that denies benefits
if workers comp benefits are “available.” Until now these
benefits were not available to a proprietor. Now they are indeed “available.”
Just how that term “available” will be interpreted has not
been determined, Stults says.
— Barbara Fox
Top Of PageSummer Classes At College of NJ
Short-term business courses are being offered for the
first time by the College of New Jersey. The college’s Business Institute
launches a summer program ranging from one-day workshops on financial
planning for retirement ($250) to three-day workshops on marketing
strategy ($745). Most of the courses are two full days and cost $495.
Discounts are available for multiple attendees or going to more than
one workshop. Call 609-771-2566 (www.tcnj.edu/~schbus/workshops.html).
With the newly named institute, the college is trying to develop some
links with the business community, says Rajib N. Sanyal, director
of the institute. He has industrial relations degrees from the University
of Wisconsin at Madison (Class of ’82) and Georgia State and has been
teaching at CNJ since 1987. His research is in the area of human resource
management in multinational firms.
“This is our first summer program,” says Sanyal. Workshops
are taught by full-time faculty members with free time in the summer.
Fees for these courses are higher than those at community colleges
and comparable to trade association fees. “We are trying to separate
ourselves and reach a different market,” says Sanyal. “These
workshops are quite rigorous and are given by top-rate instructors.”
“This is also another way for us to showcase our facility,”
says Sanyal, referring to the brand-new building, filled with multi-media
equipment, that houses the business school. Located next to the music
building, it has wiring at each student’s desk for laptop computers,
arena-style tiered seating for case study sessions, DVD overhead projection,
and well-equipped computer labs. “I must confess, we had to take
crash courses in how to use this technology,” he says.
Two years ago the college went through the onerous process of applying
for accreditation for its business school and received its AACSB designation,
which is shared by only one-fourth of the business schools in the
country. Following the retirement of the dean, James Robinson,
Thomas P. Breslin was made acting dean, and it was under his
administration that the certification process was accomplished. At
this time these workshops do not carry continuing education credits,
but Sanyal expects to make them available retroactively.
With a couple of exceptions, all workshops are on Thursdays and Fridays.
The one-day classes are “Financial Planning for Retirement,”
held Fridays, June 16 or July 14, or Saturdays, June 17 or July 15.
“Basic Estate Planning for Estates up to $3 million” is on
Saturday, June 24. Both cost $250 and are taught by Herbert Mayo,
professor of finance, and James Icklan, assistant professor
of business law.
One three-day workshop is Wednesday to Friday, August 9 to 11, and
costs $745. Louis Tucci and Alfred Quinton, both assistant
professors of marketing, teach how to apply Markstrat simulation to
marketing management.
All the other sessions cost $495. First on the calendar is “Valuation
of Closely Held Companies” with Thomas Patrick, professor
of finance, teaching on Thursday and Friday, May 25 and 26. Then Lynn
Braender, assistant professor of information systems, teaches web
page development in two-day workshops starting June 1 or 8.
“Using SAS to Analyze to Analyze Economic and Financial Data”
is the topic for Anusua Datta, assistant professor of economics,
on June 29 and 30.
Joao Neves, professor of management, offers a two-day class
on using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets on July 27 and 28.
“Interpersonal Communication for a Diverse Workforce,” on
June 8 and 9, will be taught by Rudy Butler, associate professor
of management. Another two-day session on HR problems will be August
17 and 18, when Pamela Lieb, assistant professor of management,
teaches “Sexual Harassment and Workplace Diversity.”
“Doing Business in Central and Eastern Europe” is offered
by Bozena Leven, associate professor of economics, on June 22
and 23. “Effecting Marketing Decision Making for Non-Marketing
Managers,” by Alfred Pelham, assistant professor of marketing,
is July 6 and 7. “Introduction to Supply Chain Management Using
the SCOR Model” is scheduled for August 3 and 4.
“Organizational Control and Fraud Prevention” is the topic
for Hossein Nouri, professor of accountancy, on August 24 and
25.
The break-even rate for these classes is five people. Fees include
breakfast and lunch and coffee breaks. Says Sanyal: “We think
it is a good deal.”
