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Compensation & Benefits

Economy has workers saying ‘no’ to vacation, ‘yes’ to OT

06/01/2009

Vacations appear to be another victim of Americans’ tight budgets and layoff fears. More than one-third of workers say they won’t use all their allotted vacation time this year, and just 39% plan to take one compete week off …

Tell bosses: Keep family planning and pregnancy talk out of the workplace

06/01/2009

It’s natural to ask questions when you learn someone at work is going to have a baby. But it’s quite another thing when pregnancy-related questions come from supervisors. It’s best to let HR handle any leave requests and the like. Otherwise, you just might find your questions interpreted as anti-pregnancy bias if you end up having to fire a pregnant employee.

Must we pay out unused vacation days when we fire employees or they quit?

06/01/2009

Q. Is an employer required to pay workers for their unused vacation days when they resign or are terminated?

New Jersey ranks 50th on business tax index

05/27/2009

New Jersey finished next to last in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009. The SBEC annually assesses the tax climates for business and entrepreneurs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

North Carolina ranks 38th on business tax index

05/27/2009

North Carolina finished in the bottom third of states ranked in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009. The Tar Heel State placed 38th overall, well below neighboring South Carolina (11th), Tennessee (13th), Virginia (16th) and Georgia (19th).

Proceed with caution when making health-related inquiries

05/27/2009

Employers enter a legal minefield when they inquire about the health of applicants or employees. State and federal laws—such as the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), the ADA and the FMLA—overlap, and any misstep can cause a litigation explosion.

What’s enough ‘consideration’ in a noncompete?

05/27/2009

Q. I understand that “consideration” is required for noncompete agreements in North Carolina, and that, for existing employees, continued employment is not valid consideration. How much must a company pay to have sufficient consideration?

Pennsylvania has highest state corporate tax rates

05/27/2009

The Keystone State ranked 29th out of 51 jurisdictions in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009, a score that would have been better if it didn’t have the nation’s highest state corporate tax rate.

The HR I.Q. Test: June ’09

05/27/2009

Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

New COBRA subsidy available in cases of ‘involuntary termination’: What does that mean?

05/27/2009

Under the massive new federal economic stimulus law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), employees who suffer an “involuntary termination” have to pay just 35% of the cost of COBRA continuation health care coverage. But what does “involuntary termination” mean?