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Marijuana and the Workplace

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By Diana Plue, Esq., Sheats & Bailey, PLLC

The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) amended Labor Law § 201-d to clarify that marijuana is a legal consumable product.  Employers may not discriminate against employees that use marijuana outside the workplace and outside of work hours.  This new law raised questions with regard to an employer’s ability to drug test for marijuana and enact disciplinary action for marijuana use.  NYS DOL recently issued guidance for employers with regard to these issues. 

The NYS DOL has stated that employers may have a written policy prohibiting the use of marijuana during work hours including breaks, while on employer property and in company owned vehicles.  An employee who takes a company owned vehicle home can be prohibited from using marijuana in the work vehicle even outside work hours.

Can an employer drug test an employee or potential employee for marijuana? 

  1. An employer may drug test for cannabis if a federal or state law makes it a mandatory requirement of the position or the federal contract makes it mandatory. For example, employees who drive commercial vehicles are subject to mandatory drug testing for commercial vehicles under 49 CFR Part 382. 

Please note that the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 does not mandate or authorize drug testing of employees.  Therefore, a federal contract that just states an employer must comply with the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988, does not authorize a NYS employer to test its employees for marijuana. 

  1. An employer may drug test when required by a federal contract or to maintain federal funding.
  2. An employer may drug test, when the employee, while working, shows specific articulable symptoms of impairment that either decrease the employee’s performance or interferes with the employer’s obligation to provide a healthy and safe workplace.

A positive test for marijuana, by itself, cannot be used to make employment decisions regarding hiring, promoting or terminating an employee unless there is a federal or state law or federal contractual requirement that requires employees/workers to be drug free.  Therefore, unless there is a federal or state mandatory drug test requirement or a federal contractual drug test requirement for marijuana, employers should never require a pre-employment drug test for marijuana or perform random drug testing for marijuana.

The DOL guidelines clearly state that an employer can only drug test for marijuana for the above reasons.  Neither the DOL nor Labor Law § 201-d (4-a) mentions that an employer may take action such as testing because of a collective bargaining agreement.

What are articulable symptoms of impairment?  Per the NYS DOL, they are objectively observable indications that the employee’s performance of the duties of the position are decreased or lessened.  For example, the operation of heavy machinery in an unsafe manner may be considered an indication of impairment. DOL does not provide any further clarification or list of articulable symptoms but does state what cannot be cited as an articulable symptom. 

The following symptoms by themselves are not articulable symptoms of marijuana use:

  • Observable signs of possible marijuana use that do not indicate impairment on their own. For example, red eyes with nothing more does not indicate impairment because red eyes with no other symptoms could be from allergies or lack of sleep.
  • A positive drug test for marijuana usage by itself cannot serve as a basis for an employer’s conclusion that an employee was impaired. All the test will show is that there is cannabis in the employee’s system, which can be detected up to 30 days after use; the positive test alone does not show impairment.
  • The smell of cannabis on an employee, on its own, is not evidence of an articulable symptom of impairment under Labor Law §201-d. Use of cannabis does not automatically mean a person is impaired. 

Can an employer discipline an employee for marijuana use?

An employer may take adverse action against an employee:

  1. Who is using marijuana during work hours (including during breaks and during periods an employee is on call);
  2. Who uses marijuana on employer property;
  3. Who uses marijuana in company owned vehicles;
  4. Who is impaired by marijuana and exhibits specific articulable symptoms of impairment that
  • Decrease or lessen the performance of the employee’s duties or tasks;
  • Interferes with an employer’s obligation to provide a safe and healthy workplace, free from recognized hazards as required by state and federal occupational safety and health laws.
  1. When required to by State or Federal Law;
  2. When the employer would lose a federal contract or federal funding because of employees’ marijuana use. If a project requires employees to obtain a clean drug test to work on the project, employers should give notice of this requirement to its employees and the potential consequences if said drug test is failed.

Labor Law §201-d applies to private, state and local government employers.  Labor Law §201-d only applies to employees who work within NYS and are over the age of 21.  Marijuana use is still prohibited for anyone under the age of 21.  Employers cannot require employees to waive their rights under Labor Law §201-d.  For remote workers, the DOL does not consider a private residence a worksite within the meaning of Labor Law §201-d.  But an employer may act against a remote worker if the worker is exhibiting articulable symptom of impairment during work hours. 

An employer who violates Labor Law § 201-d by refusing to hire, refusing to promote or discharging an employee from employment because of said employee’s legal use of marijuana outside of work hours and off work property can be subject to civil penalties and to civil actions from their employees. 

Employers who wish to prohibit employees from working while impaired should have a written policy prohibiting such conduct and stating the consequences for working while impaired.  Employers need to train their supervisors on what type of symptoms of impairment to look for.  Employers should also update their work policies, including handbooks, to make sure their current policies do not run afoul of this new legislation. Employers must review and update any drug testing policy so it complies with The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) and Labor Law § 201-d. 

For more information or assistance in drafting a written policy on marijuana use and/or updating current workplace policies including drug testing policies to be compliant with Labor Law §201-d contact Diana Plue at Sheats & Bailey, PLLC, Tel: (315) 676-7314.

The information provided in this article is not intended to serve as specific legal advice for any particular situation.  Competent legal and experienced counsel should be consulted.

Bright Future Ahead for Construction Industry as Learn to Live with COVID-19

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Earl Hall, Executive Director, Syracuse Builders Exchange

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction industry and the skilled craftsmen and women who continued to work have been deemed a key component of New York State’s essential workforce.  Contractors and their employees, while not immune from contracting or spreading COVID-19, have been able to complete vital projects, while limiting the spread of COVID-19 by following the latest health and safety recommendations from the New York State Health Department, New York State HERO Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Unfortunately, with the rise of COVID-19 variants, such as Delta and Omicron, the New York construction industry is now subject to some of the same rules and regulations from 2020. Construction industry leaders believe that responding to the COVID-19 virus is of critical importance for the health and safety of construction workers throughout New York State, their families, and communities.

While over 80% of all New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, most industry leaders remain committed to encouraging all construction workers to get vaccinated unless there are underlying circumstances that would not permit one to receive the vaccine. Many believe a vaccinated workforce is vital protection for the employee and their fellow workers. A vaccinated workforce is also important for the industry and the contractors who have contracts in place to perform for a General Contractor or project owner. Penalties for non-performance or an untimely completion of a scope of work is real and can be devastating to any business owner who failed to anticipate labor issues on a particular project.

On November 5, 2021, OSHA announced that it published a new workplace safety rule through an Emergency Temporary Standard. On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 ETS.  If not overturned by the courts, this new OSHA requirement will cover all employers with federal contracts, as well as those employers with more than one hundred employees. Covered employers will have to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. Additionally, many project owners, both public and private, are mandating all contractors and employees performing work on their site must be fully vaccinated or produce a negative COVID test result.  These requirements are mandatory for all employers regardless of the number of employees employed.

