Are You Ready for 2020 Employment Law Updates?

Author, Emily Marasso, Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. hosted a 2020 Legal Updates workshop on December 2, 2019 at the Boys & Girls Club of East County.

Thomas E. Daugherty, a lawyer with Klinedinst Attorneys, led the workshop and discussed the employment law changes that will go into effect in 2020 and how you can be prepared.

Some of the key elements discussed in the workshop are:

• Independent contractors must meet all 3 elements of the ABC Test to be classified as such and not an employee.

• Mandatory arbitration agreements are no longer acceptable.

• The minimum wage amount is increasing again; affecting salary thresholds. 

In addition to these updates, the statute of limitations has increased from 1 to 3 years, and additional time has been given to employers to complete company-wide harassment prevention training. Alongside these changes, discrimination outlines have been extended to include perception against natural hairstyles including afros, braids, twists, locks, etc.

New parents can be thankful that workplace lactation accommodations have been updated and Paid Family Leave is now 8 weeks in lieu of the previous 6 weeks standard beginning July 1, 2020. Domestic partnership now includes any two adults over the age of 18 instead of the previous age of 62. Domestic partners are granted the same rights, protections, benefits, etc. as married spouses.

Construction employees, in certain counties, are required to be trained on Valley Fever and the dangers of being exposed to the fungus. The counties included, but not limited to, are Fresno, Kern, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura to name a few. Gun violence restraining orders now expand availability to employers, co-workers (with employer approval) and employees or teachers at a secondary school.

For clients who missed the workshop, a video of the presentation will be available to view on-demand in the Risk Management Center within the next few weeks. An update will be sent when it is ready to view.

Employee Spotlight: Emily Marasso Joins Rancho Mesa's Media Communications Department

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce that Emily Marasso has joined the Media Communications and Client Services department as a Media Communications Assistant. With a background in marketing, web design, and customer relations, Emily’s energy and expertise make her an ideal fit for the Media Communications and Client Services department and Rancho Mesa team.

Emily was born and raised in Poway and now lives in El Cajon with her husband, two sons, and three dogs. She enjoys taking the trailer camping with her family and everything motorsports.

Rancho Mesa is excited to welcome Emily Marasso to the RMI team!

The Spirit of Giving Continues with OneofOne® Legacy Gift Drawing Winners

Author, Alyssa Burley, Media Communications and Client Services Manager, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s OneofOne® Legacy Gift Drawing on Thursday, November 7, 2019.

For the second year, Rancho Mesa has asked its clients to identify what makes the company OneofOne®. What actions have Rancho Mesa employees done to go above and beyond their normal duties? For every response, clients were entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of ten $250 donations to the nonprofit of their choice or the grand prize, the naming rights to an examination room at Family Health Centers of San Diego.

This drawing is a win-win for Rancho Mesa and our local nonprofit community. Rancho Mesa gathers feedback from clients and in return, monetary donations are made to nonprofits that our clients care about in our community.

Within San Diego, Rancho Mesa works with and supports about 40 non-profits, one of those is the Family Health Centers of San Diego. They are one of the largest community clinics within the United States, offering a wide range of health care services that provides care to over 190,000 unique patients a year. They provide these services through 23 primary care clinics, 8 behavioral health facilities, 7 dental clinics, 3 mobile medical units, a teen health center, an outpatient substance abuse treatment program, vision and physical therapy, and a pharmacy.

Grand Prize Winner

Fuller Electric

$250 Donation Winners

Peek Brothers Painting
Custom Installations Inc.
NEWest Construction Co.
Rancho Del Oro Landscape
Apex Mechanical

Bert W Salas Inc.
New Wave Electric
South Bay Salt Works
American Sheet Metal
Minegar Contracting Inc.

Some of the 2019 OneofOne® Testimonial Entries:

About Family Health Centers of San Diego

For nearly 50 years, Family Health Centers of San Diego’s (FHCSD) mission has been to provide affordable, high-quality health care and support services to all people, with a special commitment to the uninsured, low-income and medically underserved. Annually, our staff provides care to more than 210,000 unique patients—a third of our region’s low-income patients—through more than 935,000 encounters. For more information, visit www.fhcsd.org.

