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Payroll

Is your PEO ripping you off? A primer on the fine print

04/24/2008
Say you’ve decided to hire a professional employer organization (PEO) to handle some of your HR services—or you’re considering new PEO vendors to replace your current one. You have a choice of more than 700 PEOs to choose from. Prices and services offered by PEOs vary so much it’s hard to spot the best deal …

Top 10 things to know about North Carolina Wage and Hour Act

04/23/2008
Many employers are familiar with the basic requirements of federal wage-and-hour law—the minimum wage, how to calculate overtime and who must receive it. But the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act is often a mystery to employers and employees alike. Here are the top 10 things you should know about the act …

How to respond when employees’ creditors come calling

04/21/2008

Record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures have been making news for years. 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 practical advice on what to do when someone wants a piece of your employee’s paycheck.

The HR burden of administering garnishments

04/18/2008
Q. We have received garnishment orders for several employees. This could pose an administrative burden on our small HR department. What can we do to reduce this burden? …

Handling time-Clock rounding for early, late workers

04/17/2008
Q. We don’t allow our employees to punch the time clock more than seven minutes early or clock out more than seven minutes late. How do we round up or down when calculating how to pay them for clocking in early or out late? — J.N., Connecticut …

Payroll records: Timekeeping for exempt, nonexempt workers

04/01/2008
Federal wage-and-hour laws require you to have a reliable system to accurately keep track of employees’ hours and pay. Casual timekeeping systems can easily trigger a back-wage lawsuit. Companies subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must keep records for both nonexempt and exempt employees …

Can we make payroll deductions to pay for employees’ mistakes?

04/01/2008
Q. Our staff includes employees who do repair work and are paid by the job. We offer a 90-day guarantee to our customers. If a customer has to have a repair redone, can we deduct from the employee’s subsequent wages the money we paid for the faulty first repair? …

Minnesota partners with IRS on employment tax enforcement

04/01/2008
Minnesota is one of 29 states that have signed memoranda of understanding with the IRS to share enforcement information on employment tax collection matters. The move is part of the IRS’ Questionable Employment Tax Practices (QETP) initiative …

How long can we wind up handling wage assignments?

04/01/2008
Q. We have received a wage assignment for one of our employees. How long do we have to keep sending money in? …

What if an employee has more than one wage assignment going on simultaneously?

04/01/2008
Q. We have an employee for whom we have received two wage assignments. Which creditor do we pay? Both proportionally, or just the first one? Or do we alternate? …