At a time where there remains a significant labor shortage, losing valuable employees from an employer’s workforce due to governmental regulations, and some or many employees choosing to not being vaccinated poses unimaginable challenges for construction industry employers.  Without workforce compliance, construction industry employees will miss out on valuable work hours, while many employers may choose not to bid projects for fear of not being able to supply the appropriate work force to complete the project on time. 

It is anticipated the industry will have a significant increase in building and infrastructure work over the next 5-7 years, in particular upstate New York.  This construction work is expected to last for many years, but to bid on and secure these projects will require that all associated with the employer meet the OSHA, New York State and/or project owner rules for mandated vaccination or weekly testing. To ignore these rules means losing out on the billions of dollars in future projects and job opportunities.  Additionally, ignoring such requirements exposes construction contractors to increased pressure to supply skilled labor to their projects, thus potentially jeopardizing the long-term viability of an employer.

While respecting personal opinions of whether or not vaccines should be mandated as a condition of employment, one being vaccinated addresses a government identified safety issue for employees and their coworkers while not limiting potential employment opportunities.  And, equally as important, not causing undue pressure on employers who may not be able to supply enough skilled labor during an historic labor shortage era.

This is the new reality during the COVID-19 pandemic – governmental and project owner mandates on employers and employees, all while employers endure a labor shortage and supply chain crisis.  The industry cannot afford to lose any more employees from the workforce for any reason.  Contractors rely upon a skilled and available work force.  Each employee leaving the construction workforce poses great risks to contractors and project owners alike. 

In the end, the COVID-19 vaccine will be the antidote that will attack a pandemic which has limited our freedoms and may threaten our future.   Regardless of where one’s position is on vaccine mandates, personal freedoms, freedom of choice, etc., construction industry leaders must address this issue as an unvaccinated workforce impacts more than just the unvaccinated employee.  It impacts others on the job site and the very contractors who employ them. 

During an unprecedented era of significant labor shortages and supply chain disruptions in the construction industry, employers today cannot afford to lose employees from their workforce.  The project owners and governmental mandates may get more demanding over the next few months before such may be relaxed in 2022.  While learning to live with COVID-19 in our day to day lives will someday be the new norm, it is evident project owners and government officials today are not ready to address this.

Contractual Risk Transfer Essentials

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In addressing contractual risk transfer when hiring sub-contractors to work on your behalf in New York State, there are some key components to be aware of. We will work through those key points here.

While working through your individual contracts, several areas of the agreements should be evaluated, including but not limited to:

  • Parties to the agreement
  • Scope of work being provided (including a detailed description) when hiring a sub-contractor
  • Hold harmless, defense and indemnification requirements within the agreement
  • Insurance requirements of the agreement
  • For construction situations: a safety statement/requirement of the sub-contractor within the agreement

The hold harmless/indemnification requirements of the agreements also need to be reviewed to determine if they appear to be worded properly for the state where the work/service is going to be preformed. This is even more important in New York State, where NY Labor Laws impact construction projects. NY Labor Laws 240 and 241 impose duties on the “Property Owner” for safety issues on their jobsite that they do not control on a day-to-day basis. This is something that should be reviewed by your risk management and legal experts.

Insurance Requirements are another critical item and our focal point at OneGroup. We’ve found in many cases that both attorneys and architects are not comfortable detailing insurance requirements in agreements. Many may use wording that was used 10 to 20 years ago. Some also use wording from standard AIA contracts for insurance that can be vague, lack detail and is sometimes confusing. Paying close attention to the proper and applicable coverage form numbers is critical.

Reviewing these insurance requirements to make sure they are comprehensive and that they best protect the organization implementing the contract is very important. Internally, we make sure details like limits and key coverage areas are spelled out by line of business so that the coverage is triggered to protect the proper party. In some cases, the actual policy conditions or endorsements will only provide coverage if it requested in a written agreement executed prior to a loss.

Additional insured status for the proper party is an example of this. It needs to be requested on a “primary and non-contributing” basis because many carriers have wording on their policies stating that coverage for the additional insured will be on an “excess” basis, unless a written agreement executed prior to the loss requires that the coverage be on a primary or non-contributing basis. (“Excess” – meaning the party implementing the contract as the additional insured would have to exhaust their own policy limits before their sub-contractor’s/vendor’s policy would come into play)

Most situations will require:

  • Workers’ compensation and employers’ liability
  • Disability benefits (DBL)
  • General liability
  • Automobile liability
  • Umbrella liability (limits of liability in line with the hazard level of the service being provided)

List of “optional” special insurance policies that may be needed based on the scope of work and services being provided: 

  • Professional liability (engineering or architectural services typically)
  • Cyber liability (IT services)
  • Pollution/Environmental liability
  • Riggers’ liability
  • Builders’ risk or installation floater – property coverage where something is being built or installed for the property owner.
  • Owners’ and Contractors’ Protective policy (OCP policy) based on the type of construction project and exposure presented to the property owner as the owner for the project being undertaken.

Self-made Woman; Tupper Urges Younger Job-Seekers to Consider Building Trades

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By: Martha Conway

Donna Tupper - Headshot

Donna Tupper got her start in the building trades by cleaning and patching up vacant properties for realtors. As clients requested more of her, she made it her mission to learn more, becoming a property manager and eventually hiring other women to work with her.

Thirty-eight years later, she is president and sole owner of Infinity Northeast, Inc., a New York state and Tennessee Certified Woman-Owned Business, and she can be selective in the projects she will undertake. The business is headquartered in Syracuse, with satellite offices on Murfreesboro, Tenn., Naples, Fla., and Orlando, Fla.

Tupper’s eldest daughter, Director of Project Management Jessica T. Graham, has headed up projects throughout the US for her for several years now. Graham brought to the job an education in law, a real estate license and experience working for the state of Tennessee. Middle daughter Stephanie K. Baker serves as director of human resources and union benefits; she is educated in mental health but also left her career to work with her mother.

Tupper is a member of the Syracuse Builders Exchange and a signatory to Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters Local 277 and says she has a very loyal client base that wants the meticulous attention to detail that Infinity Northeast provides.

“We all have our own special gifts,” Tupper said. “My field people are spectacular handling projects at the site, and they don’t care they are working for a woman-owned business.”

Labor: The Next Generation

Tupper said she has a core group of foremen, superintendents, field workers and administrative staff; however, the field is growing, and seasoned professionals are aging out of construction. The time is ripe for getting younger generations interested, recruited and trained to work in the building trades

“Kids don’t know that construction opportunities really exist,” she said. “It’s as strong as the medical industry. The demand for medical facilities and housing isn’t going to diminish, regardless of politics.”

Locally, trades are primarily taught at Board of Continuing Education Services locations. Vocational-technical/trade schools teach hands-on skills for specific careers, such as welding, auto mechanics, plumbing and carpentry, among others.

Among the benefits of a trade school education are the reduced time it takes to graduate, more affordable tuition costs, smaller class sizes, hands-on training and job placement services.

“I go to various events, trying to promote the opportunities that exist in construction,” Tupper said. “I’ve led classes of women within the union and am closely involved with the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Girls’ World Expo and the Small Business Administration’s Women in Construction.”

