603 South Washington AvenueLansing, MI 48933www.RetailersInsurance.com800.366.3699

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDLANSING, MI

PERMIT NO 846

December 2014 www.RetailersInsurance.com

Retailers Mutual Insurance Company is now Retailers Insur-ance Company, a move requested by Retailers Mutual and ap-proved by state regulators. All new and renewed policies and future correspondence will re-flect the new name.

The change is more than just in name. The move to Retailers Insurance Company represents a change in corporate structure that enables the company to grow at an even faster rate in the future and provide additional benefits to policyholders. The new structure includes a holding company that can issue stock to raise additional capital for expansion, new tech-nology and other growth-oriented activities.

Retailers Mutual policyholders approved the change at the August 19 Annual Meeting at the Michigan Retailers Association headquarters in downtown Lansing. The Michi-gan Department of Insurance and Financial Services gave final ap-proval on October 23 after approv-ing it conditionally in April.

The change will be seamless for policyholders, and there are no significant operating changes planned for the immediate future.

We’re now Retailers InsuranceThe new website address is www.retailersinsurance.com,

but you can continue to type in retailersmutual.com and you will be redirected.

Retailers Insurance is coming to the aid of business men and women who bank online and face a serious risk they probably didn’t know they faced. Under current banking regu-lations, financial institutions don’t cover losses from online attacks on business accounts, even though they do for individual accounts.

Retailers Insurance has part-nered with RSG, Limited LLC, a Michigan-based risk services com-pany, to bring the EFT Guard

Retailers Insurance addsonline banking protection

program to our existing and future workers’ compensation insurance policyholders. This new coverage will be added automatically to new and renewed Retailers Insurance workers’ compensation policies starting November 1, 2014.

Provided in the EFT Guard pro-gram are several unique benefits not found in other carriers’ poli-cies, including: • Free educational resource center where you can use an assessment tool to determine your risk level;

• Free malware detection soft-ware to create a higher level of security and peace of mind;

• $100,000 in protection against unauthorized electronic funds trans-fer (Corporate Account Takeover). Protection begins with issuance of the renewal or new policy. For additional information, contact your insurance agent or visit www royalgroupservices.com/retailerseftguard/.

Retailers Insurance is yourMichigan company ...Large enough to protect you.Small enough to care.Close enough to Buy Nearby.

www.RetailersInsurance.com 4

A ProudSponsor of:

Which part of the body is most frequently injured in the workplace?Backs lead the way, with 36 percent of sprain, strain and tear

injuries occurring there, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor.

Next come shoulders at 13 percent, knees 12 percent, ankles 9 percent, arms 4 percent, wrists 3 percent and necks, hands and feet all at 2 percent each. Multiple injuries occur 8 percent of the time, and “all other” parts account for 9 percent of injuries.

The Bureau found that 63 percent of injuries were caused by overexertion, such as lifting, and bodily reaction.

The next most frequent cause was falls, slips and trips, at 23 percent. So be careful out there!

Backs out fronton injuries

2 December 2014

The National Safety Council has launched a Journey to Safety Excel-lence campaign to help all employ-ers, regardless of company size or industry, make safety a priority in their organizations. The initiative is de-signed to help equip organizations with free, practical tools and information to keep their employ-ees safe.

Nearly 11 work-ers die on the job each day and five million are injured annually, according to the Council. An esti-mated 50,000 people die each year

National council promotes safety

www.RetailersInsurance.com 3

because of illnesses contracted in the workplace and another 400,000 nonfatal workplace illnesses are estimated to occur.

The Journey to Safety Excellence is based on a strategy of continu-ous improvement that calls for committed leadership and engaged employees, sound safety management systems, removing risk in the workplace, and continually measuring

and improving performance.You can join the Journey to Safety

Excellence for free at www.nsc.org/journey.

Board elects new officersJeff Joyce, vice president and

co-owner of Mieras Shoes in Grand Rapids, was elected chair of theRe-tailers Insurance Company Board of Directors at the board’s October 19 meeting. Mieras is a family owned business founded in 1922.

