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Payroll

Manage absences by asking employees why they’re out

12/08/2008

Employee absences are costing your business more than twice as much as health care, two recent surveys reveal. Cutting even a fraction of absences can have a potent impact on your organization’s bottom line—an attractive possibility in a tight economy when employers need workers to be as productive as possible.

Paperless payroll: Employees are coming around

12/08/2008

Once resistant to the money-saving practice of getting paid through direct deposit, employees now say they favor electronic payments over traditional paychecks.

‘Dream survey’ clues Las Vegas firm to employee hopes, needs

12/08/2008

Station Casino executives want to know what their employees dream about. A 20-question “dream survey” asks workers at the Las Vegas-based organization questions like, “Do you dream of owning your own house?” and “Do you dream of owning your own computer?” Here’s what their answers led the organization to do.

Construction firm employees help each other in emergency

12/08/2008

When a TD Industries employee gets into a financial bind because of an emergency, colleagues pitch in to help out via payroll deductions. The Dallas-based construction firm allows employees to donate paid leave and money on a regular basis or in response to an isolated situation.

How frequently must employees be paid? What’s the rule on final paychecks?

12/08/2008

Q. How often do I have to pay my employees? Are there any rules that require payment upon termination within a specific time period?

Temp tests Woody Allen’s 80% theory and fails

12/04/2008

Maybe Craig Whirlow, a temp agency employee from Connellsville, is a con man. Maybe he’s just a world-class slacker. Or maybe he’s a fan of comedian and director Woody Allen, who once famously observed, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

$2.8 million will cover Kmart settlement; attorneys are extra

11/25/2008

Judge Otis Wright II of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California recently approved a $2.8 million settlement between retailer Kmart and workers who claimed they were not compensated for meal and rest breaks.

Must we pay for hours lost due to power failure?

11/21/2008

Q. We recently had a power outage and called employees who weren’t in yet to tell them to come in when the power was back up. We then gave these people a chance to make up the lost time by working late or using paid time off. Do we have to pay them for the hours they missed?

15% of Michigan employers face additional unemployment tax

11/20/2008

Plummeting unemployment insurance funds and rising state debt will likely trigger a “solvency tax” on many Michigan employers beginning in January, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) said.

Laser Saver owner pleads guilty to stealing 401(k) contributions

11/10/2008

Gregory Lockhart, owner of Laser Saver Inc., a printer cartridge remanufacturer in Columbus, has pleaded guilty to willful failure to file financial reports for the company’s 401(k) plan with the U.S. Department of Labor.