Girls’ World Expo is a 21-year-old national program that aims to connect girls to resources and partners in their communities to help them realize their potential. For people who don’t know where to start, the union is a great resource to become familiar with.”

Tupper said not all kids want to or are suited to attending college, and many schools have eliminated shop classes for staffing or budgetary reasons.

“This is a great field that can put you right to work after high school with on-the-job opportunities and boots-on-the-ground experience,” Tupper said. “Be dependable, conscientious and open-minded, and those opportunities could be endless. Good employers know their workers can make or break their companies, and they like to reward them with more responsible – and financially rewarding – positions in the ranks.

“They don’t want to lose any good employees. For instance, if we profit over projections, everyone profits. My team shares in that money because I want to reward the people who made it possible. I have seriously loyal people who are so much more than employees, and they all make above union rates. If we’re not a team, we can’t do the work we do.”

Tupper said she didn’t want people to think there is space only for the very young.

“Older adults have opportunities, too, and with so many people having lost their jobs during the COVID shutdown last year, it’s a good time to look around and see what else is out there,” she said, explaining that most of her crew is over 40. “Maybe they had a lot of time to think about new goals while they were in lockdown and don’t want to go back to minimum- or low-paying jobs. Now is the time to explore this field.”

“For those who find themselves unemployed during this difficult time, if you put in a little hard work, you’ll be financially stable with a solid career,” she said. “Have no fear and take a chance in construction.”

Opportunities for women and minorities

And construction is one field where opportunities exist for diverse populations due to hiring requirements required of project owners, especially in public projects. In addition, there will be an enormous demand for more women- and minority-owned outfits due to government mandates for those public projects.

It’s vital to Tupper that the employees and subcontractors of Infinity Northeast are members of trade unions, such as the Carpenters Local 277. For that reason, if she were to take on an apprentice, he or she would need to join the union.

“I would have no problem having them learn in-house,” she said, adding that in-house trade work includes architecturals, mill work and finish carpentry.

Tupper hires subcontractors for other tradework when contracted as a general contractor.

“I love my industry and I have huge passion for it. I don’t want to market my company,” she said. “I want to market my story so maybe other people – especially younger generations – will consider getting into the business.”

She said if people work hard, stay focused and find something they enjoy, it’s not like work.

“The money will just come.”

The projects she loves

Infinity Northeast is well-positioned and well-experienced to complete public works projects. Among credentials in municipal works are projects completed for myriad SUNY locations, the military, Nine Mile Nuclear Power Plant, medical facilities, pharmacies, malls, hotels, motels, schools and more.

“I have discovered I like working on casinos, high-end hotels and military barracks,” Tupper said. “I am able to tackle these jobs because unions can provide the labor. It’s very important to me that my employees and subcontractors are members of trade unions, such as the Carpenters Local 277. If I were to take on an apprentice, he or she would need to join the union – I have no problem having them learn in-house.”

In-house trade work includes architecturals, millwork and finish carpentry; she hires subcontractors for other tradework when serving as general contractor.

COVID-related costing

People have had sticker shock in the post-shutdown world. COVID-19 has created shortages of staff to manufacture and bring products to market, and nowhere is this more evident than in construction.

Lumber, steel and other building materials have seen incredible cost hikes – in some cases as much as tripling in price – but that has not discouraged project owners who have to get the work done.

“Construction has been large COVID-19-proof, and we pride ourselves on our ability to schedule and stick to that schedule,” Tupper said.

One challenge of scheduling is whether the materials to complete the project will be available when promised at the price quoted, something that needs to be known before being able to build those air-tight schedules. Tupper has learned a lot about managing schedules and has groomed a team of problem-solvers to handle any impacts that might keep the project from moving forward.

“But you never cheap out on a job or cut corners,” she said, “because pretty soon the projects won’t be lining up for you. It’s better to reduce your profit a little than to compromise your integrity.”

Defining success

Tupper’s definition of success is when the Infinity team completes a project and hears the compliments on it, especially complimenting the ethics with which the project was handled, as well as the final project aesthetics.

“We’re one of the few companies that leaves a site without a punchlist,” she said. “My team is trained to never leave a site without a detailed punchlist, so we don’t have to go back.”

Tupper wasn’t worried about the challenges of 2020 – she was confident she could keep people busy, and she did.

“We’re moving into development, and that takes some planning,” Tupper said of property she is developing into self-contained communities in North Carolina and Florida, and medical facilities throughout the USA.

These residential communities will include residences with a focus on retirees who don’t want to do their own property upkeep anymore and that will be more mobility-impaired friendly.

“There are a lot of singles and couples who don’t want to take care of their properties anymore or climb stairs,” she said. “I want to help people really enjoy the last 10 to 20 years of their lives.”

She also is looking at what her target communities are lacking; for instance, Tupper said Naples, Fla., is sorely lacking in physical therapy facilities.

The development work is planned to support her own retirement down the road, while her daughters steer the legacy she’s built.

For more information, visit infne.com/.

HSE Consulting Services, LLC; Providing Quality, Integrity and Value for 25 Years

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By Sarah Hall

When Brian King started HSE Consulting Services, LLC, in 1997, he ran the one-man operation from his house.

It’s a little bigger now.

With two locations and more than a dozen employees, HSE Consulting will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2022.  HSE’s team helps clients with safety compliance and training, hazardous material exposure assessments, asbestos, lead based paint, mold, environmental assessments and indoor air quality.

King says launching the company was “one of the best decisions I ever made.”

In 1996, after gaining experience in the asbestos and environmental consulting industries, King was working for an engineering company providing industrial hygiene services and stack testing required by the Clean Air Act Amendment when the company decided they no longer wanted to provide stack testing. King had a choice: he could strike out on his own with the $45,000 of work he already had contracted, as well as testing equipment and a company van offered by the engineering company, or he could take the position of Corporate Health And Safety Director he was offered at another company.

“At the time, my wife and I had just finished building a new home, and to top it off she had recently given birth to our youngest son,” King said. “It was an interesting decision. But I had confidence in my ability, and I had always wanted to be my own boss, so I took the engineering company up on its offer and formed HSE in early 1997.”

For several years King, an American Board of Industrial Hygiene Certified Industrial Hygienist, performed stack testing for industrial clients while adding industrial hygiene projects, including a survey for the Air National Guard in Niagara Falls, NY, preparing site specific health and safety plans and conducting training. When mold became recognized as an indoor air quality issue, King’s knowledge and experience as a CIH proved to be very helpful on large loss projects including the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi after Hurricane Rita/Katrina. HSE also worked on one of the country’s first major mold remediation projects.

“Water damage resulting from ice dams affected approximately 900 units out of 1,500 in about five different complexes in the suburbs surrounding Detroit,” King said. “Working with the insurance adjuster and the property owner we assessed the damage, developed a remediation plan and provided contractor oversight during the project to ensure the work was done properly.”

