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Compensation & Benefits

Cursing car salesman can’t get unemployment benefits

09/03/2013
A car salesman fired after he cursed and threatened a customer has been denied unemployment benefits.

State hotels rank fourth in nation in wage & hour violations

09/03/2013
Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry has earned the dubious distinction of violating the nation’s pay laws more often than those in any state outside the Sun Belt.

Corporations can’t object to ACA based on religion

09/03/2013
In July, the Obama administration gave employers with 50 or more employees until January 2015 to begin providing health insurance coverage for full-time employees. Some companies challenged parts of the law in court because of their owners’ religious beliefs. They lost in the 3rd Circuit.

DOMA-related issues top IRS’ 2014 business plan

09/02/2013
The 2013-2014 Priority Guidance Plan is the IRS’ road map for regulatory and administrative guidance it hopes to publish by June 30, 2014. Commonly referred to as “the business plan,” the IRS has loaded itself up with 324 projects. As usual, Payroll figures very prominently on the IRS’ agenda. Here’s what to expect.

Part-time work on the rise

09/02/2013
Since March, U.S. employers have added 187,000 full-time workers to their payrolls—and 791,000 part-timers.

What? Year-end already!

09/02/2013
We can already hear the collective “@#$%&!” from Payroll managers across the nation. But the world turns, and now it turns once again to year-end. Take a few minutes now to run down this checklist, and you’ll almost certainly have a smooth start to year-end 2013.

No tax-free reimbursement for a long-distance commute

09/01/2013
Question: An employee lives in New York, but commutes to our offices in Maryland every week. He returns home on Friday. We are contractually obligated to reimburse him for his weekly hotel/housing expenses. Are his reimbursements taxable, or do they qualify as tax-free local lodging expenses?

How separate must employers be for OT purposes?

08/30/2013
Question: A nonexempt employee works for a company and its subsidiary. Each company has separate federal Employer Identification Numbers (EINs), workers’ compensation policies and state unemployment accounts. The two companies, however, share an HR department and some corporate officers. The employee completes two time sheets and has different managers. Is she entitled to overtime if she works longer than 40 hours between the two companies?

2014 raises to set post-recession bar, biggest since ’08

08/30/2013
Pay-raise budgets at U.S. employers have picked up from all-time lows four years ago, going from a mean of 2.2% in 2009 to 2.9% in 2013, according to the “WorldatWork 2013-2014 Salary Budget Survey.” While employers plan to loosen the purse strings next year, spending on pay raises will be far from lavish.

Jury’s discrimination award is subject to withholding

08/29/2013
A federal appeals court has ruled that a former employee’s Title VII jury award was taxable back pay and front pay. The employer, therefore, didn’t need to seek the trial court’s approval to withhold taxes, even though the award didn’t explicitly allow the employer to withhold.