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Compensation & Benefits

How do we enter a gross-up on a W-2?

12/23/2014
Q: The company offers stock to employees, which becomes taxable at a later date. Employees who terminate during the year are still eligible for the stock, but, since there are no longer wages from which we can withhold, we gross up the FICA taxes. On their W-2s, we make entries in Boxes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Management is questioning why, if we’re only paying the FICA taxes, all of those boxes are increased. Now we’re not so sure if we’ve been doing this right. Who’s correct?

Study: 2008 market crash delayed retirement for 23%

12/22/2014
Among the victims of the Great Recession of 2008-2009 were the retirement expectations of many Americans. New research from the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute has quantified just how much those hopes suffered.

Beyond the basics, which holidays will we observe next year?

12/21/2014
In 2015, almost all employers plan to give workers the day off on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. What about other holidays?

How will employer-provided health plans change in 2015?

12/19/2014
Fewer than 1% of employers plan to drop health insurance benefits in 2015. In many workplaces, however, employers are taking steps to rein in the cost of health benefits. Here are the top five measures.

2015 tax rates: It always pays to plan ahead

12/19/2014
Employees can take a lot of the guesswork out of their 2015 income tax liability by ensuring that their W-4s are accurate. Here are the 2015 standard deduction amounts.

Can we ask our employees to keep mum about their bonuses?

12/19/2014
Q. Our company is handing out bonuses only to those who deserve it. Can we ask them—not demand them—to keep it quiet as we hand them their checks?

Employers still offer health benefits despite Obamacare

12/18/2014
Employer-provided health benefits are as common as ever more than a year after the Affordable Care Act began reshaping the health insurance landscape.

Severance Pay

12/18/2014

HR Law 101: Severance policies are generally considered employee benefit plans entitled to ERISA protection, many courts have ruled. For employers, that means conforming to ERISA’s recordkeeping and disclosure requirements …

Supremes: No pay for time spent on security screening

12/17/2014
The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 9  unanimously ruled that workers at a warehouse are not entitled to pay for the time they spend waiting to undergo anti-theft screenings, nor for the time spent actually being screened.

Three-year checkup: OCSE revises IWO & instructions

12/17/2014
Every three years, the federal Office of Child ­Support Enforcement revises the standard Income Withholding Order. All child ­support withholding orders must be issued on IWOs. The OCSE recently updated the form and instructions.