Now HSE’s clients include residential and commercial customers in both the public and private sector, from schools, municipalities and government agencies to industrial and manufacturing facilities and environmental remediation firms. The company also rents out health and safety equipment for confined spaces and community air monitoring, noise and vibration, among other things.

“We’re very diversified, so we fill a lot of niches,” King said. “One of the more interesting services we provide is asbestos consulting—building surveys, project monitoring, etc.—and laboratory analysis of asbestos and mold samples.”

 

HSE is the only laboratory in Central New York with a transmission electron microscope (TEM). This piece of machinery allows technicians to analyze materials with the smallest asbestos fibers.

“[Those fibers] really are the most dangerous from a health perspective, because they can penetrate deep into the lungs where they can’t be eliminated,” King said.

 

King said the TEM can see particles at the molecular level, which no other microscope can do. In New York State, some samples—non-friable organically bound (NOB) materials—require TEM analysis.

“We decided to purchase this very expensive tool and do extensive renovations to our facility to accommodate the TEM because in the end we felt that our clients deserved the sophisticated analysis with the convenience of a local dedicated supplier,” King said.

Gene Cochran, Corporate Sales and Marketing Manager for HSE, said the TEM is just one of the things that sets HSE apart from its competitors.

“HSE has tremendous value in all we offer our clients,” Cochran said. “From analytical in our laboratories, to working with different manufacturers and industrial facilities in keeping their workplace safe and compliant with New York State and OSHA standards, and the training programs we offer can assist literally any businesses.”

In order to continue to serve its client base, HSE has expanded, moving into a 4,000-square-foot building in Cicero in 2011. The firm also opened a satellite office in Endwell five years ago. And according to Vice President of Operations Dan Hoosock, they hope to open additional satellite offices throughout New York state.

“We are always looking to expand our offerings to include services that are complimentary to those that we currently provide, and that benefits our clients in improving the health and safety of their workforces or the protection of the environment,” Hoosock said.

King said expansion is contingent on maintaining the same level of service.

“We would only do this if we can maintain the quality and integrity and value to our clients that we have now,” he said. “While we appreciate every opportunity we won’t take on a project unless we think that HSE is the right choice and that we can accomplish the client’s objectives.”

HSE is able to provide such a high level of service because of its employees.

“This is a very educated group of individuals with extensive experience and knowledge in their respective pieces of the business,” Cochran said.

King agreed.

“All of the people we’ve hired have helped grow HSE in one way or another,” King said. “However, a couple deserve special mention: my wife, Tina, eventually came on board full time and is now the CFO, and Dan Hoosock, HSE’s Vice President – Operations is an excellent manager and trusted executive. I seek their counsel for just about every major decision HSE makes. And we would not be the company we are without Doug Gee, our laboratory manager, who is without a doubt the most accomplished laboratory manager in the area.”  

Indeed, King strives to be at the top of the environmental, health and safety game.

“I’m a competitor, so I love the competition to be the best and the work that this requires,” he said. “To be the most knowledgeable so as to advise your clients appropriately, you have to constantly study the subjects upon which they request your assistance. To attract the best talent, you have to work on the business to make sure you’re doing everything you can to be the employer of choice among your competitors. To give your clients the best value, you have to work on your pricing to ensure that the company makes an adequate profit while still being competitive—our clients know how hard we work for them to get the results they need. We compete internally to continually improve ourselves, our processes, our service and ultimately our client’s satisfaction.”

New York State 2021 Workers’ Compensation Updates

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By: Brett Findlay, Vice President, Business & Construction Risk, OneGroup

There have been significant changes applicable to New York State workers’ compensation this year. An aggregate rate decrease on the horizon, an increase to the maximum weekly payroll limitation and an increase to the maximum workers’ compensation weekly benefit will most likely have the largest potential impact.

New York State employers will again benefit from an aggregate rate decrease to their workers’ compensation programs over the coming year.

On May 14th, 2021 the New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board filed its annual loss cost indication with the New York State Department of Financial Services. An approved and published filing for the expected decrease of 6.4% of the overall loss cost level was then announced on July 15th, 2021. The change in rates is effective on policies renewing on or after October 1, 2021. This is the sixth consecutive year with an overall workers’ compensation loss cost decrease in New York State.

The impact of the loss costs, or rates, will vary depending on each individual classification code.

Again, it is important to note that these rate changes will not go into effect on any individual policy until October 1. If your effective date is before that date, you will have to wait until your policy renewal before any potential rate changes apply. Regardless of when your effective date is, you should know the exact rate changes to your classifications sooner rather than later. It’s important to not only forecast the future costs of your program, but also to develop a marketing plan for your upcoming renewal.

I anticipate that this type of rate fluctuation will cause some volatility in the insurance marketplace. Insurance carriers may look to using higher loss cost multipliers, amongst other possibilities, in order to offset rate decreases. You should be in front of this, as should your broker.

Additionally, the maximum weekly payroll limitation/cap for eligible classifications has risen significantly. Effective July 1st, 2021, the new cap will be $1,594.57. This is a 9.1% increase from the prior years’ cap of $1,450.17. There will be an impact on the cost associated with eligible employers’ workers’ compensation premium.

Also effective July 1st, 2021, the maximum weekly workers’ compensation benefit increased by 9.1% as well. The new maximum benefit is $1,063.05 as opposed to the prior years’ $966.78.

You may ask what this means? For any individual questions and/or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at your earliest convenience.

For a better understanding on the potential impact to your business, please reach out to Brett Findlay, Vice President of Business & Construction Risk, OneGroup.  You may reach Brett direct at (315) 280-6376 or email BFindlay@OneGroup.com.

OneGroup is a team of specialists, dedicated to risk management and construction industry specific insurance issues. OneGroup serves as a resource to your organization for all your construction specific questions and concerns. And takes great pride in being at the forefront of industry trends.  You can learn more about OneGroup at: www.OneGroup.com or more specifically, http://www.OneGroup.com/business-insurance/unique-industry-solutions/construction-industry/.

State of Upstate New York Construction Industry

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Earl R. Hall, Executive Director – Syracuse Builders Exchange

It is remarkable what a difference a year makes when comparing the state of the construction industry in upstate New York.  Without reflecting on the obvious COVID-19 related and governmental mandated challenges from 2020, the state of the regional construction industry is strong.

One of my most accurate barometers has been the architectural billings and regional architectural activities.  While such is not the only measure for future construction opportunities, it does tell a compelling story for what to expect in the next 6-18 months.  Although my prediction of a 25% decline in the first half of 2021 projects out for bid was slightly high, my prediction of a resurging economic recovery in the second half of 2021 and all of 2022 is proving to be correct. 

Architects throughout the northeast United States and upstate New York are reporting a strong recovery, hampered only by a shortage of employees to fill many open positions.  The architectural billings from those firms have continued to grow substantially over the past few months, indicative of the strong demand from clients to develop future projects.  Much of the new architectural work is being performed in the commercial and industrial sectors.  While the northeast may lag the national average a bit, upstate New York is poised to take advantage of the increase in architectural services in the public infrastructure, institutional, commercial, and industrial spaces.  Unfortunately, there remains a shortage of qualified architects for hire.

