Yesterday’s announcement from Governor Wolf left many wondering why bars and restaurants were ordered to close. And, it didn’t help matters that after the order was made, there was significant confusion due to different interpretations of the order until Governor Wolf sent out a clarification last night.

It was a tough decision, no doubt. But, there’s a simple answer why Pennsylvania bars and restaurants were ordered to close.

We don’t want to be the next Italy. Some in the medical community fear that it could happen, and happen quickly. COVID-19 has the unique ability to spread in a very short time period and impact large populations at once, as we’ve seen across the world.

Italy chose not to address social distancing until it was too late. Up until the very last minute, bars and restaurants were filled to capacity.

The slow response by the Italian government has left staggering statistics with a health care system that is overwhelmed. News reports make it clear that hospital staffers have had to make devastating decisions about who gets treated and who they must let go. As of this morning, Italy was reporting nearly 30,000 coronavirus cases and more than 2,000 deaths.

Governor Wolf’s order to close the state’s restaurants and bars was difficult, but it was in the best interest of public health. Hopefully, it will slow the spread, flatten the curve, and give our health care networks the time they need to prepare.

It’s often been said that health care professionals are on the front lines of the war against diseases, and that they are heroes.

Let’s add Pennsylvania tavern and restaurant owners, bartenders, waitresses and waiters, and other staff to the list of heroes. They’re the tip of the spear in this fight. They’re sacrificing revenue and salary to play their part in stopping the spread.

This crisis will pass. There was once a time that the world struggled with polio. That was until a Pennsylvania physician named Jonas Salk invented a vaccine. Today, polio is almost non-existent. Our country’s smartest medical researchers are working on this, and like Jonas Salk, they’ll find an answer.

And, when they do, patrons will return to restaurants and bars, celebrate life, and declare victory.

Chuck Moran
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association

 

Members please continue to monitor your emails for our “On the Fly” alerts. These are being issued as we learn more about the COVID-19 situation and how it is impacting your business. If you are not receiving those emails, please send us a message at pataverns@pataverns.com.

 

 

By now, most people are familiar with GEICO commercials that say “15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.”

But is it true? Can a person save money on car insurance by essentially shopping around, and can it be as high as 15 percent? According to a 2018 article in Forbes, there appears to be some truth in the statement. In an eight-state study conducted by the magazine, researchers dug into data and found supporting statistics based upon state medians. But, the article also mentioned that Geico is not always the cheapest.

None-the-less, depending upon who you are with, shopping around may be worth a driver’s time.

So, can a tavern owner apply this theory to business insurance including liquor liability? And should a tavern owner have business insurance?

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, many small businesses often assume that by forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC), they’ll be afforded protection in the event of a lawsuit. However, while this structure can protect you from personal liability for business decisions or actions of the LLC – the liability protection is limited.

So, yes, it’s a good idea to be insured as a business.

And, can a tavern owner save money by shopping around?

“Absolutely,” says Chuck Moran, executive director at the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. “We encourage our Members not to get too comfortable with their current insurance arrangements. It’s important to see how sharp their pencils are.”

He offers the following tips based upon conversations with Members, insurance companies, and brokers.

1. Assess your risks. Work with a qualified insurance professional to perform a risk management assessment, providing a list of potential events that could lead to a loss, determine estimated costs of each, and how best to address each risk.
2. Direct writer or broker? Either option is fine. Just be sure that you trust the person you are working with to ensure you are getting the best price and the right insurance for your business needs.
3. If working with a broker, ask to see a few bids. Compare rates. Understand differences.
4. Brokers work on commission, while direct writers may not. Don’t stick with an unsuitable agent because that’s who you always worked with or because you don’t want to hurt his or her feelings by switching. Get what you need.
5. Discounts? Well, maybe … maybe not! That’s why you need to shop around. Sometimes packages that come with a “discount” are not the best priced option, and, possibly not the right insurance package. Discounts are marketing gimmicks that are not always in the best interest of the buyer.
6. Costs and coverage vary between companies. Know what you are buying. Read everything.
7. When you’re buying business insurance, talk to an industry specialist who understands common problems unique to the bar business. Often specialist can get you the best coverage and the best rates.
8. Do an annual business check-up. Make it a part of your yearly routine. As your business changes, so will your insurance needs.
9. Evaluate. Evaluate.

