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Compensation & Benefits

How to report a canceled loan?

01/16/2015
Question: An employee left our company in 2012. While he worked here, he had taken out a loan from the company and he signed a promissory note. The problem is that the company was sold in 2013, with the outstanding loan on the books. Our new employer just canceled the loan. How do we report this canceled loan? On a W-2, since the loan arose in the course of employment? Or on a 1099-MISC form, since he’s no longer an employee?

He who has the best time records usually wins a wage-and-hour lawsuit

01/15/2015

The FLSA and DOL regulations require employers to track all hours worked so employees can be paid for all the time they spend working. That’s especially true for hourly employees. But what about tracking hours for so-called exempt employees who aren’t eligible for overtime pay for hours worked over 40 per week?

Leave-based donations allowed for Ebola charities

01/15/2015

The Obama administration has classified the Ebola epidemic in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as a public health emergency. As a result, through 2015, and retroactive to 2014, employers with leave-based donation programs may allow employees to donate their unused vacation days, sick days or personal days.

Study suggests widespread minimum wage violations in NY

01/14/2015
A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor finds that somewhere between 3.5% and 6.5% of workers in New York earn less than the minimum wage. The study, performed by Eastern Research Group, showed that more than 300,000 New York workers were being paid illegally low wages.

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.