Much of the design work is reported to be associated with building renovations, remodeling, retrofits, and rehabilitation work on existing structures.  Specifically, such construction work is more prevalent in the northeast region of the United States than elsewhere in the country.  Preserving existing historical buildings and upgrading existing properties remains high on the list of clients seeking architectural services.  A local example of this is the collaborative project between the Syracuse City School District and Onondaga County to renovate the former Central Tech High School into a state-of-the-art STEAM school in 2022.

Regionally, many projects remain in the pipeline for construction, with other significant potential projects being strongly considered by elected officials and project owners alike (chip fabrication plant in Clay, NY, and Route 81 project).  Project owners who postponed projects in 2020 are now planning those projects for later in 2021 and beyond.  The continuation of the Amazon projects in Liverpool and Dewitt, the new Crouse Health Center, Cree’s Carbon Device Manufacturing facility in Marcy and Utica’s new Mohawk Valley Health System hospital are just a few examples of current projects under construction in central New York.

In addition to the construction resurgence, there remains optimism about the infusion of federal stimulus dollars to fund regional governmental initiatives, especially those projects included in the federal infrastructure bill recently approved by President Biden, Senator Majority Leader Charles Schumer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Such infrastructure projects will include roads, bridges, wastewater treatment facilities and installation of broad band technology to underserved communities throughout New York state.

Headwinds

Although the construction industry is poised to take advantage of future construction projects in upstate New York, many issues employers are experiencing today may continue into late 2021 and beyond.  Concerns which may impact construction in the future include:

Inflation – From an economic perspective, inflation is defined as a general increase in prices and decrease in the purchasing value of money.  With the influx of trillions of dollars into the United States economy, and thus to communities across the country, inflation remains a huge concern to project owners and construction contractors alike.  Over the past 9 years, the average annual inflation rate has been 1.6%.  An annual inflation rate of 2.5% could very well add 10% to a project’s total cost.

Increase in Material Costs and Material Shortages – Due to inflation, the decline of purchasing power over time, the significant increase in material costs, and material shortages, project owners will pay more for the cost of material on their projects which may impact their ability to develop a project within budget.  While the industry is seeing some signs that the out-of-control price increases in steel, lumber, cement, etc. may have stabilized, industry leaders are wondering what the new normal in prices might look like in late 2021 and 2022, and when the timely availability of material will return.

Supply Chain Issues – The deliver of materials to construction job sites remains a major issue for contractors and project owners today, with no end in sight.  Labor shortages impacting all sectors of the industry from contractors, delivery drivers, suppliers, manufacturers, etc. continues to slow the delivery of goods and materials essential for the timely completion of projects.  Projects have not been canceled because of supply chain issues, but contractors remain concerned about contractual obligations to general contractors or project owners.  Pundits have opined such supply chain issues may see relief later in 2021 once the labor force problem below improves.

Labor – COVID-19, New York State and the federal government have compounded the labor shortage problem that has plagued the upstate New York construction industry for the past few years.  New York State’s inability to enforce return to work requirements for those collecting unemployment insurance has significantly impacted the construction, retail, and hospitality industries.  The federal government’s continuous $300 unemployment insurance supplement to New York State’s unemployment insurance benefits in many cases incentivizes those who are unemployed to not return to the workforce.  In addition, the federal government’s requirement for employers to pay COBRA premiums for those unemployed or ineligible employees only compounds the issues as such also is a disincentive to return to work. 

Analysis

The construction industry in upstate New York has strong momentum, powered by the predicted influx of federal and state dollars funding significant projects for years to come.  The funding of projects by various governmental entities, supplemented by the return of private capital into the market, will lead to a significant period of growth for the industry.  While headwinds may pose short-term obstacles for contractors and project owners, the future of the upstate New York construction industry remains on an upward trajectory. 

The Fischer Group at Graystone Consulting

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By Sarah Hall

Pictured left to right; Marc Fischer (Managing Director, Wealth Management), Mark Caropreso (SVP, Institutional Consultant), Adam Brady (Institutional Consulting Analyst), Chad Jacob (institional Consultant), Theresa Kenyon (Portfolio Associate), Elizabeth McCarthy (Institutional Consulting Ananlyst), Heather Warne-Hopkins (Institutional Consulting Analyst), Samantha Maley (Instituional Consulting Relationship Manager), Thomas Thaney (Institutional Consultant), Melanie Lugo (Registered CSA), Michael Valenti (SVP, Institutional Consultant)

Marc Fischer (Managing Director, Wealth Management)

Mark Caropreso (SVP, Institutional Consultant

In the 30 years that The Fischer Group at Graystone Consulting has been providing financial services, a lot has changed.

“[When] we came into this industry 30 years ago, we were stockbrokers,” said Mark Caropreso, the firm’s senior vice president. “The goal of the job was a sales job and the idea was to talk to your clients about logical investments. But over time, the role is much more of a really of a consultative role. The consultant has become more of an asset manager.”

Clients used to want more control over their stock portfolios, Caropreso said. Now, however, they’ll come to financial advisors with a broader idea of their financial needs and sometimes hand over the reins.

“The biggest change in my 30 years is discretion, the discretion and the responsibility,” he said. “Years ago, clients really wanted ideas and they pick and choose which ones they wanted to take. The industry has moved [toward] implementation and a discretionary role where we set goals and objectives and then implement the strategy, often saving priceless investment and Trustee decision making time.”

If you’re putting your financial future in someone’s hands, you won’t find hands much more capable than those of the Fischer Group. In 1991, Marc Fischer was one of the original 25 members that would eventually form Graystone Consulting. Today his titles include Managing Director, Institutional Consulting Director, Alternative Investments Director, and Financial Advisor.  As a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, Graystone Consulting offers a more personalized investment experience to strictly institutional and very high net worth investors that still provides the benefits of the global financial firm. Founded by Marc Fischer, the team includes six consultants, three analysts, two portfolio associates, and one marketing/relationship ambassador, working together to understand the unique investment needs of high net worth and institutional clients alike.  The group operates out of two brick and mortar locations in the state—one in Rochester and one in Latham.

Fischer himself, the group’s director has been in the financial industry since 1988. A Rochester native, he graduated with honors from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor’s degree in business management and earned CIMA designation from the Wharton School at the University Pennsylvania in 1994. Notably, his Fischer Group was recently named by Barron’s as a 2021 Top 100 Institutional Team nationally. Also, he has been featured in Barron’s Top 1200 State by State Advisors in New York every year since 2010. He is based in the Rochester office along with team members, including: Thomas Thaney, Vice President, Institutional Consultant, Michael Valenti, Senior Vice President, Institutional Consultant, Chad Jacob, Senior Vice President, Institutional Consultant, Heather Warne- Hopkins, Assistant Vice President, Institutional Consultant Analyst, Theresa Kenyon, Portfolio Associate, Elizabeth McCarthy, Institutional Consulting Analyst, Adam Brady, Institutional Consulting Analyst, and Samantha Maley, Institutional Consulting Relationship Manager.

