Alan Diamond Honored with BSCAI Award
On March 8, Alan Diamond, founder
of Premier Maintenance Inc and father to its President Michael Diamond and
Lanartco CEO and Founder Jill Diamond, received the Walter L. Cook Award at the
2009 Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) convention
in Chicago.
BSCAI selected Alan as the
recipient of this prestigious award because of the important role he has played
in the building service contracting industry for more than three decades. Alan
was PMI's CEO from 1966 to 2000 and has been a BSCAI member since 1968.
Alan
served on the BSCAI Board of Directors for two terms and served on multiplecommittees. He acted as
an industry advocate both locally and nationally, including testifying in front
of Congress on behalf of BSCAI. With PMI safely in Michael's capable hands,
Alan is now retired and lives with his wife of 48 years, Elaine.
Walter L. Cook was Executive Vice President of BSCAI
from 1974 to 1983.The Walter L. Cook Award is presented to a BSCAI member who
has made outstanding contributions in furthering the programs and image of the
association and the building service contracting industry. Nominees are
submitted to the BSCAI Awards Committee and to the BSCAI Board of Directors for
selection and approval.
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It's Easy Being Green
Photo courtesy: pdphoto.org
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Office Paperˇ Print double sided (many office printers have this feature). This quickly cuts your paper usage in half!
ˇ Reuse boxes you receive to send packages or store items. ˇ Use paper that has been printed on one side and is no longer needed as scrap paper to write notes. ˇ Reuse manila envelopes to send interoffice mail.
ˇ Try to limit your printing whenever possible. Send an email instead of a paper memo. |
Employee Spotlight:
Maria Behrens
By Susan Minichiello
Maria Behrens began working for PMI about two-and-a-half years ago as assistant manager for the Hartford area office. She has worked in the cleaning and maintenance industry since 1998, having served in a building supervisor role for two other companies. Prior to that, Maria worked in home care for the elderly. She came to the US from Peru in 1993.
Working closely with Sandino Cifuentes, PMI operations manager for the Hartford area, Maria helps with payroll, hiring new employees, online supplies ordering and quality control.
"Maria is a multi-talented person - very responsive, good with people and detail-oriented," says Sandino. "Everything I ask of her, she gives me her best work. She is a big part of the reason our business is growing in the Hartford area. With Maria covering more of the administrative tasks, I can spend more time in the field improving services for clients and getting new clients."
Maria enjoys working with Sandino, helping him to provide better services to clients. Through her quality control responsibilities, Maria visits sites and performs inspections with the clients to identify cleaning issues. She then communicates with the building supervisors to ensure that these issues are addressed and resolved.
In collaboration with Sandino, Maria says they have established procedures - especially in the areas of payroll and supplies ordering - that make building supervisors' jobs easier. She believes the office is functioning in a more organized way, which helps Sandino and other staff in the Hartford area.
Maria has positive feelings about PMI as a company, saying that it's actually like a family. She is passionate about PMI's use of Green Cleaning solutions. "I'm completely on board with Green Cleaning," says Maria. "Not only does it help the environment, it also benefits the health of employees and clients."
Maria lives in Glastonbury, and is proud to share that her 22-year-old daughter will graduate from University of New Haven this spring.
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BOMA Southern CT Events
March 26:
Trade Show
Marriott Stamford
243 Tresser Blvd. Stamford, CT
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Trade show and dinner
6:00 -7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Ed Deak, Ph.D., Chair of the Economics Department, Fairfield University
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Raffle Drawing
$45 Registration Fee
To register, call 860-243-3977.
April 23:
"Stimulus Package - What's in it for us?"
Giovanni's II
2748 Post Road Darien, CT
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Registration/Networking
12:00 - 12:30p.m.
Lunch
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Program: Stamford Mayor Malloy and Senators Andrew McDonald and Dan Debicella will be featured
Members $45 / Non-Members $65
To register, call 860-243-3977.
June 2:
Golf Outing
Race Brook Country Club
246 Derby Avenue Orange, CT
Details to follow
For more information:
www.soctboma.org
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Thank you for taking the time to read Solutions.
We'd like to know what you think. If you have suggestions for future newsletters or comments about this issue, you can contact me directly.
