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National Work Zone Awareness Week - April 26-30, 2021

National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season which encourages safe driving through highway work zones. The key message is for drivers to use extra caution in work zones. This year’s event begins today, April 26 and runs through Friday, April 30, and carries the theme, “Drive Safe – Work Safe – Save Lives.”

OCA and other industry representatives will be participating in a media event at the Ohio Statehouse on Monday morning to kick off the week and encourage the public to slow down and pay close attention when driving through our work zones.

National Go Orange Day, designated to help raise work zone safety awareness, celebrates its sixth year on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. The event has become a staple of NWZAW and is a time for individuals and organizations across the country to express their support for work zone safety by wearing orange. To stop work zone crashes, this nationwide effort was first introduced by the FHWA as a new component of NWZAW in 2016. ATSSA has since organized and sponsored a social media campaign as part of its contribution to the effort. In 2016 about 100 organizations, including ATSSA members, from across the country posted images of various Go Orange Day efforts. ATSSA’s 2018 campaign demonstrated a global reach, with organizations from across the United States mentioning @ATSSAHQ on Twitter or @ATSSATraffic on Facebook and using #Orange4Safety in their social media posts and interactions.

We encourage OCA members to participate in the weeks events and campaigns to spread the word about saving lives in our work zones. Click HERE for more information and resources about National Work Zone Awareness Week.

DOL Issues Guidance to Stem Unemployment ID Theft, as Many See Rise in Fraudulent Claims

OCA members should be aware that fraudulent unemployment claims are on the rise. While this has been a problem throughout the pandemic and while the construction industry is not a unique target, many have reported experiencing such claims and some have reported a spike in recent weeks.

The problem has spread across the country. States – which are largely overwhelmed with both legitimate and illegitimate unemployment claims due to the pandemic – are each responding in their own ways, but the federal government has also taken some action. On April 14, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued new guidance to states on identity verification for unemployment insurance claims. DOL said that the guidance “will help states find and stop payments on claims based on stolen or fake identities and help unemployed workers who have been falsely flagged as possibly fraudulent” and that it “also explains what states can do to protect those victims who may have had their identities previously stolen and then used by criminals to apply for unemployment insurance benefits.” Three weeks earlier, DOL launched a new website to assist such victims. The website explains how to determine if you are a victim of unemployment identity theft and how to report such identity theft. A Spanish translation of the website is also available. Last July, the FBI also issued an alert.

OCA members may want to inform their employees of the possibility of unemployment identity theft and provide a link to the DOL website for victims. An article published by the law firm Baker Donelson offers additional tips for employers that members might find useful.

OCA will keep an eye on this issue and provide info about any significant developments that may affect our members.

IRS Issues Guidance on Vaccine Paid Leave Tax Credits

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have announced (April 21, 2021) further details of tax credits available under the American Rescue Plan to help small businesses, including providing paid leave for employees receiving COVID-19 vaccinations.

The additional details, provided in a fact sheet released, spell out some basic facts about the employers eligible for the tax credits. It also provides information on how these employers may claim the credit for leave paid to employees related to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Eligible employers, such as businesses and tax-exempt organizations with fewer than 500 employees and certain governmental employers, can receive a tax credit for providing paid time off for each employee receiving the vaccine and for any time needed to recover from the vaccine. For example, if an eligible employer offers employees a paid day off to get vaccinated, the employer can receive a tax credit equal to the wages paid to employees for that day (up to certain limits).

“This new information is a shot in the arm for struggling small employers who are working hard to keep their businesses going while also watching out for the health of their employees,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “Our work on this issue is part of a larger effort by the IRS to assist the nation recover from the pandemic.”

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) allows small and midsize employers, and certain governmental employers, to claim refundable tax credits that reimburse them for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave to their employees due to COVID-19, including leave taken by employees to receive or recover from COVID-19 vaccinations. Self-employed individuals are eligible for similar tax credits.

The ARP tax credits are available to eligible employers that pay sick and family leave for leave from April 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2021.

The paid leave credits under the ARP are tax credits against the employer’s share of the Medicare tax. The tax credits are refundable, which means that the employer is entitled to payment of the full amount of the credits if it exceeds the employer’s share of the Medicare tax.

In anticipation of claiming the credits on the Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, eligible employers can keep the federal employment taxes that they otherwise would have deposited, including federal income tax withheld from employees, the employees’ share of social security and Medicare taxes and the eligible employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes with respect to all employees up to the amount of credit for which they are eligible. If the eligible employer does not have enough federal employment taxes on deposit to cover the amount of the anticipated credits, the eligible employer may request an advance by filing Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19.

Self-employed individuals may claim comparable credits on the Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

More details are available on this fact sheet.

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Safety Talks Stay Alert in Work Zones

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