Caropreso, meanwhile, is a Senior Vice President, Institutional Consultant, Financial Advisor, and Alternative Investments Director. He is in based in the Latham office along with Melanie Lugo, Registered Client Service Associate, and he has more than 27 years of experience in the investment industry.  Caropreso earned a BS in finance from Siena College and graduated from carpenter’s apprentice program, working as a journeyman carpenter through Carpenters Local No. 370 in Albany. He is currently a member of Carpenters Local No. 291, Eastern Contractors Association, Syracuse Builders Exchange, Builders Exchange of Rochester and International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

 

Statewide representation

The Rochester and Latham offices began working together about 12 years ago, when they realized there was overlap between their respective client bases and geographical footprint and therefore opportunities for teamwork.  

The collaboration has allowed the team to better serve a wide variety of clients.

“My institutional client base was smaller numerically than his, but they were of a larger size,” Caropreso said. “I was in an institutional niche in construction-related benefit plans, multi-employer funds, while Marc also had experience in foundations and endowments and other large institutions, hospitals, districts, charitable organizations. Marc also occasionally shared the enjoyment of working with Taft Hartley clients, having over a half dozen himself since as early as 1991. “For me, my institutional practice was a smaller percentage of my overall business, and the resources that I had available to me in Albany were less than the resources I would have enjoyed had I not teamed up with Marc.”

That partnership was formalized in 2019, in order to leverage collective resources, better communicate, and share technology.

“Just in the act of teaming actually officially they become more streamlined, more plugged into our group,” Fischer said. “Having them, even in Albany, it does not matter. They could be across the planet and we would have the same kind of synergies that go with that, because they participate truly at our day-to-day. They can literally see all the data like we see it live on the screens and they are not just an outside group that we work with.”

Having offices in Rochester and Latham also offers the Fischer Group better geographical representation.

“We are obligated in most cases to visit our clients in person, post-COVID, and to visit our clients quarterly… to always be available,” Fischer said. “We have multiple advisors on each relationship at all times so that they can see not only the team approach to it but with the coverage that we have. With our competitors, it is very rare to see more than one financial advisor at the meetings. Our clients find it more comforting to know that there is a team that is behind them and in different individuals that they can reach out and touch.”

‘You just cannot buy that’

Like some 60 other Graystone directors nationally, Fischer and his team work with both individual and corporate/institutional clients. In addition to the firm’s own experience, one of the big draws is its relationship with financial powerhouse Morgan Stanley. As Graystone’s parent company, Morgan Stanley provides the structure that allows individual teams to serve their clients in a truly unique capacity.

“That is probably the single largest advantage that we have over most of our competitors,” Fischer said. “It is not only the experience of the financial advisor, but also the financial backing, the critical administrative support, and the health of the sturdiness of the capital, the firm, is key.”

Morgan Stanley provides significant backing in the form of financial and legal resources that are essential when Fischer’s team are acting in a fiduciary capacity for their clients, which applies to nearly all their institutional relationships and to many of their retail clients as well.

“Morgan Stanley gives us the backing of a global institution,” Caropreso said. “We have got at our fingertips more resources than I can fathom. You just cannot buy that.”

The Fischer Group at Graystone has access to technology, staffing, research, and other resources that other firms don’t. Included in these resources is the legal structure and oversight components that allow their consultants to take on a co-fiduciary role with their institutional clients. In order to remain free from conflicts of interest, consultants cannot use Morgan Stanley managers or products within their consulting client’s portfolios, preserving their position as a truly independent advocate of their clients.

“Morgan Stanley is a very good partner,” Fischer said. “They are very supportive of the teams.”

“I would say our clients think what is most important with our partnership with Morgan Stanley is the fact that we are a fiduciary,” Fischer said. “In most cases, we are a co-fiduciary and we actually take the same amount or multiple times the same amount of risk as the trustees themselves.”

With their long history of serving institutional clients, the team understands their obligations, and the special trust relationship that comes with undertaking fiduciary responsibility in partnership with boards of trustees, or as consultant to a corporate retirement plan

It’s a comfort to clients if they have a fiduciary with ample resources to educate and protect them.

Not just stocks and bonds

The resources and support of Morgan Stanley allows the Fischer Group to provide a number of services to all client types, and access to a large suite of investment options that can be customized and mixed to help meet each unique client need. The group boasts several members with “Alternative Investments Director” titles, which gives them particular experience with utilizing the specialized subset of investment options known as “alternative investments.”

This sometimes esoteric asset class- from hedge funds to managed futures, commodities and private equity, among many others- goes beyond traditional stocks or bonds. Having worked with investors for more than 30 years, the team has the experience to advise and educate clients on these kinds of investments. The firm prides itself on the ability to cater to both corporate and individual clients and to provide a tailor-made approach to portfolio construction and oversight.

“Going back 30 years, the consulting industry… was really just stocks and bonds,” he said. “In the day back in the 1970s and ‘80s, very high net worth investors had alternate investments. Now it has become more mainstream as they become more available to individual investors.”

In particular, Fischer said the consultant’s role is to educate clients about their investments, because particularly when it comes to alternative investment options, ensuring the client meets appropriate suitability guidelines and understands their investment choices is key.

“It is a part of the job that we do in our role as educators. Most of our clients are boards, their trustees, their members that really represent pools of money that is not theirs,” he said. “Part of what they are obligated to do as trustees, they need to become constantly educated as to what it is because they are responsible for those pools of money. That is where we have the training and the commitment to do that type of work, and educate them, and make them comfortable with those types of investments as part of our process.”

Another important part of the Fischer Group’s business is navigating jointly- trusteed benefit packages sponsored by labor unions and contributing employers called Taft-Hartley plans. Caropreso explained that the packages are similar to the kinds of plans offered by single employers. The primary difference is that the plan is managed under a trust with trustees appointed or elected by the union and a group of contributing employers as opposed to a single employer. The union member plan participants don’t work for the same company day in and day out. The particular intricacies of investment management for these multi-employer plans require some special expertise to understand and service. The team’s long history of serving Taft-Hartley plans in the construction trades give them ample experience in helping clients with these needs.

“In order for these plans to work, the plan has to follow the worker from employer to employer,” Caropreso said. “So you end up with benefit packages made up of typical pensions, defined contribution plans for retirement, kind of like a 401k plans, and healthcare plans.”

The Group is responsible to help trustees representing the unions and employers make investment decisions for those pools of money to ensure their security and growth to meet stated goals and objectives for their participants.

“We are helping them select investment strategies, managers, products to meet the obligations of each of those plans,” he said.

The Fischer Group’s deep understanding of the needs of clients, the available universe of investment options, and abundant resources of their parent company allow them to match clients with a customized consulting solution.

CONCLUSION

While the Fischer Group offers a wide variety of services and amenities, Caropreso said it’s the expertise that sets the firm apart from its competitors.

“We’re ultimately here to serve the local community,” he said. “We have more skin in the game. And at the end of the day, we want to do a better job for less money, better results, more service than any other people that would come in from out of town.”