Moran adds that the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage’s preferred insurer for liquor liability is Integrated Specialty Coverages, available through brokers statewide. “Of course, as an Association we want our Members to ask their brokers for a quote from ISC while they’re shopping around,” Moran says. “Taking an extra 15 minutes by getting that one extra quote might be worth your time!”

 

The Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association sat down with Tim Holden recently to learn more about him and his goals at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Holden was nominated to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board by Gov. Tom Corbett on June 14, 2013. He was named Chairman of the PLCB by Gov. Tom Wolf on Feb. 17, 2015. Prior to his appointment to the PLCB, Holden was the US Congressman for Central Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district from 1993 to 2013, and before that, Sheriff of Schuylkill County. He is a resident of St. Clair, near Pottsville, and a graduate of Bloomsburg University.

PLBTA: Thinking back to when you first became involved in politics and government, what motivated you to do so
TH: Being in politics is sort of the family business. My father was a Schuylkill County commissioner when I was two years old. He retired from that position my senior year in high school. My grandfather was a borough councilman. My great-grandfather was president of the first miners’ union, the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association. Growing up, we were always talking about politics and sports around the table every night at dinner. I was always taught that public service was a noble profession.

PLBTA: As chair of the PLCB, what is your priority? Can you describe your role as chair?
TH: I really enjoy being chairman of the PLCB at this point in its history. There are so many things going on, so many positive changes. Act 39 of 2016 was really was transformational, and I was proud to see the whole agency come together to adapt and complete all the things the PLCB had to do with great professionalism. The PLCB is a $2.7 billion business, and we are running more smoothly, more efficiently, and more professionally than ever before.

As chairman, it’s my job to make sure we continue to operate that way. I work very closely with Board Members Mike Negra and Mary Isenhour and with our Executive Team to make sure the PLCB remains as successful and efficient as possible. We have stressed improving the customer experience and we are trying to be as consumer-friendly as possible. We’re also making sure our Bureau of Licensing has the resources it needs to support almost 21,000 licensees and permittees.

This Board also takes its role in promoting responsible alcohol consumption very seriously, and we’ve committed serious funds to campaigns such as Know When. Know How.SM, an award-winning campaign that reaches out to parents of children as young as 8 years old.

PLBTA: There are always conversations going on about the distribution of liquor licenses. Some parts of the state say they need more, while in other parts they can’t be given away. Where does the PLCB stand in terms of license distribution? Should the county quota system be updated regularly to reflect population changes?
TH: As an administrative agency tasked under current law with responsible, effective, and efficient regulation of the liquor licenses, we generally leave policy discussions up to the General Assembly and the Governor.

PLBTA: As you know, our Members are mostly Mom-and-Pop taverns and bars. When they look around their hometowns, they can see that the local hardware store has closed, the independent doctor was bought out by a hospital chain, and the neighborhood grocery store is no more. They worry that their industry is next. Do you ever worry about our small business pubs going away, and is it a concern for the PLCB?
TH: I grew up in a small town and, as a member of Congress, I represented many, many small towns and small businesses. In fact, some of my favorite campaign stops were in mom-and-pop bars at the end of a long day on the trail. In many cases, those businesses are the gathering places, the backbones, the life blood of those communities. We have tried to make things easier for small licensees. We tried to reduce the amount of paperwork they have to fill out. We put most of the licensing forms online and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so licensees can take care of them when they have the time. We’ve opened more licensee service centers so mom-and-pop licensees have simpler access to products. While the PLCB cannot favor one type of licensee over another, we are trying to make it easier for small licensees.

PLBTA: There have been two legislative hearings last year about flexible pricing that Act 39 granted the PLCB. You personally have testified on both occasions. What message do you have for bar owners about flexible pricing?
TH: In Act 39, the legislature and Governor Wolf gave us the authority to use our purchasing power. Since the PLCB was granted flexible pricing authority, we have been able to both maintain fair and competitive prices on a wide selection of products that deliver value, variety and quality, while growing profit and revenue to meet increased funding requests of the PLCB to help balance the state budget for the benefit of all Pennsylvanians. While prices on more than 80 percent of our products have not changed in the last few years, we have been able to get better returns for the citizens of Pennsylvania. Just a few years ago, the PLCB was giving $80 million of its profits to the General Fund. Last year, we gave more than $185 million of our profits to the General Fund. We have made the flexible pricing process as fair as possible, and we have been transparent with our vendors.

