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Compensation & Benefits

Play-or-pay regs offer relief to new & growing employers

06/24/2014

Under the employer play-or-pay provisions of the ACA, employers of at least 50 full-time employees must offer them affordable group health benefits that provide minimum value and cover a menu of benefits or pay free-rider penalties. This can put new employers and employers on the cusp of employing 50 full-time employees in a bind, since any growth in their payrolls may put them unexpectedly in the cross hairs. The final ACA play-or-pay regulations provide relief to these employers.

Retirement trumps health in benefits survey

06/23/2014
Employees are more satisfied with their company-sponsored retirement benefits than they were five years ago, but satisfaction with health care benefits, especially the cost of medical benefits, has declined, according to a new survey by the Towers Watson consulting firm.

OK to spread tax due on noncash award?

06/20/2014
Q: An employee will receive a noncash award worth $24,000. The federal income taxes owed will exceed the employee’s paycheck. Can the taxes be spread out over multiple pay periods?

Mortgage banker offers playful perks on the job

06/20/2014
Managers at national mortgage banker Supreme Lending encourage em­­ploy­­ees to balance work with time off and play—even on the job.

Does your vacation luggage include a briefcase?

06/20/2014
More than 60% of employees polled by Glassdoor.com reported that they tended to some kind of work-related matter during their last vacation.

401(k)s must recognize same-sex spouses

06/20/2014
The fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 U.S. v. Wind­­sor decision continues to affect employers. The IRS now says that 401(k) plans that define marriage and spouses in terms of heterosexuality must be amended to define those terms in a gender-neutral way.

America’s Top 5 benefits

06/18/2014
U.S. workers value health care and medical benefits above all other workplace perks. A new SHRM poll found these benefits were rated most important.

Family-coverage health premiums up 5.4% this year

06/17/2014
Employer-provided health insurance for a family of four now costs $23,215, according to a new report by the actuarial firm Milliman. This can be seen as both good and bad news.

Are business owners exempt from payroll taxes?

06/17/2014

Q: We process payroll for several companies. A new client says that company owners are exempt from all payroll taxes. Is there some law out there that we don’t know about?

Should we be paying for the trip from our home office to the work site?

06/16/2014
Q. One of our work crews needs to drive to a single work site during the day. One employee drives a truck and trailer with tools and equipment from our main facility. We would like to allow other employees to save gas by riding in the company’s truck. Do we need to pay employees for this commute time?