Fischer agreed.

“Clients come to us because they need the global presence of Morgan Stanley backing-wise and the experience of Graystone Consulting, the back office, the research, the capital, et cetera,” he said. “But they also love the local presence, the dedication to the community.”

Caropreso said that all of the changes the Fischer Group has made in the last few years has been to benefit its clients.

“The desire to add more people, that’s not because we want to become more wealthy, it is because we want to do a better job,” he said. “That is really the story of the Fischer group and it is the way that we would see it grow.”

For the last 30 years, and for many more, Fischer’s Group hopes to continue to serve local communities throughout New York State by using their considerable historical experience and the significant resources offered by their parent company, to enhance outcomes for clients. The formalization of the partnership between Managing Director Marc Fischer and Senior Vice President Mark Caropreso, has allowed them to expand their geographical footprint, and created synergies to the benefit of all clients. The team’s commitment to delivering local service means you may see members of the group at golf tournaments, the clambake, steak roast, or any other event that would allow them to follow through on their promise of creating a true partnership with clients. To learn more about The Fischer Group, visit: https://graystone.morganstanley.com/the-fischer-group-at-graystone-consulting

Source: Barrons.com (April 2021). Barron’s Top Institutional Consulting Teams were evaluated on a range of criteria, including institutional investment assets overseen by the team, the revenue generated by those assets, the number of clients served by the team, and the number of team members and their regulatory records. Also considered were the advanced professional designations and accomplishments represented on the team. The rating is not indicative of the Institutional Consulting Director’s past or future performance. Neither Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney LLC nor its Institutional Consulting Directors pay a fee to Barron’s in exchange for the rating. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved.  

Source: Barrons.com (March 2021). Top 1,200 Financial Advisors: State-by-State as identified by Barron’s magazine, using quantitative and qualitative criteria and selected from a pool of over 4,000 nominations. Advisors in the Top 1,200 Financial Advisors list have a minimum of seven years of financial services experience. Qualitative factors include, but are not limited to, compliance record and philanthropic work. Investment performance is not a criterion. The rating may not be representative of any one client’s experience and is not indicative of the financial advisor’s future performance. Neither Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC nor its Financial Advisors or Private Wealth Advisors pays a fee to Barron’s in exchange for the rating. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved.

The investments listed may not be appropriate for all investors. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC recommends that investors independently evaluate particular investments, and encourages investors to seek the advice of a financial advisor. The appropriateness of a particular investment will depend upon an investor’s individual circumstances and objectives.

Investments and services offered through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.  Graystone Consulting is a business of Morgan Stanley.

 

Five Star Equipment Exceeds Customer Expectations in Syracuse

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by Becca Taurisano

It’s a whole new Five Star Equipment in Syracuse. The Dunmore, PA based construction equipment company opened their new, state-of-the-art Syracuse facility in November 2020, shortly after General Manager Dave Kreis came on board in September. With over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry, Kreis was tasked with filling multiple open positions. “I wanted to find people that would be a good fit. Here in Syracuse, we needed to reinvigorate the atmosphere of teamwork.” Kreis was able to staff his team with a combination of outside hires and promoting from within, an important practice at Five Star Equipment.

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

Recent hires include Scott Hinman, Sales Manager, who comes from a large, national construction rental company with many years of service and branch management experience. Tim DeLany, the Used Equipment Manager has over 30 years of construction experience, the last 20 of which were in used equipment.

Valerie Smith started at Five Star Equipment in 1990 in the service department, worked in various departments, and now serves as Rental Manager for both the Syracuse and Kirkwood branches. Smith has even served as Interim General Manager, when needed. Smith says, “I just truly love working with the customers. It is a close-knit family at the end of the day.”

Pam Huckaby, Corporate Parts Operations Manager, started off on the parts counter, worked her way up to Parts Specialist, and then to her current corporate role. “Pam has been instrumental in hiring and interviewing parts employees and leading the charge in training and mentoring,” Kreis says. “Every day, Pam drives home that the customer comes first and she does a phenomenal job at it.” Huckaby recently assisted with the rollout of the MyDealer portal, an online parts ordering system, and getting larger customers on board.

Gary Mason, Senior Governmental Territory Sales Manager, oversees municipality customers in five counties. “Gary has maintained an industry leading market share with those customers and the John Deere line. He is always available to help and mentor the new sales professionals,” Kreis says.

Lori Prent, Service Advisor; Brian Jacopelle, Territory Sales Manager; and Chris Pier, Product Support Sales Specialist are internal hires who have been promoted to their current positions. Jacopelle has over 15 years of experience and Pier came to Five Star from BOCES, already earning his first promotion in his brief career. Kreis says customers can rely on these industry professionals to provide the highest quality service in construction equipment sales, rentals, and service.

NEW ENERGY

Bringing a fresh perspective to Five Star Equipment is Rob Hecox, the new Service Manager in Syracuse. Hecox has been able to draw on his experience in the automotive industry. “We lean on Rob for feedback in the area of sales and service to help our customers,” Kreis says. Brian Doran, Territory Sales Manager, has nearly five years of industry experience, joined the company in January 2021, and is already a strong producer. Juli Rowe, Sales and Branch Administrator, has served in a variety of administrative and office management roles prior to joining Five Star Equipment in April 2021.

COMMUNICATION

Kreis believes you must exceed customer expectations and communication is essential to doing that. “Getting back to customers in a timely manner is key. We have a very short season in central New York and our customers need to get a lot done. Many of the customers we deal with are multi-generation companies. Relationships in the construction industry are built over long periods of time and you have to go above and beyond their expectations.”

TRAINING & EDUCATION

Five Star Equipment places emphasis on a highly trained workforce who are certified to work on highly technical machinery. “Much like our cars and our appliances, machinery is very complicated now and the repairs need to be done by certified technicians. We provide this through external training from John Deere University, or internal training with our own product support operations managers,” says Kreis. The organization is always looking to build its team as well. “Having teams with qualified people is essential,” Kreis says, “so we invest heavily in employee training and education.”

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Five Star Equipment carries a vast array of product lines including John Deere, Hitachi, Fecon, Bomag, Eager Beaver Trailers, Trail King, HARLO, and Topcon. “We are seeing global shortages on all kinds of products, so availability is key. We are able to offer a large and diverse fleet of equipment from industry leaders to support all of our customers’ needs,” Kreis says. Consistency is also important as customers are more mobile and work across county and state lines. Kreis says customers should have the same experience in any Five Star Equipment location. “We want the customers to expect they will hear from someone in a timely manner, there will be follow up, and there is someone accountable like a General Manager that they can reach out to.” Smith says, “Our goal is to accommodate the customer in every branch. We want to go above and beyond in every way we can.”

BRIGHT FUTURE

With a new facility and a new team, Five Star Equipment is looking to the future. CEO Bill Farrell says, “The company has changed to reflect the industry. There are more women in positions of leadership in construction.” In addition to Valerie Smith and Pam Huckaby, General Manager of the Williamsport branch, Carrie Wolf, and Human Resources Director Elena Seidita, also serve in key leadership roles at the company. “We have the right people in the right positions and we are always looking for more people to join our team,” Farrell says. “For us, the future means strengthening existing customer relationships by always putting our customers first.”

