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A Positive Word: Happiness
"Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others."
Buddha
Joel E. Adelman, President Advance
Like many of my friends and family, I feel battered by bad news. I had a terrific day yesterday: I solved a particularly puzzling problem at work, had several great conversations with clients, and was looking forward to a wonderful evening with my family when I hopped in my car just in time to catch the 6 pm news. Picture a large, beautiful bright yellow latex balloon complete with happy face exploding, POP!, punctured by a ragged, rusty pin. My mood was instantly altered, clouds appeared from nowhere, and I began fretting over a potentially difficult meeting scheduled for the next day.
What had changed in those few minutes? The history of my day had not been re-written, the events I would likely encounter at home hadn't changed, and yet I was suddenly somber and felt heavier somehow. It was, of course, an altering of my mood brought on by non-stop negativity spewing from my radio. The Dow was down - again and record-breakingly so; crime in my city had soared, and so on and so on. And, I thought, what if I hadn't tuned to that station; what if I had put on my favorite CD instead? World events would still be what they were, but my personal level of happiness and, therefore, my effectiveness as a husband, father, and businessman would have remained higher.
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 Video Training Series: Standard Now Available
The Video Training Series for both COATS Standard and COATSsql are available. COATS Standard was recently completed! Front and Back Office video training can be purchased as a set or individually. The Front Office Series contains training on Employees, Clients, and Job Orders. Back Office training covers Payroll, AP/AR/GL.
Testimonials
"Although we have not hired new personnel since our purchase, we required all staff members to watch it since we recently converted to COATSsql. It has helped immensely in both as a refresher and as a utilization tool. As a result I am guessing that the video will put all new hires at a comfort level in a matter of hours as opposed to weeks, which greatly shortens the training burden."
Danny Jones
Owner
Jones Networking
Click here for more information. |
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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The tax updates for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were posted to the Customer Only site on www.coatssql.com on Friday, February 27th, 2009. This applies to both COATS Standard and COATSsql users; please be sure to update your tax structures. The 941 Form is also being updated due to the Cobra changes; we expect this release to be posted the last week of March. |
 Revised Form I-9 Delayed Until April 3, 2009
Current law requires all employers in the United States to complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9) for each newly hired employee to verify each employee's identity and employment eligibility. On December 17, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"), posted an "interim final rule" in the Federal Register that revised the Form I-9.
Employers were initially instructed to use the new Form I-9 on and after February 2, 2009; however, the USCIS recently announced that it has delayed by 60 days, until April 3, 2009, the effective date for using the revised Form I-9.
Some of the most important changes to the Form I-9 include the following:
Most significantly, the interim rule specifies that expired documents are no longer considered acceptable for proof of identification or work authorization. This marks a complete reversal of existing I-9 procedures.
The interim rule also eliminates Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card, and older versions of the Employment Authorization Card / Document) as acceptable documents from List A. These documents are no longer issued and any that were previously issued have expired.
The interim rule adds new documents to List A including passports and certain other documents for citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and revises references to the temporary I-551 stamps on foreign passports by including preprinted temporary permanent residence notations printed on special machine-readable immigrant visas.
The interim rule revises the employee attestation section of the form. Specifically, the current Form I-9 requires the worker to choose one of three categories asserting his or her immigration status. The first category is, "A Citizen or National of the United States." The new Form I-9 will separate this into two categories, resulting in four options. Thus, in the revised Form I-9, the worker must indicate that he or she is a (i) U.S. citizen; (ii) U.S. National; (iii) U.S. permanent resident; and (iv) or alien otherwise authorized to work. USCIS contends that the delay will provide the DHS with an opportunity for further consideration of the rule and also allows the public additional time to submit comments. USCIS has reopened the public comment period for 30 days, until March 4, 2009. The interim final rule and an informational copy of the revised Form I-9 will continue to be available for public comment at www.regulations.gov.
Please note: Employers who use the new form prior to the April 3, 2009 effective date are subject to civil monetary penalties.
The contents are intended for general information purposes only, and you are urged to consult a lawyer concerning your own situation and any specific legal questions you may have. For further information about the contents, please contact the author at (540) 983-9396. (Copyright 2008, Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, LLP, and Diane J. Geller, Esq.) |
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Online Spanish Industrial Application
Attention COATSsql Online Applicant Entry users! We have created an Industrial Online Application entirely in Spanish. This Spanish link can be formated to your Company information for a one time fee of $50.00. Please contact Karen Connor at 800-888-5894 or kconnor@coatssql.com if interested. |
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 Miss a Newsletter?
COATS has been sending an emailed Newsletter since August of last year. If you missed one of our monthly newsletters, click below to see what you missed!
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COATSsql Version 3.2.1
released January, 2009
COATS Standard Version 8.3.7 released December 29th, 2008. Click here to view Enhancements
You will need your Customer Only User Name and Password to access the above sites.
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