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Compensation & Benefits

Avoid age-bias risk when talking retirement

01/21/2016

Supervisors and HR walk a legal tightrope when discussing retirement plans with older workers. If it appears you’re pushing an employee out the door based on his age—or if you suddenly eliminate his position after discussing retirement—you’ll be setting yourself up for an age discrimination lawsuit.

PATH Act throws obstacles in Payroll’s way

01/20/2016
Congress has enacted the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, or PATH Act, which is the tax extenders bill, and an omnibus spending bill. The PATH Act accelerates the filing date for both paper and electronic Forms W-2s and 1099-MISC to Jan. 31, beginning with forms filed in 2017. It also extended several key payroll ­provisions.

Most employers limiting raises to 3% this year

01/20/2016
A slim majority of employers—51%—say cost control is their primary compensation planning goal for 2016, after focusing more on talent retention in 2015. The result, according to Buck Consultants’ ninth annual Compensation Planning Survey: another year of stingy pay raises.

DOL addresses retirement options for small employers

01/20/2016
California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington are on the front line of facilitating retirement plans for small employers. Although each state takes a different approach, all have been hemmed in by the possibility that ERISA, the federal benefits law, will pre-empt their efforts.

New rules: Minimum wage for piece-rate workers in California

01/15/2016
Under a law that took effect in Jan­uary, piece-rate and commission-paid employees in California must receive at least the minimum wage. Piece-rate employees must also be paid at least the minimum wage for all time spent on tasks not specifically included in the piece rate.

Signs you have a drug problem at work

01/14/2016
When drugs don’t seem to present a problem within a company, it’s easy to develop a cavalier attitude about them. That’s not smart.

Employees allege employer cut hours to avoid ACA liability

01/13/2016
Can you zero out the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to provide 95% of full-time employees—those who work at least 30 hours a week—with group health benefits by cutting their work hours, so that they’re no longer considered full-time employees? One employer that allegedly did so is now defending itself against a class action lawsuit.

Employers tackle spiraling prescription benefit costs

01/07/2016
Employers are working hard to rein in prescription drug spending, according to new research by Towers Watson.

Deadlines extended for health insurance forms

01/05/2016

In an act of year-end kindness, the IRS announced in late December that it’s extending the time you have to provide employees with Form 1095-C or 1095-B and the time you have to file those forms. The IRS stressed, however, that if you can furnish and file on time, you should still do so.

Unemployment: Workplace threats are grounds to quit

01/04/2016
Employees who report being threatened at work can quit and collect unemployment benefits if their em­­ployer doesn’t act fast to provide a safe workplace. Such a “compelling and necessitous” reason to quit makes the employee eligible.