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Compensation & Benefits

In the Payroll Mailbag: March ’19

02/21/2019
No, this isn’t a valid W-4 … No, that’s not the employee’s official start date

DOL clarifies how to calculate exempts’ total pay

02/21/2019
The Department of Labor concluded in an opinion letter to an inquiring employer that its pay plan didn’t satisfy the Fair Labor Standards Act, because employees’ actual pay didn’t bear a reasonable relationship to their guaranteed weekly pay.

Group health plans have new reporting responsibilities

02/21/2019
A new federal law, the Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT ACT), expands the Medicare-as-secondary-payer rule.

Labor/ERISA penalties have been updated for 2019

02/21/2019
The Department of Labor has announced the 2019 inflation adjustments to penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the FMLA and ERISA.

Manager’s lies are no excuse for failing to deposit taxes

02/21/2019
Almost nothing will excuse a failure to deposit payroll taxes. Reason: Depositing payroll taxes is a nondelegable duty, so even if you assign this task to someone inside or outside the company, you’re still on the hook if your taxes aren’t deposited.

Underwithheld employees get a break on their 2018 1040s

02/21/2019
Approximately 30 million taxpayers will owe the tax underpayment penalty when they file their 2018 1040s because they didn’t have enough income taxes withheld or their estimated tax payments fell short.

OT rule details could be revealed in March

02/21/2019
The Trump administration is signaling that rules setting a new white-collar overtime threshold are imminent.

Ask these questions when considering unlimited PTO

02/19/2019
The benefits of unlimited paid-time-off policies are obvious. But many of the legal risks they create are not.

Data from fitness wearables going to wellness programs

02/19/2019
About 20% of employers now participate in wellness programs that rely on collecting data from fitness trackers worn by employees, up from 14% in 2017.

Paid parental leave gaining momentum

02/14/2019
Earlier this month, President Trump used part of his State of the Union address to renew a call for paid parental leave, the latest sign that the benefit—long considered a pipedream—could become a reality in America.