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

Compensation & Benefits

COBRA: Employer Obligations

12/13/2014

HR Law 101: Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985, employers are required to continue offering health insurance benefits to employees and their covered dependents for a specified period after they leave the organization …

Walkthroughs, wellness contribute to 1 million-hour safety milestone

12/12/2014
Paperboard packaging company Zumbiel Packaging used positive reinforcement and employee education to log more than 1 million hours without a lost-time accident and a quarter million hours without any type of injury.

$36,500 excise tax per employee! What’s that all about?

12/12/2014

The IRS made quite a splash when it concluded in an Affordable Care Act FAQ that all employers, regardless of size, that didn’t have a group health plan, and that instead reimbursed employees for their costs to buy health insurance either on or off the individual health exchange, would be liable for $36,500 in self-assessed excise taxes. We’ve taken some time to sort this all out.

It’s time to tell a new story about voluntary benefits

12/10/2014

The Affordable Care Act has precipitated a new appreciation for voluntary benefits. A well-designed package of them will be essential for recruiting and retaining top talent.

Worksheet for 2014 Forms W-3/941

12/10/2014
Use this worksheet to reconcile your four quarterly 941s and W-2s, so the amounts you report to the SSA and the IRS match.

W-2s this year: What a difference a day makes

12/09/2014
You have an extra weekend to ensure that employees’ W-2s are correct. Since Jan. 31 is a Saturday, employees must receive their W-2s by Monday, Feb. 2, 2015. The IRS must receive your fourth-quarter Form 941, and annual Forms 940, 944 and 945 by that date, too. Here’s what you need to do now.

SSNVS monkey wrench: No more SSN printouts

12/09/2014
A best practice is to verify all employees’ names/Social Security numbers  by using the Social Security Admin­­is­­tra­­tion’s Social Secu­­rity Number Verification Ser­­vice.

How should we pay nonexempt telecommuter?

12/08/2014
Q. I recently allowed one of my hourly employees to telecommute full time. What actions must I take to ensure proper payment of her wages?

Can we make worker pay for broken merchandise?

12/08/2014
Q. One of our employees dropped a case of expensive merchandise while stocking the shelves of our store. It caused a loss of several hundred dollars. Can we deduct the cost of the merchandise from his paycheck?

Contractor can’t plaster over pay violations

12/08/2014
A plastering company in Ceres, California has agreed to patch things up with 208 current and former employees following a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation. The employees of Ace Commercial Plastering will receive $131,953 in back pay, the amount WHD concluded the company had sanded off their paychecks.