PLBTA: As a former elected member of the US House of Representatives, do you have any advice to tavern owners who may be interested in running for office at any level someday?
TH: Get involved in your community, even if you’re not running for office right now. Become a voice in your community. If you’re really serious about running for office, get behind a person or an issue or a party and start there. I always say you can’t start at the top, so just get involved in the process. See if you like it. If you do, reach higher and higher.

This Q&A was republished from the January edition of Pennsylvania Observer, the official magazine of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.

 

Nationally, the top four health issues for employees are all preventable or treatable, but it’s important for tavern owners and their employees to have access to primary care to stay healthy and on the job.

According to one human resource consultant company, the top four health issues for employees include

• High blood pressure
• Allergies
• Cholesterol
• Back pain

Any of those, can result in employees missing work.

So, what can owners of bars, taverns, and restaurants do to keep their staffs on the job?

The average Member of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association has a total of 16.8 employees. As far as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is concerned, they’re considered small employers—those with less than 50 full-time equivalent employees. As such, they do not need to provide health insurance coverage to employees.

It’s important to note that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed in 2017, did not repeal the ACA—only the individual mandate. Even though there are court challenges to the ACA, the employer mandate for large employers is still in place.

Regardless, we know many tavern owners want to offer health care access as a benefit, but struggle with the cost of health insurance. As a result, many do not offer it at all.

But there are options to consider, and they could involve direct primary care (DPC) plans.

To be clear, a DPC plan is not health insurance. Instead, DPC is a plan to manage primary care directly between a provider and patient. This plan includes a variety of care associated with family or primary care doctors.

Idea #1 to bring down business costs: a small business may consider offering employees a DPC plan in combination with a high-deductible insurance policy to cover emergencies. Compared to traditional health insurance, high-deductible insurance plans typically cost less.

Let’s do the math on this.  A DPC plan can be as low as $65 per month through partnerships such as Healthcare2U and Gettysburg Benefits Administrators Inc. That comes out to $780 per year for an individual. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2017 the average annual premiums in the northeast for workers in a high deductible health plan with a savings option was $5,877 for single coverage. That combination comes out to $6,657 per year. If an employer in the northeast chose an HMO during that same year, the average cost for single coverage was $7,663.

Essentially, going with a combination of a DPC and high-deductible plan would have saved about $1,000.

Of course, that’s still a lot of money for a small business wanting to help their employees. So, what are other possibilities?

Idea # 2 to bring down business costs: some small business employers offer a combination of a DPC and a set amount of money to help the employee purchase insurance in the marketplace… or maybe just a DPC.

Melissa Lemaster of Gettysburg Benefits Administrators, Inc., says her company understands the struggles of small businesses and often sits down with them to discuss a wide arrange of options. She adds that a DPC is a creative option to consider.

“Healthcare generally begins with primary care,” she says. “In addition to potential cost savings it could create, a DPC plan makes sense.”

 

Disclosure: Healthcare2U / Gettysburg Benefits Administrators, Inc. is a preferred vendor of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. To learn more about DPC plans, contact Melissa Lemaster at mlemaster@getbenefitsadmin.com or call her at 800-497-4474, ext. 5030 or 717-334-3191.

This article was republished from the December 2019 edition of Pennsylvania Observer, the official monthly magazine of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.

 

“So a man and a dog walk into a bar…”  What might sound to some like the start of an old-fashioned bar joke is no laughing matter for those with disabilities or the businesses required to accommodate them.  Assistance animals are becoming increasingly common and may be referred to by varying terms, such as service animals, therapy animals, and emotional support animals.  The extent to which assistance animals are protected legally varies depending upon the animal’s purpose, species and training.  Unfortunately, navigating these legal protections can be challenging, and improper handling of requests by individuals with service animals can subject business owners to legal liability, as well as a potential public relations nightmare.

