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4.6. SR 04-06-2020 Request for Action To Item Number Mayor and City Council 4.6 Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Consent April 6, 2020 Lauren Wipper, Human Resources Manager Item Description Reviewed by Employee Assistance Program Contract with Sand Cal Portner, City Administrator Creek Reviewed by Action Requested Approve, by motion, to contract with Sand Creek EAP, LLC, effective April 1, 2020. Background/Discussion The city has been without an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for employees since we left Medica. An EAP was included with our Medica insurance coverage and did receive use. Funds to establish a new EAP were included in the 2020 budget. After reviewing our options, the city recommends Sand Creak EAP, LLC, to provide this service. Sand Creek EAP provides Masters’-level clinicians to assist employees with many life concerns like coping with stress, eldercare, financial troubles, legal concerns, work or career concerns to name just a few. They also provide response to crisis calls. Employees receive unlimited support via telephone and up to four face- to-face sessions per issue. The services are free to employees and are completely confidential. The city receives a usage report, but names and specifics are not included. Financial Impact The cost to provide this benefit to employees is $1.83 per employee per month for an annual cost of $4,180 which will come from the Human Resources Budget. Attachments  Sand Creek EAP Brochure  Employee Assistance Agreement The Elk River Vision A welcoming community with revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional service, and community engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity THAT’S LIFE! At some point we all face challenges that impact our well-being. That’s life. Those challenges almost always affect our work. WE ARE HERE TO HELP Your employee assistance program (EAP) provides free and confidential professional consulting, coaching, and counseling services for these and many other challenges: • Chemical dependency • Conflict resolution • Coping with stress • Depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges • Eldercare or childcare • Financial troubles • Grief and loss or change • Legal concerns • Parenting support • Relationship concerns • Work or career concerns A BENEFIT FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. Your employee assistance program (EAP) is a problem-solving resource available to you and eligible members of your family. A professional counselor will help you assess your situation, identify options, make choices, and get additional help. When life happens, we’re here. IT’S FREE Your employer pays for the initial assessment, the problem solving sessions, and referral services. If more counseling or treatment is needed, your counselor will help you figure out your options. IT’S CONFIDENTIAL Your EAP is set up with Sand Creek, an outside counseling resource, to ensure confidentiality. No one at work knows anything beyond what you choose to tell them. Nothing about your use of EAP appears in your employee personnel file. IT’S CONVENIENT Your EAP is as close as your phone. Our confidential intake process sets up face- to-face sessions with a licensed counselor near your work or home. Phone counseling services are also available. IT’S VOLUNTARY You know your life best, so contacting the EAP is only by your choice. A manager or co-worker might suggest you contact the EAP if you’ve talked about a complex problem with them, or they notice something is troubling you. But the decision to contact the EAP is always yours. EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM “EAP helps me deal with difficult situations that arise in the everyday workplace. I highly recommend this to anyone. It’s easy, free, and very helpful.” RETAIN ONE COPY FOR YOUR RECORDS Employee Assistance Agreement between Sand Creek EAP, LLC and City of Elk River For contract period: April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 I. Services Provided This Employee Assistance Agreement includes the following services: 1. Employee and Supervisory orientation to familiarize your employees with the services available to them. Delivery method will be discussed at time of contract implementation. Delivery methods include: in-person, webinar and website access to on-line video. 2. Promotional materials that include: brochures, wallet cards, posters and quarterly newsletters to keep your Employee Assistance Program “EAP” visible to your employees and their families. Promotional materials are available in both English and Spanish. 3. Worksite visits from an EAP representative to continually evaluate the status of the program and your satisfaction. 4. Employee assistance personnel policy development and consultation. 5. Full service coverage for employees and their family members. a. Employees are defined as the following: i. Full-time employees. ii. Part-time employees. b. Family members are defined as the following: i. Spouse or domestic partner. ii. Dependents living inside of the household. iii. Dependents living outside of the household. 6. Confidential assessment, referral and brief counseling to be provided to all employees and their family members by certified counselors. a. Up to Four (4) sessions of counseling based on the clinical recommendation of EAP counselor. Each session being comprised of one clinical hour. b. All of the employees of City of Elk River and their family members may contact Sand Creek EAP for assessment, brief consultation and when necessary, referral. c. No limit is placed on the number of assessments and referrals made annually. All contact is strictly confidential. 7. 24-hour telephone crisis intervention. 8. Chemical dependency case management and relapse prevention. 9. Financial counseling. 10. Legal consultation and referral. 