Workforce Development; The Construction Industry’s Challenge to Attract Workers

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By: Earl R. Hall, Executive Director – Syracuse Builders Exchange

Earl Hall headshot

Ten years ago, construction industry executives anticipated that in just a few years there would be a national and local shortage of skilled craftsmen and craftswomen.  The data suggested a large percentage of those eligible would retire, and the next generation worker was not being attracted and retained to fill those positions.  In addition, the increased construction activity across the country, in particular the larger urban cities and surrounding regions, would require an increased supply of labor to support construction building and highway demand.

Today the industry continues to address challenges associated with a skilled labor shortage.  New York State is at the epicenter of the issue, struggling to attract apprentices and journeymen and women alike into a very physically demanding industry, which also ranks as one of the most dangerous professions in the United States.

The Challenge

Attracting people into the industry throughout central New York has always been a challenge.  For decades employers and union apprenticeship programs have attempted to identify and attract people of all sexes, races, skin color and ethnicity.  Unfortunately, in some cases a person might hold an adverse opinion of construction professions.  Others may be dissuaded from exploring a career in construction because of the physical demands and working at times in difficult working and environmental conditions.  Others have complained the average construction worker may only work 1,600 – 1,800 hours per year.  Recently, a barrier to entry for some is the lack of transportation and childcare.  Those reasons are not to be ignored and must be addressed when attempting to attract future candidates into the industry.  

Self-Reflection

As a college student at Syracuse University in the late 1980s, I enjoyed coming home for the summer; however, with that came the understanding that I needed to work and make enough money to afford to return to college.    

For five summers I worked as a laborer for various union contractors, working 3 months at a time.  Whether it was as a mason tender working for Hopkins & Reilly alongside Bricklayers Local 2, Operating Engineers Local 545 and Laborers Local 333 union members at the Great Northern Mall or at the North Medical Center; running a jackhammer 8 hours a day on the bridge decks over Route 690 and West Street; or performing demolition work at Crouse Irving Hospital, I developed a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for those career construction workers.  Those career union members finely tuned their skills and obtained a wide variety of safety training certificates in an effort to deliver the finest construction worker any employer would want on their team.  The diverse men and women on those projects taught me to work hard, be efficient and work safely.  I had no business earning the same hourly pay as the career union member working along side of me, but they accepted me as a member of their team. 

I would never trade those summers for anything as those experiences helped me better understand the hard work, effort and sacrifices that career construction workers put forth to become professionals at their craft.  Along with the professionalism came their desire to attain as much education and safety related content as possible to provide and work in a safe working environment.  Obtaining safety training certificates not only educated the workers on how to work safely on job sites but made the worker more marketable to other contractors.  Developing career skills, job site experiences and safety training certifications over a long period of time created the ultimate career construction worker.

An Employer’s Vision

Employers and union apprenticeship programs today have evolved to adapt to the challenges identified above.  Both union and non-union employers alike strive for long-term, career-oriented employees in their companies for a variety of reasons.  Employers want people who are self-motivated, safety-conscious, reliable, and hardworking who can get to and from their place of employment daily. 

One of the top priorities of employers is to provide their employees with a safe working environment, all the necessary safety equipment and all the necessary and required education and safety training.  A safe workforce is a productive workforce.  Workers’ compensation claims are a lose-lose situation for any employer as one of their employees is now injured, and the company’s workers compensation insurance premium will increase.  Keeping employees safe on dangerous job sites is paramount to an employer’s ability to be successful and profitable.   

Today’s Environment

Elected officials and bureaucrats alike have required that workforce development and contract award goals be included on public work projects.  Those noble goals may be in the form of contract awards to minority, women, and service-disabled veteran owned businesses (“M/W/SDV”), preferential bid discounts afforded to the above or diversity hiring goals of employees.  Although such are well intended goals, too often capacity to achieve such goals may not exist in the region where such goals are assigned.  Over the years, the Syracuse Builders Exchange has offered educational courses to help M/W/SDV grow businesses to build capacity of such employers in the central New York region.

Local and regional socio-economic issues championed by community leaders, activists and politicians have also delivered a narrative on the necessity of diverse workforces in the industry.  While laudable and desired, capacity problems remain in that such required targeted people in society have not been attracted to the industry for reasons stated previously.  How do employers, and the industry in general, overcome these issues and attract people of all races, color, sex, and ethnicities to create a diverse workforce in the construction industry?

Solutions

While there may be multiple, well intended groups focusing on workforce development initiatives for specific segments of society or individual projects, the Syracuse Builders Exchange is committed to attracting and retaining all people throughout our 18-county central New York region.  Creating and maintaining a sustainable workforce development program must be inclusive.  Local and regional initiatives should be embraced so long as they do not adversely impact existing career construction workers or the employers who hire them.

Focusing on training potential workers for specific, short-term construction projects should be used as a launching pad for the next generation construction worker.  Identifying those candidates from socio-economic challenged and low-income segments of our society is difficult, yet an initiative worth pursuing for many reasons.  I challenge those involved in such initiatives to think long-term and focus on creating a career construction worker.  A construction worker who will stay engaged in the industry and make construction his or her career.  While community leaders, elected officials and bureaucrats look to address local problems that impact local constituents, the construction industry should take advantage of this in an effort to promote a career in construction and the amazing benefits and opportunities the industry has to offer on a long-term basis.  

Over the years, I have served on the Syracuse City School District’s (“SCSD”) Career and Technical Education (“CTE”) Advisory Board to help develop curriculum in the construction related pathways offered to students in the SCSD.  The CTE program attracts students entering middle school who may not have an interest in higher education, and who would rather choose a career pathway to enter the workforce upon high school graduation.  The SCSD CTE program targets all students in the city of Syracuse, including but not limited to those in defined “low income” communities.  It targets students of all races, color, sex, and ethnicities, and serves as a resource to nurturing young students into career pathways for which the industry is in dire need.

The Syracuse Builders Exchange will continue to be a leader in providing education and safety training content to construction industry employers and their employees.  We will continue to participate and be engaged in developing the next generation construction worker on a regional and local basis.  While public officials have assigned contract and hiring goals based upon race, skin color and ethnicity, the Builders Exchange will continue to promote construction career opportunities to all people of all races, skin colors and ethnicities in an effort to build not only such “goal” capacities in the industry, but to fill voids left by those career construction workers who have retired.

Summary

As a fiduciary to the Syracuse Builders Exchange, my job is to act in the best interest of the members of the Association, their employees, and the construction industry in general.  Serving in the best interest of the construction industry in general covers a broad spectrum of people, ideas, interests, and entities.  Diversity and inclusion of all people in the industry will continue to be at the forefront of our workforce development campaigns and initiatives.  Not because governmental entities, politicians, community leaders or bureaucrats say so, but because such has always been the approach when identifying, attracting and retaining our next generation construction worker.