In the food service industry, which is held to health and cleanliness standards beyond those applicable to most other retailers, business owners might be tempted to assume they have greater latitude to refuse service to individuals who attempt to enter with service or support animals due to numerous restrictions imposed by state and local health codes.  This assumption is incorrect, however, and such refusals can have serious consequences.

The primary laws governing assistance animals for Pennsylvania businesses are a federal statute, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and a state statute, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA).  Business owners should also be sure to check to determine whether any local ordinances may apply.

Under the ADA, generally only dogs (and in some limited circumstances miniature horses) are recognized as service animals.  The ADA provides broad protections for service animals, and requires the following:

• Businesses and organizations must permit service animals in all areas where the public is permitted.
• Allergies and fears of service animals are not valid reasons to refuse access or service.
• The ADA’s requirements supersede all state and local health codes – so restaurants and other food service providers may not refuse service or access on that basis.
• Persons with service animals may not be treated differently from other patrons – e.g. isolated from other patrons, charged an additional fee, or in any manner treated less favorably than other patrons.
• Service animals must be harnessed, leashed or tethered, unless the person’s disability prevents such implements, in which case the service animal need only be under the person’s control, such as by voice commands or hand signals.
• The only valid reasons a business may exclude a service animal are situations where the animal is not under the person’s control, the animal is dangerous or poses an immediate threat to others, or the animal is not housebroken. Even in situations such as these, the business may not simply eject the individual, but must offer alternatives for the person to obtain services – e.g. offering take-out or an opportunity for the person to return without the animal for service.

Under the ADA when evaluating only those situations where the service animal’s purpose is not obvious – businesses are limited to asking two questions of persons with service animals:

1. Is the service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task does the animal perform?

Businesses may not inquire regarding the nature of the person’s disability, and may not require medical documentation or certification regarding the animal’s service status or abilities.  Business owners also may not require the person or animal to demonstrate any work or task.

To further complicate matters, the PHRA – which applies to all businesses with more than 4 employees operating in Pennsylvania – provides even broader coverage than the ADA.  The PHRA does not limit coverage to dogs and miniature horses – meaning that other species arguably are covered by the Act.  The PHRA also does not use the term “service animal” – instead using the more expansive phrase “guide or support animal” – which may include emotional support animals whose purpose is to provide generalized comfort to an individual with a disability, rather than being trained to provide a specific service.  The PHRA does recognize exceptions similar to those under the ADA with regard to refusing allow animals not under control or who pose a direct safety hazard.

The result of these differences is that while businesses may ask the ADA permitted questions above, in Pennsylvania they likely cannot legally refuse service to someone with an animal because the animal does not perform specific work or a specific task.

So how should a business respond to requests by patrons to enter a bar, restaurant, or other food-service establishment with a service or comfort animal?

First, given the overlap between the ADA and PHRA, business owners in Pennsylvania are in a gray area if they attempt to exclude all animals other than dogs and miniature horses on the basis that other species are not covered by the ADA – because there is no such exclusion under the PHRA.  Does that mean that someone can bring an emotional support pig into your restaurant?  Unfortunately, the answer is… maybe.

The business certainly may ask if the animal is required because of a disability.  If the answer is yes – provided the pig is under the person’s control, housebroken, and poses no clear threat to other patrons – it may be difficult to legally refuse the request.

Overall, given the current law in this area, businesses should exercise caution when handling service or comfort animal requests.  Staff should be trained to ensure they are not asking questions beyond those permitted by law and are not demanding documentation.  Moreover, given the potential for liability, decisions to refuse access should only be made by senior management.  In cases where the facts are unclear or if a business owner has any doubts, the best way to limit exposure is to consult with legal counsel.

This article was written by Charles Calkins and Christine Nentwig of CGA Law Firm, a preferred vendor of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association. CGA Law Firm has an experienced team of PLCB attorneys available to licensees throughout Pennsylvania to answer questions regarding the new requirements and license suspension process, discuss the steps necessary to ensure compliance, and provide representation and counsel in resolving PLCB suspensions and citations. To reach CGA Law Firm, call (717) 848-4900.

*Any opinion expressed in the article is not to be construed as legal advice to any individual or entity.

This article has been republished from the October 2019 edition of Pennsylvania Observer, the official magazine of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.