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Compensation & Benefits

Raises hold steady, but not for top performers

10/01/2015
After pulling back the reins on pay raises during the recession, employers have returned to handing out steady, but not spectacular, salary increases. But the one-raise-fits-all approach is dying off as more employers embrace pay for performance.

Two key ACA questions: Let the headaches begin

10/01/2015

Are health deductions required deductions for garnishment? And must we tax employees who are paid to forgo health benefits?

October 2015: Employer’s business tax calendar

09/30/2015
Here’s your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

No more automatic filing extensions for W-2 forms

09/27/2015
Under proposed, temporary and final regulations, you no longer will be able to request an initial automatic 30-day extension of time to file Forms W-2/W-3 with the Social Security Administration or an additional for-cause 30-day extension, for a total of 60 days.

Information return penalties set to increase next year

09/24/2015
Information return penalties are going up. Way up. Included as part of the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 is a provision that increases penalties for failing to file Forms W-2, 1099 or 1095-C, or to provide forms to payees. Beginning with forms re­­quired to be filed next year, penalties increase as follows

What do employees want now?

09/24/2015
You offer them health care, dental care, vision care and retirement benefits. Well, so does everyone else. If you want your company to really shine, HR needs to get creative.

Am I allowed to institute a tip pool?

09/21/2015
Q. Bartenders and servers at my bar make hundreds of dollars in tips each night while our hosts, bussers and managers walk away with much less. I instituted a pooling policy to correct the injustice, but now my bartenders and servers are threatening to sue for taking their tips. Are they right?

How should I handle meal breaks and downtime when we work on a split-shift basis?

09/21/2015
Q. I need my restaurant employees to work lunch and dinner shifts but not the two hours between when we are closed. Do I have to pay for the time they are on break between or does it qualify as a meal break?

California minimum wage bill stalls in legislature

09/21/2015
A controversial bill to increase California’s minimum wage recently failed to pass in the state Legislature. The bill would have phased in a $3 per hour increase to the minimum wage rate and also would have imposed annual cost of living increases.

Think twice before changing authorized payroll deductions

09/21/2015

Under California law, employees must authorize voluntary payroll deductions and employers must provide itemized wage statements. A case is testing whether employers can raise the employee’s retirement contribution to a percentage of salary after he already approved a specific dollar amount.