Client Spotlight: Rancho West Landscape Uses a Simple Newsletter to Drive Safety

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

To say Rancho West Landscape (RWL) is proactive in safety would be an understatement. They have made safety a top priority in their company. Their newsletter is among a variety safety initiatives they‘ve embraced. Each month, RWL is able to compress incredible content into a one-page company publication available in both English and Spanish. With the fast-paced schedule of daily business activities, maintaining the level of consistency in generating the newsletter is an achievement in and of itself.

Drew Garcia pictured with Christy Flores.

“Rancho West is always looking for a way to improve safety, training, process and communication,” says Drew Garcia, Vice President Landscape Group at Rancho Mesa Insurance. “This newsletter is a small example of their company’s culture that is rooted in safety. I always admire consistency in people and organizations. It has been a pleasure to work for Rancho West and watch activity like this continue with regularity.”

In the November 2019 issue, RWL announced their new safety program with Greenius. Greenius is an online safety platform designed to provide educational safety training to landscape professionals. To learn more, read Rancho West Landscape’s November 2019 newsletter Issue 16.

If you are interested in creating your own safety newsletter, Christy Flores, the writer, editor, and publisher of the RWL newsletter, broke down some of the key concepts she thinks about when generating the monthly issues:

• Look to make one key point and center the rest of the information around that point.

• Incorporate current events: time of year, weather, holidays, etc.

• Include company pictures to make it more personal.

• Recognize an employee or group of employees.

• Have fun with it (see the word search and incentive for participation).

• Keep it to one page, too much information is overwhelming.

• English and Spanish (hint: use Google translate and have someone read it over for clarity).

• Be consistent (Christy publishes monthly, but you can start off slow. Try publishing quarterly).

• Distribute newsletters with pay checks, post them in company common areas, and email if possible.

• Provide key contacts.  Christy keeps the area mangers phone numbers on every issue.

• Find the right person to own and enjoy creating the document.

• Find content online, in the news, through your association, and from your insurance broker/carrier.

• Newsletter templates are available on multiple websites and platforms. Christy uses Microsoft Publisher.

“I’m really proud of Christy for sticking to it. Without any recognition, she continued to create the newsletter to help make Rancho West a better company,” expressed Greg Duncan, President of Rancho West Landscape.

Rancho Mesa Insurance thanks RWL for allowing us to highlight their company in an effort to promote safety within the landscape industry.

About Rancho West Landscape
Rancho West Landscape has been servicing Southern California since 1990. As a local landscape contractor based in Murrieta, they have upheld the highest standard of service and continue to raise safety standards.

Rancho Mesa Film Studio Travels East to National Conference

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Drew Garcia interviewing Margaret Hartmann Senior Vice President Chief Marketing Officer at Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies.

Media Communications Manager, Alyssa Burley, moved the Rancho Mesa filming studio east to Louisville, Kentucky for the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) 2019 LANDSCAPES Conference.

Alyssa joined Drew Garcia, Rancho Mesa's Vice President of the Landscapes Division and Program Manager for the NALP Lawn & Landscape Workers’ Compensation and Package Programs, as he interviewed several landscape industry professionals, including this year's safety award winners, and Margaret Hartmann & Steve Hamilton of Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies.

LANDSCAPES is an educational event for landscape and lawn care professionals. The four day event is packed full of keynote speakers, expos, recognition ceremonies, networking, and more. Presenters included Drew and David Garcia, President of Rancho Mesa, as they educated attendees on the "4 Secrets to Using Your Safety Program to Improve Your Bottom Line."

About NALP
The National Association of Landscape Professionals is the national trade association representing nearly 100,000 landscape industry professionals in the United States, with additional members in Canada and overseas. Member companies specialize in lawn care, landscape design and installation, landscape maintenance, tree care, irrigation and water management, and interior plantscaping. Members also include students, consultants, industry suppliers, state associations and affiliate members. For more information, visit www.landscapeprofessionals.org.

