• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Compensation & Benefits

In the Payroll Mailbag: December ’23

11/21/2023
How do we account for payments to salespersons? … Should we 1099 an employee if we buy materials from him?

Tick tock, watch work off the clock

11/21/2023
Would you know compensable working time if you saw it? If you pay for noncompensable working time anyway, you can put conditions on your payment. Two cases illustrate.

Two-minute payroll reads: December ’23

11/21/2023
Payroll is complicated and your time is limited. Spend two minutes reading these digests and you’ll be up-to-date on key payroll developments.

Count FMLA leave during the holidays the right way

11/21/2023
Dec. 24 and 31 fall on Sundays this year. Some employers may give employees the two preceding Fridays off, to show their appreciation for a job well done. Other employers may close for the holiday week. These closures can complicate the calculation of employees’ FMLA leave.

Elves…at work

11/21/2023
Elves are employees, so Santa has to worry about their W-2s. You can still have a jolly time at the company’s holiday party and have time to shop for those last-minute presents if you get these tasks out of the way now.

Memo to the payroll Santa: Please keep it easy this year

11/21/2023
The holiday catalogs have been stacked neatly on your dining room table for quite some time now. So it must be getting down to crunch time. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s W-2s.

Please explain: What does it mean to gross up?

11/21/2023
If you pay an employee’s taxes on, say, a $500 bonus or the value of a gift card, those taxes become income to the employee. That means more withholding. And if the employer keeps picking up the taxes, what results is a never-ending upward spiral of taxation. The only way to escape is to gross up the payment. But what does this really mean?

Online hearing on Labor Department’s fiduciary rule scheduled for mid-December

11/20/2023
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration will hold an online hearing Dec. 12 and 13 on a proposed rule that would require financial advisors working on retirement-plan accounts to act in the best interests of investors, not the companies that create investment products.

Health-benefits costs jumped 5.2% in 2023 due to inflation, higher pharma costs

11/20/2023
The average per-employee cost of employer-sponsored health insurance rose by 5.2% in 2023 to reach $15,797. That’s a big jump compared to 2022, according to the Mercer consulting firm’s annual National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans.

How to battle poor retention by improving interactions and saying “thank you”

11/20/2023
At the HR Specialist Summit 2023, Karl Ahlrichs, renowned HR expert and speaker, shared insightful strategies for providing rewards and recognition to employees. In his presentation, he emphasized the potential to bolster your team’s retention without significant additional costs, focusing instead on the value and thoughtfulness of the rewards and recognition you offer.