Two major childcare initiatives, one private and one
public, expand the horizons for working families. Bristol-Myers Squibb
is now offering emergency back-up elder and child care services to
all its U.S. employees, and the state of New Jersey is spending money
to improve child care and help parents make better choices.
Among the benefits of the B-MS program, called Just in Time Care,
is a subsidy of up to $300 per employee per year or 80 percent of
the backup cost when the care is needed.
What does back-up service mean? When a caregiver — a nanny or
a babysitter — suddenly becomes unavailable for any reason, the
service helps the employee locate a replacement and subsidize the
cost. The help would, for instance, be available if a child care center
or school closed for a snow emergency. Or when the child is sick and
cannot attend daycare.
“The program provides employees with valuable counseling and information
on planning for the unexpected and gives referrals to carefully researched
community resources,” says Stacey Gibson, director, work
life/home life of Bristol-Myers Squibb (www.bms.com). “The more smoothly things
run at home, the more productive and effective people can be at work.”
In the proposed budget of Governor Christie Whitman is $7.8
million to pay for fingerprinting and criminal history background
checks of child care center employees, and an addition of $4.5 million
to the current $228 million for child care subsidies for low-income
working families. Whitman also supported more than $20 million to
create new child care slots and improve care through professional
development and new equipment, plus $2.5 million to develop after-school
care centers.
Just announced: nearly $700,000 in state money to help registered
family day-care providers to open licensed mini child-care centers.
The grants of up to $50,000 can pay for minor repairs, equipment,
and supplies. Of the caregivers receiving these grants, the closest
to the Princeton area are in Piscataway and Somerset.
Now parents can get a new brochure “Choosing Quality Child Care”
by calling 800-332-9277. The same number also works as a hotline that
determines the location of the caller and automatically routes the
call to a child care resource and referral agency in the appropriate
area. “Shopping for child care should be a parent’s most important
research mission,” says Michele K. Guhl, human services
commissioner. “The State of New Jersey is here to help find and
research those choices.”
Top Of PageLooking Ahead: Technology Transfer
The technology transfer conference for this spring will
be Wednesday, May 24, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rutgers Cook Campus in New
Brunswick. Craig Zolan, president and CEO with UniversityVentures
(the first technology transfer Internet portal) and Kathryn Clark,
chief scientist for NASA’s international space station and coordinator
of research, will be keynote speakers.
The conference is organized by the New Jersey Technology Council and
the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. Topics will include
Small Business Innovation Research financing, independent not-for-profit
research centers, seed fund financing, and issues and success stories
for federal labs and universities. Cost: $120. Call 856-787-9700 (www.njtc.org).
Hire a teacher this summer, and get reimbursed by the
Department of Labor. Once again, the Business Coalition for Educational
Excellence, a part of the state Chamber of Commerce, is seeking member
companies to hire teachers for one month. The program, called Educators
in the Workplace, is designed to provide employers with skilled, temporary
help, an experience which educators can in turn incorporate into their
school curricula.
The BCEE is looking to place more than 70 educators in jobs across
the state. Employers are asked to pay teachers $14 per hour, but a
grant reimburses half of that cost. Companies can hire up to two teachers.
Call 609-989-7888 or E-mail dana@njchamber.com.
DiCosimo Capital Management, better known as the Greedy
Fox, will host monthly meetings of the new Mill Hill Investment Club,
with the launch meeting on Saturday, April 21, at 1 p.m. The club
belongs to the National Association of Investment Clubs, and it has
the goal of purchasing long-term quality blue chip stocks and stocks
of local companies that have growth potential.
Anyone who wants to learn about the stock market, and to broaden investment
skills — including learning to buy stocks on-line — may attend.
The investment office (www.greedyfox.com) is hosting the meetings
but is not associated with the club. Meetings will continue on fourth
Saturdays at 3679-A Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square. Call 609-393-3207
for club information.
Now through May 1 the Middlesex Chapter of NJAWBO
is collecting gently used business clothing to benefit Women Helping
Women and Hire Attire. All clothing should be on hangars, in excellent
condition, ready to wear, and contemporary in style. Both men’s and
women’s clothing and dress coats are welcome, and also women’s accessories
— belts, scarves, and costume jewelry. Clothing can be dropped
off with Carol Wright at the Wright Agency on Route 18 in East
Brunswick or to Sue Dreifus of Clothes to You — Weekenders.
