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Compensation & Benefits

No penalty for not providing ACA notice? Maybe, maybe not

10/07/2013
The Affordable Care Act required you to provide employees with notices regarding the health insurance exchanges by Oct. 1. The DOL first posted an FAQ absolving employers that didn’t provide these notices from penalties. However, later clarifications by the DOL imply that this isn’t a consequence-free zone …

SEC rule would highlight CEO compensation ratios

10/04/2013

The SEC voted on Sept. 18 to propose new rules that would require publicly traded companies to report the ratio between the compensation of chief executive officers and the median pay of their employees. Public companies must already report total CEO compensation.

Can we require overtime work?

10/02/2013
Q. When our business gets busy, is it legal for us to require our nonexempt employees to work overtime on occasion?

Delay for buying small business health coverage

10/02/2013
Small businesses owners seeking to go online to buy health insurance for employees through the government’s Small Business Health Option Program (SHOP) will have to wait until November, the Obama administration has announced.

Government shutdown: What HR needs to know about what’s open, what’s closed

10/02/2013
The government shutdown means hundreds of thousands of federal employees aren’t at work, but it doesn’t mean employers are off the compliance hook.

Payback’s a #@$%&, and you may be out of pocket, too

10/02/2013
Although employees who substantiate their business meal and entertainment expenses are usually reimbursed 100%, your corporate deduction for those expenses is limited to 50%. Final regulations assign this so-called deduction disallowance to the party—the employer, the employer’s agent or someone else—who actually bears the expense.

Review whether partially disabled employees can be removed from workers’ comp

10/01/2013

Do you have former employees collecting both workers’ compensation and partial disability benefits for an on-the-job injury? Thanks to a recent Court of Appeals of North Carolina decision, now is a good time to see if they may no longer be eligible for those workers’ comp benefits.

Don’t let court take employee’s word on hours

10/01/2013
Here’s a case that should send chills down your spine if you don’t keep meticulous records of every hour worked. A court has allowed a case to proceed based on little more than a worker’s vague allegation that she wasn’t paid overtime for hours in excess of 40 per week.

What should we do about executive’s offer of special leave allotment?

09/30/2013
Q. The daughter of one of our executive assistants was recently diagnosed with an illness that will require extensive treatment. Her boss offered her “a few extra weeks of paid vacation” to care for her daughter. He told her this before HR had an opportunity to talk to her about options for time off. We don’t think the special treatment would be received well by staff outside of the executive wing. Do we have to provide what he promised even if it’s against company policy? Is it even legal?

What are the rules on paying for time spent putting on protective gear?

09/30/2013
Q. Our company policy states that employees are not compensated for the time spent changing into their uniforms, which includes special protective wear. A new employee was surprised to find out he couldn’t clock in before getting geared up. Are we required to pay ­workers for that time, or is it up to the discretion of each individual company?