I-9 Forms: Employers will be required to use a revised version of the employment eligibility form known as the I-9 form effective April 3, 2009. You must complete a Form I-9 for all newly hired employees to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States. The interim final rule as published revises the types of acceptable identity and employment authorization documents employers can accept from new hires effective April 3, 2009.  In addition, the rule stipulates that employees cannot use expired identification documents to verify their work eligibility beginning April 3, 2009, unless the government changes its plans. The revised I-9 form is available online from the USCIS web site www.uscis.gov.

COBRA: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law in February 2009, mandates that you notify certain current and former participants and beneficiaries about the COBRA premium reduction subsidy. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has created model notices to help plans and individuals comply with these requirements. Each model notice is designed for a particular group of qualified beneficiaries and contains information to help satisfy ARRA's notice provisions. The model notices allow you to quickly spell out for former employees and their families how to take advantage of COBRA coverage and the subsidy.  The model notices are available at www.dol.gov.

For further information and assistance, call me 207-967-0837.

I recently made a keynote presentation on the topic of Succession Planning. A video was made of the presentation. I have included a short (2 minutes) excerpt for your review. If you would like to hear the entire program, give me a call and I will get you the CD.

If you are faced with laying off your employees, I can help you. If you're concerned about the trauma of layoffs on your workers and their families; the impact on your remaining workforce; and your vulnerability to lawsuits from angry laid off workers, then I can help by providing Outplacement Assistance. My outplacement program will provide your displaced workers with the tools and the skills needed to quickly find new jobs. The result will be that each individual will find new employment; your company's remaining workforce will see that you care about all your employees; and there will be minimal negative impact on you and your organization from these layoffs.

Comment from one of my recent participants:

Thank you for the support you provided me. I worked the process as you outlined. The two best things I learned were networking and how to respond to interview questions. I have landed a job at Akibia in Westboro (MA). Thank you, as you made all the difference in making my 4 months of job search a positive and successful experience! Gail Johnson

Call Rick Dacri today at 207-967- 0837 to learn how Outplacement can help you and your organization.

I will be speaking before the following groups in April:

Association of Consulting Expertise on April 9: The topic will be Consulting 101: Building An Independent Consulting Practice. To register online visit www.consultexpertise.com.

Business Evolution '09 on April 28: the topic will be Uncomplicated Solutions to Performance and Productivity Issues. To register online visit www.consultexpertise.com.

To book Rick Dacri for your next event, call 800- 892- 9828 or visit www.dacri.com.