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Compensation & Benefits

Stillwater, Okla. restaurant adds ‘minimum wage fee’ to checks

09/17/2014
Things are not peaceful at the Oasis Café in Stillwater. When the state’s higher minimum wage took effect on Aug. 1, the restaurant began charging a 35-cent “minimum wage fee” on each order. Restaurant management claims the charge is to highlight the burden the wage hike places on small businesses.

To prove executive exemption, show employee’s ‘direct involvement’ in hiring

09/17/2014

Employees are eligible for overtime pay unless their positions fit into one of several exemption categories, including the executive exemption. But take note: Don’t try to apply the executive exemption label unless the employee is directly involved in hiring and firing or his or her recommendations are seriously considered during the decision-making process.

How to fix E-Verify oversight?

09/17/2014
Q: An employer didn’t create cases in E-Verify for several years. The employer is again using its E-Verify account and creating cases. Should the employer create cases for employees who were hired while it wasn’t using E-Verify?

What’s a ‘payment’ for child-support withholding?

09/16/2014
Q: Employees exercise options and buy company stock. Is the value of the stock subject to child-support withholding? Is it as a lump-sum payment, or covered under the standard income withholding order?

Worksheet for fourth quarter 2014 941 forms

09/15/2014
Payroll specialists, download this tool to prepare for the year’s end.

What’s in a name for Social Security purposes?

09/11/2014
Q: When employees marry, is it a legal requirement that we wait to change their names in the payroll system until they present new Social Security cards with the name change, or can we rely on their marriage licenses to make those changes?

2015 Social Security wage base

09/08/2014

Each fall, the Social Security Administration releases the annual Social Security taxable wage base. Except for tax-free fringe benefits, all wages are subject to the Medicare portion of FICA, since there’s no wage base …

A to Zzzz: Energize your staff by allowing power naps

09/08/2014
As Americans work longer hours, some organizations have become tolerant of sleeping on the job. Here’s the real headline: Naps work.

New York amends Human Rights Law to protect unpaid interns

09/05/2014
On July 22, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that amends the New York Human Rights Law by adding a new Section 296-c titled, “Unlawful discriminatory practices relating to interns.”

Ex-intern files class action against Marvel Entertainment

09/05/2014
The new amendment to the New York Human Rights Law adding protections for unpaid interns does not address the status of those interns who claim they should be compensated employees. Those cases appear to be working through the courts on a separate path.