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Compensation & Benefits

NYC joins cities expanding paid and unpaid leave

11/17/2025
Continuing a recent trend among cities and states, the New York City Council amended its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act in late October to provide workers with new time-off benefits. This includes 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time for eligible employees for an expanded number of reasons.

New York raises unemployment insurance benefits more than 70 percent

11/03/2025
Earlier this month, New York state raised the maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit by nearly 73%, from $504 to $869 per week. Twenty-seven percent of claimants will now receive the new maximum, while another 28% will see an increase in their weekly payments.

Family coverage costs climb as small firms feel the squeeze

11/03/2025
Health coverage is growing costlier for employers and workers alike—and for small businesses, the gap keeps widening.

Is it time to mandate time off before year end?

11/03/2025
Stressed-out employees may need time off to relax and return to work refreshed and more productive. But if supervisors send the message that taking a break isn’t appreciated, job insecurity will rise.

White House and DOL outline fertility benefit options

10/27/2025
Action from the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services is designed to make it easier for employers to provide infertile employees with fertility coverage outside their regular health insurance coverage.

Election Day reminders: Inform employees of your company’s voting policy

10/27/2025
With Election Day taking place on Nov. 4, now is the time to remind your employees of your company’s voting policy. And if you don’t have this in place, it’s time you created one.

Share facilities and employees? DOL opinion says add hours together

10/20/2025
Ordinarily, working a second job for a separate employer doesn’t trigger overtime based on the total hours worked for both employers. But if the employers are closely affiliated, they may be joint employers.

Rethinking compensation: Can higher salaries drive RTO initiatives?

10/20/2025
When leaders start dangling higher pay to entice remote workers to return to the office, HR teams must reassess how they position compensation.

GLP-1 drugs are reshaping benefit budgets and premium prices

10/20/2025
Employer health plans are feeling the ripple effects of one of today’s most talked-about medications. Once prescribed mainly for Type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound are now widely used for weight management—and increasingly covered by employers.

Protect your company by getting wage-and-hour rules right

10/14/2025
At the 2025 HR Specialist Summit, Carrie Hoffman reminded attendees that the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t grant employers much leeway. Exemptions are narrowly construed, the burden of proof is on the company and even small oversights can snowball into class claims.