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Compensation & Benefits

California law covers vacation pay disputes, not Fair Labor Standards Act

12/02/2019
The Fair Labor Standards Act sets the federal minimum-wage and overtime rules. Contrary to what many workers seem to believe, it does not guarantee additional wage-related benefits such as vacation or sick-time pay. Employees whose employers provide such benefits can’t sue under the FLSA, claiming they weren’t paid as promised.

Finite leave may be valid accommodation

12/02/2019
It’s a difficult problem: A new employee hasn’t yet earned any leave but needs to take time off for a disability-related reason. It’s a mistake to automatically terminate such an employee. Slow down.

January 2020: Employer’s business tax calendar

11/30/2019
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

Workers seek lower out-of-pocket health costs

11/19/2019
What’s highest on employees’ health insurance wish-lists? Predictable out-of-pocket costs, according to research by Kaiser Health News—even if that means paying higher monthly premiums.

The ACA individual mandate isn’t dead, it’s moved to the states

11/14/2019
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate—a requirement that all individuals have health insurance providing minimum value—beginning this year. Some states have jumped into the breach by enacting their own individual mandate laws. And just like the ACA, part of the enforcement mechanism is employer reporting.

In the Payroll Mailbag: December ’19

11/14/2019
Reporting health benefits on Form W-2 … Scavenger hunt prizes: Taxable or not?

Federal contract workers get a 20¢ raise in 2020

11/14/2019
Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, the minimum hourly wage for nonexempts who work on or in connection with new federal contracts or replacements for expiring contracts increases 20¢, to $10.80 an hour.

Fix it fast: Handling 27 biweekly payrolls in 2020

11/14/2019
Employees paid biweekly are paid 26 times a year. Except when they’re not. And they’re not every 11 or 12 years, when there are 27 biweekly pay periods. Employees paid weekly experience an extra pay period every five or six years. The 27th/53rd pay period phenomenon is real and can cause havoc if you’re not prepared.

Withholding allowances are down, but not out, for 2020

11/14/2019
The good news, such as it is, is that the IRS can’t completely ditch withholding allowances, even though it’s dropped the word Allowance from the W-4, officially renaming it Employee’s Withholding Certificate. Here are our estimates of the 2020 withholding allowances.

Employers seek new health care cost-control strategies

11/12/2019
Curbing the cost of health care and increasing its affordability remain the top priorities for almost all employers over the next three years, according to the 24th annual Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey by Willis Towers Watson.