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Compensation & Benefits

New pregnancy protections ring in the New Year in California

01/22/2013

California employees now enjoy ex­panded pregnancy rights after new Fair Employment and Housing Commission regulations took effect Dec. 30, 2012. The regulations bar employers from discriminating against employees for virtually any pregnancy-related condition.

Bonuses bounce back, with push from the top

01/22/2013
Bonuses are back, according to research conducted by the Hay Group. But with a pragmatic nod to today’s austere business environment, employers are taking a hard look at why they’re dishing out variable pay, what they want it to accomplish and how they decide who gets how much.

Employers have leeway in docking exempts’ pay

01/18/2013
Employees must receive a guaranteed salary of $455 a week and perform exempt duties to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions. But that doesn’t mean you can never dock their pay.

Proposed regs clarify the new 0.9% additional Medicare tax

01/15/2013
Under the IRS’ recently issued proposed regulations, beginning this year, many employees will pay an additional 0.9% in Medicare taxes, for a total tax rate of 2.35%. Reminder: Employers don’t match this additional tax.

The most affordable recognition: A pat on the back from the boss goes a long way

01/14/2013
Recognition from “the company” is one thing, but for most employees, their manager and direct supervisors are the face of the organization. Any positive reinforcement from them means something extra special. Here are some suggestions you can pass on to managers and supervisors.

Be prepared to explain bonus before discharge

01/13/2013
Do you hand out periodic bonuses to employees? If so, be sure you can clearly describe how you calculate bonuses and what em­­ployees need to do to receive one. If you must later terminate an employee—and claim poor performance was the reason—she may point to the bonus as proof you fired her for discriminatory reasons.

Do we need to track hours for pieceworkers?

01/11/2013

Q. We are doing an internal review of our recordkeeping, and we realized that we track hours for our on-site transcriptionists but we have not been tracking the hours for our transcriptionists who work from home. The on-site employees are non­exempt and we pay them an hourly wage. However, the remote employees are paid piece rates—a certain rate for the number of words transcribed from dictation. Do we have to keep track of their hours?

Good deeds punished: Back OT due in Mankato

01/11/2013
Several construction companies working on a renovation of the student union ballroom on the Mankato campus of Minnesota State University will have to pay more than $38,000 in back overtime wages. To blame: overly generous scheduling practices.

Nonprofit unemployment plan doesn’t change eligibility

01/11/2013

Some nonprofit Minnesota em­­ployers can opt into an alternative unemployment compensation plan that allows skipping quarterly unemployment taxes in exchange for reimbursing the state for any benefits paid. Good news for those employers: The alternative plan doesn’t affect unemployment eligibility.

Lilly diversity effort includes working parents

01/11/2013
At Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis, a diverse workforce is one that includes working parents. Steve Fry, senior VP of HR and diversity, says, “Family-friendly work schedules and benefits are about having lower stress levels, maintaining better health and enabling a stronger focus when at work––all leading to enhanced engagement, increased innovation and ultimately better results.”