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Compensation & Benefits

New California unemployment insurance deadlines coming July 1

03/23/2015
Effective July 1, 2015, deadlines for reconsideration or appeal of unemployment insurance benefit rulings, determinations, computation or administrative law judge decisions will be extended from 20 days to 30 days.

Workers can be on-call during rest periods

03/23/2015

Under California law, employees must receive a rest break for every four hours worked and employers may not require employees to work during their breaks. But what about employees who are allowed to take breaks and do what they wish during that time but still have to respond to calls if necessary? In a recent case, security guards asked that question because they had to carry their radios during breaks in case they were suddenly needed.

How best to control health costs?

03/22/2015
There’s no consensus on the best way for employers to rein in health care costs, but consumer-directed health plans, such as high-deductible coverage paired with a health savings account, have the most support.

Survey: High school athletes have higher incomes later

03/20/2015
Adults who were high school athletes tend to have higher incomes, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Fifteen percent of adults who participated in athletics have personal incomes greater than $100,000, compared to just 9% of those who did not participate.

From salaried to hourly: How do we set his pay?

03/19/2015
Q. We have an employee going from a full-time salaried position to part-time hourly. To set his hourly rate, do we have to divide his salary by 2080 (40 hours per week for a year)?

Are Skyped meetings compensable?

03/19/2015
Q: Department managers conduct monthly meetings in person and via Skype for employees who are off, so they don’t have to come in and attend the meetings. Must we pay a minimum amount of hours?

Chart: Health care information reporting

03/18/2015
Make sure your health care information reporting duties are covered with this handy chart.

401(k) rollovers lose billions due to conflicts of interest

03/18/2015
American workers who rollover 401(k) retirement savings into individual retirement accounts lose at least $8 billion per year because of conflicts of interest created by financial advisors’ reliance on commissions, according to a new Department of Labor report.

OSHA: Workers’ comp covers small share of workplace injury costs

03/18/2015
Workers’ compensation payments cover just 21% of lost wages and medical costs of work-related injuries and illnesses, according to a new OSHA report.

You can take it with you, but read this first, please

03/16/2015
Departing employees may take the pretax contributions they made into their 401(k) or 403(b) accounts with them when they leave, but you must first provide them with a notice of their rollover options. The IRS has updated the model safe-harbor notices you can use for this purpose.