Best Regards,
Matt Ellis
Publisher
matt@ellisstrategies.com
978-887-6561
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Good day and thank you for reading our spring newsletter. We have been very busy here adjusting to the new economy and working to preserve jobs. Fortunately, we have been successful in some new business so we have been able to retain just about all of our field staff and to avoid management cuts. I was honored to serve as Chair of the Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) convention, our industry's annual convention, which took place earlier this month. Even nicer was that my dad, after 30 years in the industry, was presented with an achievement award for his dedication to improve the industry. He has always been "big shoes" for me to fill, and I am very proud of all he has achieved. Enjoy our company news and, as always, please contact me if I can help.  Michael Diamond President Premier Maintenance, Inc.
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PMI President Leads BSCAI Convention
By Susan Minichiello
The windy city played host to the 2009 BSCAI Annual Convention and Trade Show from March 6 through 9 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. PMI President Michael Diamond served as Chair for the convention, which brought together about 950 building service contract professionals from around the country and around the globe. Attendees enjoyed four days of top-notch educational sessions, a first-class trade show floor and premier networking opportunities.  "I've been attending this event since the early 80s, so I am honored and proud to be leading it now," said Diamond.
BSCAI President Stanley Doobin was pleased with the educational and trade show aspects of the convention. "Michael did a great job selecting speakers," said Doobin. "His great organizational skills, industry knowledge and dedication to the industry made him a great choice to lead this year's convention."
Chip Conley, founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality led the CEO Summit on Friday, which focused on engaging loyal employees, customers and investors. In the keynote addresses on Saturday and Sunday, Attorney Mary Crane spoke about bridging the generational gap in the workforce, and astronaut and Air Force veteran Mike Mullane addressed the importance of teamwork.
Throughout the weekend, general session and seminar topics included: bidding and estimating, sustaining high productivity, the basics of management success, industry certifications and elements of successful supervision.
On Saturday and Sunday, the 2009 BSCAI Trade Show featured leading industry vendors displaying and demonstrating the most innovative products and services available on the market. The New Product Showcase area highlighted the latest trends and technology impacting common industry products.
On Sunday, a major industry announcement took place: Future BSCAI annual conventions and trade shows will be co-located with the annual ISSA convention. According to the ISSA Web site, BSCAI will co-locate its next annual convention with ISSA/INTERCLEANŽ North America 2010, which is scheduled for November 9 through 12, in Orlando. BSCAI's convention will be held from November 11 through 14 at the same location. The trade show floor exhibition dates fall in the middle of both events (November 10 through 12), and BSCAI members will be eligible to attend the ISSA/INTERCLEAN event at member rates.
"BSCAI and ISSA formed this alliance in order to capitalize on the strengths of our respective organizations," said Doobin. "Our leadership and staff have met in the recent weeks and months to formalize an agreement and develop a working model that will enhance the networking, educational and professional services provided to our respective membership and business partners."
"This
is a challenging time in our industry and others, and the issues we
examined at this year's convention are critical to the people who are
driving the business," said Diamond. "I would like to thank the
convention committee members for all the time they dedicated to making
the 2009 convention and trade show so successful."
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PMI Undergoes Major Information Technology Updates
By Susan Minichiello
With a goal of improving communication and increasing access to data, PMI is undertaking significant updates to its information technology systems. Through a variety of systems upgrades and additions, PMI's workforce will be able to accomplish more real-time communications instead of relying on phone and E-mail methods.
PMI is working with Information Technology Group to implement the updates, including an upgrade to a Windows 2008 environment and the addition of:
 ˇ security servers
ˇ a terminal server farm
ˇ a BlackBerry enterprise server
ˇ an office communicator server
ˇ a virtual server
The terminal server farm will allow remote access to all of the company's computer applications. The BlackBerry server enables synchronization with BlackBerry devices. The office communicator server facilitates instant messaging, as well as voice and video chatting. Virtualization allows for consolidation of applications and better use of the company's computer hardware and software. It makes the environment more stable and easier to update, repair and troubleshoot.