Employee Spotlight: Sam Clayton and Jeremy Hoolihan Visit Lambeau Field with Sentry Insurance Company

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa’s Sam Clayton, Vice President of the Construction Group, and Jeremy Hoolihan, Account Executive of the Construction Group, were the guests of Sentry Insurance Company at the Green Bay Packers vs. the Oakland Raiders game played on October 20, 2019. Sam and Jeremy were two of the four brokers selected from California for this amazing experience, based on Rancho Mesa’s relationship with Sentry.

Sam and Jeremy are pictured with Nic Hernandez, West Coast Underwriting Manager for Sentry, outside the historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

About Sentry
Sentry Insurance started in 1904 and has grown to become one of the largest, and financially secure mutual insurance companies in the nation. They have recently opened their West Coast Regional office in Irvine, CA. At Sentry, because they are a mutual insurance company, their business is built on a foundation of service to their policyholders. Although they’ve grown and changed a lot over the past 110 years, one thing hasn’t changed. They still work to serve policyholders, and to help their clients’ businesses thrive. For more information, visit www.sentry.com.

Rancho Mesa Celebrates Halloween

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Happy Halloween! On Thursday, October 31, 2019, Rancho Mesa's Ashley Hunter, Yvonne Gallagher, Rachel Bristol, Alyssa Burley, Christina Haake, Shane Medlin, and Colin Cadman dressed up to celebrate Halloween.

Left to right: Crazy Cat Lady (Ashely Hunter), Cat (Yvonne Gallagher), Dwight Schrute (Rachel Bristol), Mary Poppins(Alyssa Bruely), Devil (Christina Haake), Darth Vader (Shane Medlin), and Hot Dog (Colin Cadmin)

Rancho Mesa Set to Open 2nd Office

Rancho Mesa is proud to announce that we will be opening a second office in downtown La Mesa, CA.

“This is an exciting time for us, we’ve been looking for over a year and it’s amazing to be returning to La Mesa where it all started back in 1998” said Dave Garcia, President of Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Construction is well underway and the scheduled move in date is the latter part of this year.

Rancho Mesa Bowls for Charity at IICF 12th Annual Tournament

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Pictured left to right: Sam Clayton, Jeremy Hoolihan, Yvonne Gallagher, and Christina Haake of Rancho Mesa.

On Thursday, October 3, 2019 the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) put on their 12th Annual Bowling Tournament at Kearny Mesa Bowl.

Rancho Mesa’s Sam Clayton, Vice President of the Construction Group; Jeremy Hoolihan, Account Executive of the Construction Group; Yvonne Gallagher, Landscape Account Manager; and Christina Haake, Construction Account Manager, participated in the raffle, enjoyed delicious food, met fellow insurance professionals, and had fun bowling; all while contributing to a good cause! The annual event raises funds to support grants, volunteer service and leadership to local charities.

"The IICF Bowling for Charity event is always a blast," says Christina Haake, Construction Account Manager at Rancho Mesa. "Our Rancho Mesa team had such a great time competing in the tournament, but also catching up with our friends in the industry. We look forward to it every year."

About the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) is a unique nonprofit that unites the collective strengths of the insurance industry to help communities and enrich lives through grants, volunteer service and leadership. Established in 1994, IICF has contributed $36 million in community grants, along with 300,000 volunteer hours by more than 100,000 volunteers, to hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations, reinvesting in local communities where funds are raised. To learn more, visit  www.iicf.org.

Employee Spotlight: Colin Cadman Joins Rancho Mesa's Employee Benefits Department

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce that Colin Cadman has joined the Employee Benefits department as a Benefit Analyst. In this role, Colin will support the team in a variety of administrative and strategic ways, bringing his energy and expertise to this rapidly growing division within Rancho Mesa.

Colin was born and raised here in San Diego before attending UC Santa Cruz and graduating with a degree in Psychology. He currently resides in Bay Park with his fiancée and two dogs. He is an entrepreneur at heart, and his hobbies include rock climbing, game nights, beach volleyball, and hiking.

Rancho Mesa is excited to welcome Colin Cadman to the RMI team!