Payroll

Job description should spell out employee’s exempt or hourly status

10/03/2008

There’s no excuse for anyone to be confused about his or her exempt or nonexempt employment status. Make sure every position description clearly labels the job either salaried or hourly. Otherwise, employees will turn to the courts to figure out whether you owe them unpaid overtime or whether you have violated the FLSA …

IRS warns employers: Beware shady payroll services

10/01/2008

The IRS recently issued a warning, reminding employers that they remain responsible for paying payroll taxes on time, even if their outsourcing partner fails to do its part.

Feds: Record number of businesses ignore payroll taxes

09/25/2008

The number of employers with substantial payroll tax debts has ballooned in the past decade. About 1.6 million businesses failed to send taxes to the IRS regarding employees’ wages and FICA taxes, and that totals about $58 billion in unpaid taxes …

Company owes back wages after misclassifying traveling workers

09/24/2008

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor (DOL) has ordered Lebanon-based Pennsylvania Counseling Services (PCS) to pay $196,477 in back wages to 203 mobile employees who were improperly classified as exempt from overtime …

Count minutes—not just hours—when figuring FMLA eligibility

09/23/2008

The FMLA limits leave eligibility to those employees who have worked at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months. Employers are perfectly within their rights to stick scrupulously to that 1,250-hour benchmark. They don’t have to round the hours up if the employee comes up short …

Apprentice forms and paycheck deductions

09/23/2008

Q. One of the positions in our manufacturing company has a formal apprenticeship program. To stay accredited, we must submit monthly reports showing the number of classroom training hours in which each apprentice participates. Submission of these forms is mandatory, and yet every month there are always some apprentices (for whatever reason) who fail to submit their forms. Can we withhold a portion of an apprentice’s paycheck at the end of the month until we receive the training reports? …

‘Employee’ misclassified? Refer to IRS to recover SS taxes

09/22/2008

Employees have to pay 7.65% of their wages in Social Security taxes, while employers pay a matching 7.65%. Independent contractors have to pay the entire 15.3% themselves. But what happens if an independent contractor is misclassified and should really be an employee? Can the individual sue her putative “employer” for the 7.65% the company should have paid? …

What’s the new law on paying temps?

09/19/2008

Q. Our company hires temporary workers to assist with various short-term projects. I recently read that a new law changes how these workers are paid. How does the new legislation affect employers? …

Sample Policy: Overtime

09/16/2008

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Staffing firm CEO accused of skimming $182 million in taxes

09/08/2008

Frank Amodeo, head of Mirabilis Ventures in Orlando, has been indicted on 27 counts of conspiracy and fraud for allegedly stealing $182 million in payroll taxes from thousands of businesses across the state …