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Compensation & Benefits

Family members work side by side at Illinois firm

07/30/2012

At Chicago-based PortionPac, plenty of siblings work side by side, and parents often have their adult children as colleagues. Management at the cleaning-fluids manufacturer makes sure those family members have plenty of time to spend with the ones who don’t work there.

What makes a full-time employee?

07/27/2012
Q. How many hours must employees work to be considered full time? Part time?

Employees switch shifts: Does that potentially increase our overtime liability?

07/27/2012

Q. Are employers required to pay for overtime hours that result when an employee voluntarily switches shifts with a co-worker?

Could your time records withstand scrutiny?

07/27/2012

If you can’t show your time records are accurate, lawsuits claiming unpaid over­­time can get costly. That’s because—absent reliable employer records—courts will let employees fill in the timekeeping details. Make sure your records are easily ex­­plained and tamper-proof.

Everything you wanted to know about corporate taxes (but didn’t know how to ask)

07/26/2012
Payroll expense is a usually a company’s largest deductible expense. That’s a huge impact on the bottom line. But there’s a world of difference between payroll and corporate taxes, according to consultant Gretchen Inouye, CPP.

Review severance packages to limit liability for age bias

07/25/2012
When employers offer severance packages, they often ask employees to waive their rights to sue the employer. That’s a smart strategy, but small discrepancies in the agreement’s wording can make the difference between a successful severance package and a call from the EEOC.

Bolster benefits to retain best and brightest

07/25/2012
The job market is opening up, increasing opportunities for employees to change jobs if they want to. The bad news for employers: The workers most likely to look for new jobs are those that organizations would most like to keep. The secret weapon for retaining valued, high-performing employees with wandering eyes: better benefits.

Do tips count as pay for the purpose of calculating an employee’s overtime rate of pay?

07/24/2012
Q. Some of our employees receive tips from cus­­tomers. Do we need to include those tips when we calculate these employees’ rate of pay for purposes of paying them overtime?

Can former part-timers collect unemployment?

07/24/2012

Q. Our company received a claim for unemployment compensation from one of our former part-time employees. Are part-time employees eligible to receive unemployment benefits?

Analysis: Supreme Court’s landmark health care reform decision

07/24/2012
On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Afford­­able Care Act. But the decision does not mean that the validity of the ACA is settled once and for all. Future legal challenges, and, of course, the November elections, may determine the law’s ultimate fate, but for now, prudence is the wisest course of action. Employers should proceed as if the law is constitutional.