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Compensation & Benefits

All-states chart: What to do with unclaimed paychecks

01/14/2015
This chart summarizes states’ unclaimed property laws. Most states require you to report on an employee-by-employee basis, if unclaimed wages exceed a certain threshold, usually $50. Unclaimed wages under the threshold may be reported in the aggregate. To get the full story on your state’s law, consult your state treasurer’s website.

Retirement savings: Your next mandatory benefit?

01/14/2015
Illinois employers must begin offering a retirement savings plan to employees starting in June 2017. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act on Jan. 4, making Illinois the first state to require employers to provide retirement benefits.

House passes bill repealing ACA’s 30-hour workweek definition

01/12/2015
The House of Representatives opened the 114th Congress on Jan. 8 by voting 252-172 to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s 30-hour definition of full-time employment and replace it with a 40-hour standard.

Employer owes $2.6 million on employees’ parking benefits

01/12/2015
As if you didn’t have enough on your plate, you now need to worry about state sales tax. One tax court has slammed an employer with $2.6 million in unpaid sales taxes on the value of parking employees paid for with pretax deductions.

No accommodation request, no unemployment benefits

01/09/2015
Employees who quit for health reasons may receive unemployment benefits—if they give their employers a chance to accommodate them.

Regs allow reimbursement of local lodging expenses

01/08/2015
Under final tax regulations, employees who aren’t traveling away from home overnight, but who stay overnight at a local hotel, may have their substantiated lodging expenses reimbursed as a tax-free working condition fringe benefit, provided you have a bona fide reason to require them to stay overnight at the hotel.

Federal court delays overtime rule for some home health aides

01/06/2015
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on New Year’s Eve issued a temporary restraining order to temporarily stop the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing a rule that would have made many live-in home health care aides eligible for overtime pay.

Supreme Court: No pay for security screening time

01/05/2015
A recent ruling held that time workers spend waiting to undergo and undergoing security screenings is not compensable under the FLSA.

Austin bus company to pay $655K to settle labor dispute

01/05/2015
Travis Transit Management of Austin has agreed to pay 600 current and former employees $655,000 to settle charges it unilaterally changed employee health, retirement and other benefits when it began providing bus service for Austin’s Capital Metro in 2012.

EEOC diagnoses trouble for wellness plans

01/05/2015
The EEOC is increasingly targeting employer wellness programs that it believes run afoul of federal law, and a program implemented without sufficient due diligence can lead to expensive legal claims.