Special AAMGA Section
Membership Committee is multi—faceted
New challenge is the creation of a human resources subcommittee
By Phil Zinkewicz
The overall purpose of the AAMGA Membership Committee is to act as a sort of “mentor” for the membership, offering assistance and guidance in dealing with the technical aspects of running an MGA as well as providing materials for MGAs on various subjects that agencies can adapt to fit their own set of circumstances.
One of the committee’s responsi-bilities is to maintain the AAMGA archives, which tell the entire history of AAMGA. In addition, the committee provides online information for AAMGA members, often presenting answers to questions regarding legal issues. The committee has also created a draft of a model broker-agent agreement and a draft of an employee handbook. The committee also works with other committees, providing input when needed. In addition, the committee offers discounted coupons to new AAMGA members to encourage them to attend classes at the AAMGA University.
These are the overall charges of the AAMGA Membership Committee, and occasionally the committee is handed other charges by the board of directors. “In about the middle of last year, the Membership Committee was asked by the board to assemble a human resources subcommittee,” says Matt Smith of Southern General Agency of Tennessee, who is co-chair of the committee.
“Patti Nunnally of Royal Oak Underwriters, and co-chair of the committee, and Robert Schacher of Continental Special Risks, Inc., and board liaison for the committee, and I went to work immediately. We spent three months making calls to get commitments from our members to sit on the HR subcommittee. We were able to assemble a subcommittee, but time ran out before we could appoint a chair. So we tabled the charge until this year. We intend to tackle the job again after the AAMGA annual meeting.”
Smith says that the establishment of a subcommittee on human resources is a daunting task, but an important one. “MGAs with 50 or more employees might have a human resources person on staff. Certainly insurance companies are large enough to have a human resources person or even an entire department. But most MGAs don’t have enough employees to justify the expense. They need guidance.”
That guidance, Smith says, will come in the form of a handbook that would contain information on hiring and practices, employee compensation, sexual harassment, and a host of other issues that human resources people deal with every day.
“One of the things that is important to our members,” says Smith, “is how to classify employees as either exempt or non-exempt for Department of Labor purposes. Departments of labor, both at the federal and state level, want to make certain that agencies are classifying their workers properly. Exempt employees are not eligible for overtime pay. Non-exempt employees are like factory workers and are entitled to overtime. There have already been some agencies audited by the Department of Labor, and in some cases fines have been levied and agency owners have had to pay a great deal of money in back overtime. We will definitely be addressing this subject again.”
Another question confronting the Membership Committee is whether foreign MGAs should be permitted to join AAMGA and, if so, what the criteria for membership should be, says Smith. “For example, we’ve had some MGAs from Canada say they want to become members, and we’re trying to deal with that issue. One idea is to have a probation period for foreign MGAs. For one year, they would pay their dues and be able to attend all AAMGA meetings and functions. After that year, if they fit the criteria for membership, they would become an active member.”
With all of these issues outstanding, Smith believes that the coming year will be a very busy one for the AAMGA Membership Committee. *