Mark Miller, executive vice president of Hylant Group and president of its Ann Arbor office, was elected vice chair. Hylant is

Miller

Phillips SobeltonUngrodt

HallanJoyce

among the largest privately held insurance brokerage firms in the nation. William J. Hallan, chief operating officer and general counsel for both Michigan Retail-ers Association and Retailers In-surance, was elected secretary of the board.

In addition, policyholders at the company’s Annual Meeting re-elect-ed three incumbents to the board for three-year terms. They are: • Tom Ungrodt, president and CEO of Ideation, Inc., Ann Arbor, and owner of two Michigan gift stores; • Rod Phillips, owner of Country Casuals, a small chain of year-round and seasonal ladies’ apparel stores located throughout north-west Michigan and headquartered in Petoskey. • Peter Sobelton, a former Bir-mingham retailer who is immedi-ate past chair of the board.

Policyholders can report work comp claims 24/7 via telephone to Retailers Insur-ance Company’s third-party admin-istrator, Sedgwick Claims ManagementServices. The numberfor reporting claims is 866.764.7705.

Policyholders should refer-ence Retailers Insurance Compa-ny and/or the contract number, 1578, when reporting a claim.

Any bills or paperwork relating to a specific claim should be faxed to Sedgwick at 866.261.5795. More detailed in-formation on claims reporting, including forms related to the process, can be found atwww.RetailersInsurance.com under Policyholders, Claims.

Poor housekeeping can contribute to low morale and sloppy work. Most safety ac-tion programs start with an intensive cleanup campaign in all areas of the workplace.

Get rid of un-necessary items, provide proper waste containers, store flammables properly, make sure exits are not blocked, mark aisles and passageways, and provide adequate lighting.

Get everyone involved and impress upon employ-ees that you want to make your workplace safer, more healthful and more efficient.

Report claims by phone

Housekeeping promotes safety

Avoiding late payments

It is very important to make your payments by the due date shown on the billing state-ment. When a payment is late, we send out a second notice along with a state-required21-day cancellation notice.

State law also requires that we notify the Michigan Department of

Licensing and RegulatoryAffairs whenever we senda cancellation notice.

In order to avoid late pay-ments, you may wish to take advantage of our electronic payment options. You can put payments on a credit card or have payments deducted from your bank account through an electronic funds transfer (EFT).

There is no additional cost for these payment options.

Authorization forms for these payment options were included in your billing statement. For more infor-mation or to request another form, please contact Judy Schafer at 800.366.3699 or jschafer@retailers.com.

Safety grants availableIn celebration of the 40th anni-

versary of Michigan’s program for workplace safety and health, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administra-tion (MIOSHA) is offering matching grant awards of up to $5,000 to employers to im-prove workplace safety and health.

The grants are available to most employers – those with 250 employees or less – to purchase safety and health-related equipment.

To qualify for a grant, a proj-ect must be consistent with the recommendations of a safety

professional or safety com-mittee that has conducted a site-specific evaluation and provided a written report with recommendations.

For more information, contact the MIOSHA grant administrator at 517.322.1865 or visitwww.michigan.gov/mioshagrants.

As automatic members of Michigan Retailers Association, Retailers Insurance policyholders enjoy all of the membership benefits provided by the 75-year-old business

services and legislative advocacy organization. Check out all the services at www.retailers.com. Among the latest additions to the wide array of services:

Recover your shareof $5 billion settlement

MRA Services Corner

If your business accepted Visa or MasterCard payments between January 1, 2004, and November 28, 2012, you may be eligible to re-cover funds from the more than $5 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that merchants paid more fees than they should have for accepting Visa and MasterCard as payment from consumers.

To assist you in recovering your share of the settlement, Michigan Retailers Association has partnered with class action

settlement expert MCAG. This service is meant to simplify and streamline the filing process for you to recover your share of the more than $5 billion in settle-ment funds.

To enroll in this service or for more information, please visit https://mcagvmc.com/portal and enter code MRA100.