Call 732-238-8408 or 732-828-3394 for details.
Your company can have its sign displayed on the putting greenor driving range for $500 at the Regional Planning Partnership ‘sgolf outing on Monday, May 15, at the Olde York Country Club in Columbus (www.planningpartners.org).Other sponsorship opportunities: $1,500 would put your company’s nameon all the golf carts (plus get a round of golf for a twosome) orearn prominent display of your company’s logo at the cocktail hour(plus a twosome). The fee for an individual golfer, including lunchand dinner, is $250, or $100 for cocktails and dinner only. A silentauction will result in someone winning a one-year membership to OldeYork Country Club. Call 609-452-1717 or register by E-mail: Rpp2050@aol.comThe RPP is a regional non-profit organization dedicated to sound landuse-planning. Formerly known as MSM, it works for affordable housing,well-conceived development, smart growth, and improvement of the publicinfrastructure. Anthony L. Marchetta of Baker Residential chairsthe outing.Top Of PageCorporate AngelsB>Shiseido America celebrated its achievement ofISO 14001 certification with an Earth Day celebration on Tuesday,April 18, in East Windsor. With proceeds from its extensive recyclingprograms, the company has made donations to area agencies, says KonomiTakeshita, special projects engineer. Certification to ISO 140001demonstrate the company’s determination to continually improve onits activities relating to environmental problems. Call 609-371-3063.Hill Wallack at 202 Carnegie Center, one of central NewJersey’s largest law firms, organized a food drive for the TrentonArea Soup Kitchen. They delivered canned goods, non-perishable foods,toiletries, and clothing to the community organization. Call 609-734-6369.National Business Parks, managers of College Park at PrincetonForrestal Center, presented the Plainsboro Police Department witha check that will assist in various Police Benevolent Associationactivities, specifically the Special Olympics of New Jersey. Morethan 12,000 individuals participate free-of-charge in the SpecialOlympics, which provides year-round sports training and athletic competitionsfor children and adults with mental retardation. National BusinessParks has a long history of community involvement, and is founderof the annual “Corporate Challenge,” a softball game thathas raised more than $100,000 for the American Cancer Society. Call973-470-0400.Omni Environmental Corporation at 321 Wall Street joinedvolunteers from area high schools, the East Trenton Community Council,and the Assunpink Creek Watershed Association on Saturday, April 1,for a clean-up of the Assunpink Creek in Trenton’s George Page Park.The volunteers planted more than 400 blueflag and yellow irises, sedgesand rushes to help shore-up the streambank. The volunteer event wasa kickoff for Earth Month 2000, organized by the BEES (BuildingEnvironmental Education Solutions ), a nonprofit organization thatworks with educators to develop innovative environmental programs.Call Jeff Hoagland at 609-818-9277.A committee of 14 construction industry organizations sponsoreda reception to raise $30,000 for 12 families who lost their homesdue to Hurricane Floyd. The April 6 reception, held at Petullo’s Restaurantin Bound Brook, yielded enough to present $2,500 to each family. Participantsincluded the Associated General Contractors of New Jersey , andNJ Asphalt Pavement Association (both at Raritan Plaza II inEdison), and NJ Concrete & Aggregate Association on ParkwayAvenue in Ewing.”Representatives of the union construction industry have ralliedtogether to provide what assistance we can to help the victims ofHurricane Floyd get back on their feet,” says Jack Kocsis,executive director of the Building Contractors Association ofNew Jersey, also at Raritan Plaza (732-225-2265).Arthur R. Brown, New Jersey secretary of agriculture andchairman of the United Way of Greater Mercer County campaign, announcedthat participants in the annual campaign have donated $1.1 millionfor more than 1,000 local, national, and international charities.Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology/Immunology helped the AmericanCancer Society raise more than $10,000 to fight cancer in Mercer Countyat an event called Hoops for Hope. In conjunction with the NortheastConference Men’s Basketball Championship game at Sovereign Bank Arenalast month, fans could pay $1 to take a foul shot. Basketballs wereawarded to those whose shots were successful (800-ACS-2345 or www.cancer.org).Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
