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Compensation & Benefits

Who’s responsible for withholding mistakes?

06/19/2012

Q: If an employer underwithheld income taxes by not using an employee’s W-4 form properly, and the employee is assessed interest and penalties when he files his 1040, can he hold the employer responsible for the interest and penalties, or even the underwithholding?

Walmart sees light, settles overtime pay lawsuit

06/18/2012
Walmart has agreed to pay $4.8 million to settle U.S. Department of Labor charges that it misclassified employees working at vision centers in the retail giant’s stores.

Minnesota backs away from edge of retirement ‘cliff’

06/18/2012
The Minnesota state government has settled the last age discrimination claims resulting from early retirement packages offered to state employees.

Tragic personal history doesn’t excuse misbehavior

06/18/2012
If you have a no-violence rule, you don’t have to alter the punishment based on the employee’s personal history, no matter how tragic.

8 flex trends that will affect your company

06/18/2012

As more organizations allow em­­ployees to adjust their schedules and telework, it puts pressure on other employers to offer the same flexibility—or lose out when it comes to recruiting and retaining quality workers. A recent study of employers’ workplace flexibiliity practices uncovered eight trends you need to understand.

Payroll on the hook for medical loss ratio rebates

06/15/2012
Group health insurers that don’t spend between 80 and 85 cents of every premium dollar on medical care and health care quality improvement must make so-called medical loss ratio (MLR) rebates to employees, beginning Aug. 1, 2012.

How can we legally cut all salaries by 10%?

06/14/2012
Q. We need to cut our payroll costs. Is there any reason we can’t cut everyone by 10%? All our employees are at-will.

IRS announces 2013 HSA inflation adjustments

06/12/2012
The IRS has announced the 2013 inflation-adjusted figures for health savings accounts (HSAs) and high-deductible health plans.

How to respond when employees’ creditors come calling

06/11/2012
Record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures have been making a big splash in the news recently. However, a quieter phenomenon—one fraught with traps for unwary em­­ployers—is a concurrent and growing trend of court-ordered or government-issued wage garnishments. Here’s some practical advice on what to do when someone wants a piece of your employee’s paycheck.

State laws on mandatory employee breaks

06/11/2012

The Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t require you to provide employees with meal breaks. It does require you to pay employees whose meal breaks last for fewer than 30 minutes and those who work through their meal breaks. However, 40 states do have laws covering meal and rest breaks. This chart summarizes those laws.