11. Web based Work Life Wellness resource, including child care and elder care resources. II. Coordination of Services City of Elk River agrees to work with the EAP representative in informing its employees of this Agreement and the services which are available to them. III. Use of Name City of Elk River agrees to allow Sand Creek EAP, LLC to list City of Elk River as a customer on promotional materials. IV. Eligibility EAP is a service intended to provide short term assessment and brief counseling services to a wide variety of personal and work-related stressors. The service is intended to evaluate relevant information regarding the history of the concerns brought to the EAP by the client, the current status of the concerns and the impact they are having on the client. The EAP’s goal is the construction of an action plan to help the client(s) deal with their concerns in a successful fashion. Sometimes the action plan can be successfully implemented exclusively within the EAP. In other cases, the action plan may entail referring the client to a variety of community resources that can provide longer term or specialized services that are beyond or outside the scope of the EAP. The EAP benefit is focused on the individual client whenever an employee or covered family member runs up against individual events, conditions or circumstances that don’t envelop other members of the family system. In that case, the individual client is eligible to use up to a certain number of counseling sessions clearly defined in the EAP contract. When an event (e.g. – marital/relationship struggles; divorce; death of a family member; etc.) impacts part or all of an entire family unit, the EAP benefit is available for all family members to use collectively in the initial stages of addressing the impact of that family event. The EAP sessions are intended to define a broader plan of action that includes all involved family members. In many situations that involve multiple family members, the variety of counseling and emotional support needs that exist oftentimes goes beyond the EAP benefit. When that is the case, our goal is to help all impacted family members utilize the EAP benefit in a collective fashion to help guide them towards additional support and counseling services, either individually or as a family. V. Employee Participation A policy of the EAP is that an employee’s participation in the EAP will affect neither future employment, nor advancement, nor protect such employee from disciplinary action for continued substandard performance. VI. Reporting Sand Creek EAP, LLC will provide quarterly reports on program utilization. No information on individual employees will be released outside of Sand Creek EAP without the written consent of the employee. VII. Retainer Cost The annual retainer charged by Sand Creek EAP, LLC for the employee services is as follows: Term of Contract: April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 Start Date to End Date Number of employees: 190 Cost per employee per year: $22.00 Annual EAP Contract Cost: $4,180.00 Sand Creek EAP, LLC will bill annually at the beginning of the contract year. We will request employee counts one month prior to billing. VIII. Optional Services As a current EAP customer, you are eligible for Organizational Assistance Program (OAP) services at a discounted rate. For OAP services, please see the current OAP Service Catalog. IX. Fee for Ongoing Counseling Payment for any ongoing counseling services beyond the initial assessment screening will be the responsibility of the employee/family member. X. Modification or Termination of Contract This contract may be modified in writing at any time by the mutual consent of the parties. Either City of Elk River or Sand Creek EAP, LLC may cancel this agreement at any time upon 90 day notice, in writing, to the other party. City of Elk River will be responsible for all fees of Sand Creek EAP, LLC and costs incurred by Sand Creek EAP, LLC Pursuant to this Agreement, through the date of termination. The annual retainer fee paid by Elk River shall be prorated and Sand Creek EAP shall refund to the City for the remaining unused time period. XI. HIPAA Compliance Sand Creek Group, LLC has implemented and is in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA, public law #104-191) and its amendments. XII. Insurance Sand Creek EAP, LLC shall maintain, throughout the term of this contract, professional liability and such other insurance as shall be sufficient to insure its obligations under this contract, and shall provide evidence of that insurance to City of Elk River upon its request. XIII. Indemnification Each party shall indemnify and hold the other party harmless from and against any and all losses, claims, liability, damages, expenses or other obligations (including, without limitation, reasonable attorney’s fees) incurred by the other party and their respective officers, directors, employees, and other agents arising out of (a) the party’s negligence or intentional misconduct or omissions; or (b) party’s breach of this Agreement. The City’s duty of indemnify and hold harmless is subject to the limitation and immunities in MN Statutes Chapter 466. XIV. General Neither party may assign this Agreement without the other party’s prior written consent. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, the other provisions of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. Any provision of this Agreement held invalid or unenforceable only in part or degree will remain in full force and effect to the extent not held invalid or unenforceable. This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding of the parties concerning the subject matter of this Agreement. City of Elk River Sand Creek EAP, LLC John Dietz Tod Deming Mayor Executive Director Tina Allard City Clerk Signature Date Signature Date Signature Date 610 North Main Street, Suite 200 Stillwater, MN 55082 I 651.430.3383 I 888.243.5744 I www.sandcreekeap.com