Implementation of these systems is now in the testing phase. Ultimately, the systemic updates and additions will significantly change the way PMI works, allowing its mobile workforce to access data and communicate in ways they cannot currently do. This will facilitate faster communication, reduce response time and, consequently, make PMI much more efficient overall.
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New Military Family Leave Provisions and Other Highlights of the Amended Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
By Glenn A. Duhl, Esq.
The
FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave
during any 12-month period for the birth and care of a newborn child,
the adoption of a child, the placement of a child with the employee as
a foster parent, the care of an immediate family member with a serious
health condition or the inability to work due to the employee's own
serious health condition.
 New
regulations took effect on January 16, 2009 that introduced two types
of leave for circumstances surrounding a family member's military
service.
Military Caregiver Leave:
Employees will now be allowed up to 26 work-weeks of leave in any single
12-month period to care for a covered service member who is on the
temporary disability retired list, or who has a serious injury or
illness incurred in the line of duty for which the service member is
undergoing medical treatment, recuperation or therapy, or who is
otherwise on outpatient status. The 12-month period for purposes of
military family leave begins on the first day the employee takes leave
to care for the service member.
Qualifying Exigency Leave:
The typical 12-week FMLA leave will be provided to employees for any
"qualifying exigency" arising from a family member's active duty
status. Such "qualifying exigencies" include short-notice deployment,
military events and related activities, childcare and school
activities, financial and legal arrangements, counseling, rest and
recuperation, post-deployment activities and any "additional
activities" provided that the employer and employee agree to the timing
and duration of such leave.
In addition to the military family
leave provisions, the new FMLA regulations make numerous technical and
substantive changes to the existing law. Some major points include:
ˇ
Light Duty - An employee who accepts "light duty work" upon returning
from a workers' compensation injury is not considered on FMLA leave for
the purposes of calculating the 12 weeks of allowed leave, but the
employee's right to restoration to his or her regular position is held
in abeyance during this time.
ˇ Notice Requirements -
Employers may now post the required explanation of FMLA rights and
complaint procedures electronically, as long as employees and
applicants are able to access the electronic posting. Employees must
provide 30 days notice of a foreseeable period of leave and must
provide notice "as soon as practicable" for leave that is
unforeseeable. Generally, employees requesting FMLA leave may be
subject to the same requirements for requesting any type of leave under
the employer's policies.
ˇ Medical Certification - There are
now two separate medical certification forms to be used by the
employee, depending on whether the leave is for an employee's own
serious health condition or that of a family member. The employee
generally has seven calendar days to correct any incomplete, vague,
ambiguous or non-responsive medical certification and may be denied
FMLA leave altogether for failure to do so.
ˇ HIPAA
Compliance - To address the privacy requirements of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the FMLA
regulations expressly state that to determine an employee's FMLA
eligibility, employers may consider medical information that was
obtained about the employee in relation to a disability accommodation
request or a workers' compensation claim.
ˇ "Perfect
Attendance" Awards - The new regulations specify that an employer need
not pay an incentive award based upon the attainment of a specific goal
(e.g., a "perfect attendance" payment) to employees who did not attain
the goal due to being on FMLA leave. The exception to this rule is that
the employer must make such payment if it would do so for other
employees on similar leave status that does not qualify under FMLA.
ˇ
Enforcement and Compliance - Among other things, FMLA now allows
employees to voluntarily settle or release any FMLA claims against
their employers without prior approval by the court or the Department
of Labor. However, an employer and employee are still prohibited from
entering contracts to prospectively waive such claims before they
arise. The new regulations also remove the existing provision that
penalizes employers for failing to appropriately designate FMLA leave.
Going forward, to be entitled to additional leave beyond the 12-week
period for failure of the employer to comply with FMLA's notification
requirements, an employee must show that he or she suffered some
individualized harm due to the lack of compliance.
Glenn A. Duhl is a management employment and litigation lawyer at Siegel, O'Connor, O'Donnell & Beck, P.C., (860) 280-1215, gduhl@siegeloconnor.com. He represents management in preventive employment law and litigation of all employment matters. Please visit www.siegeloconnor.com.
The
information contained in this article is general in nature and offered
for informational purposes only. It is not offered and should not be
construed as legal advice.
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