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Package All Corp, with offices in Bayport and Ronkonkoma, recently presented an elder care program to its staff facilitated by Melissa Negrin-Wiener, Esq., partner, Cona Elder Law, elder law and estate planning firm in Melville. Cona Elder Law’s Elder Care Employee Benefit Program provides tools and advice for working elder-caregivers, offering valuable elder care resources, solutions for asset protection and Medicaid, as well as a 10% discount on elder law and estate planning services.
“Nearly 20% of our administrative staff are also caregivers,” says Jessica Mullins, Human Resource Director of Package All Corp. “This tremendous responsibility means that they may have to take time off to care for their aging relatives, make phone calls to coordinate complex elder care issues or perhaps run home when a crisis arises.”
The employees who attended the program agreed that Melissa’s in depth knowledge and clear presentation on the topic gave everyone something to think about so they could plan ahead. She discussed such topics as qualifying for Medicaid benefits for home care and nursing home care, asset protection planning, use of Living Trusts, and the importance of advance directives including Powers of Attorney, Health Care Proxies and Living Wills.
Angela Condon, 56 year old Logistics Coordinator at Package All, believed that having a last will & testament was enough. She now realizes the importance of advance directives and protecting her home and other assets in the event she or her husband need nursing home care. “This program was both informative and eye opening,” said Angela. “As soon as you have everything in place, you can put it behind you.”
Cona Elder Law’s Elder Care Employee Benefit Program educates working elder-caregivers and assists them with navigating the elder care landscape. The Program also helps employers by reducing absenteeism, downtime and turnover. This benefit serves companies in industries such as finance, banking, health care, insurance and many others. Employees will also save on legal services including asset protection planning, Medicaid applications, wills and trusts, advance directives, special needs trusts and much more.
“We designed this benefit to help working elder-caregivers find practical solutions to the complex array of elder care issues,” says Jennifer Cona, Esq., managing partner, Cona Elder Law. “Our goal is to arm employees with the tools needed to address various elder care scenarios and to encourage working elder-caregivers to plan ahead for legal, financial and health care services. By offering this Elder Care Employee Benefit to their staff, companies will benefit by reduced absenteeism and downtime as well as increased productivity,” says Ms. Cona.
A recent survey conducted by Cona Elder Law of private and publicly held companies on LI revealed a 67% increase in elder care issues affecting the working elder-caregiver. The most common problems involved a loved one’s hospitalization, coordinating elder care services and emergency elder caregiving responsibilities.
The Elder Care Employee Benefit Program includes comprehensive information and assistance with government benefits, legal issues, options for financing long-term health care as well as educational programs on various caregiving topics at “lunch and learn” seminars.
On the corporate side, working caregivers cost employers $33.6 billion annually in lost productivity. According to a Cona Elder Law survey, HR professionals reported that the impact on the job occurs mostly in schedule and work hour adjustments followed by absenteeism, lateness and extensive personal telephone calls. Employees also have to take unpaid time off to deal with elder caregiving issues.
As the population ages, the number of employees caring for an elderly family member or loved one is on the rise. According to the AARP study “2014 State of the 50+ on Long Island”, two-thirds of working family caregivers on LI have lost work time and wages along with reduced benefits from pensions and Social Security due to providing care for an aging loved one. The US Census Bureau reports that over 1/3 of the US workforce is older than 50.
With older adults living longer and working elder-caregivers aging, companies that have programs in place to assist their working elder-caregivers will be ahead of the curve.
For information on Cona Elder Law’s Elder Care Employee Benefit Program and/or to obtain Cona Elder Law’s tips on how to identify and assist an employee with an elder care crisis, contact Cona Elder Law at 631-390-5000 or visit their website at www.conaelderlaw.com.
About Cona Elder Law:
Cona Elder Law is recognized as a leading elder law and estate planning firm on Long Island. The firm was ranked the #1 Elder Law firm by Long Island Business News for 4 consecutive years (2012 – 2015) and was a finalist in the 2015 HIA Business Achievement Awards. The firm provides creative advocacy and cutting edge planning strategies and has been featured in many publications including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, L.I. Business News, Investor’s News Daily, USA Today, The Daily News, The New York Post, Kiplinger’s, Reader's Digest and many others. Cona Elder Law attorneys have appeared as guests on WNBC-TV, WABC-TV, CNN-fn, News 12, WLNY News 55 and many radio stations including WOR, WCBS AM, WBAB and WFAN.
