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Compensation & Benefits

How to respond when employees’ creditors come calling

06/11/2012
Record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures have been making a big splash in the news recently. 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 some practical advice on what to do when someone wants a piece of your employee’s paycheck.

State laws on mandatory employee breaks

06/11/2012

The Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t require you to provide employees with meal breaks. It does require you to pay employees whose meal breaks last for fewer than 30 minutes and those who work through their meal breaks. However, 40 states do have laws covering meal and rest breaks. This chart summarizes those laws.

Settlement after workers (and rabbis) say pay wasn’t kosher

06/08/2012
Brooklyn’s Flaum Appetizing has settled a long-running pay dispute with 20 Hispanic employees at its Williams­burg plant. The kosher food maker and deli agreed to pay the workers $577,000 to settle the dispute.

Self-insured plans must pony up fees for research

06/04/2012
The Affordable Care Act health care reform law requires plan sponsors of self-insured plans, including self-insured plans that cover retirees, to pay fees to support medical research for seven years, beginning with plan years ending on or after Oct. 1, 2012. Sponsors of insured plans who offer employees HRAs and certain health FSAs must also pay the fees.

Think employee is committing leave fraud? Feel free to discipline–and document why

06/04/2012
If you suspect an employee is abusing your generous sick and disability leave benefits, consider cracking down on fraud. As long as you can document that you made a good-faith decision to punish leave abuse, a court won’t second-guess your actions.

Commuting help isn’t reasonable accommodation

06/04/2012
Employers are supposed to provide reasonable accommodations that remove barriers to working for disabled workers. But those accommodations don’t have to include implementing changes that make a disabled employee’s commute easier.

More IRS regs on local lodging, Employer Identification Numbers

06/04/2012
The IRS has been busy adding to its regulatory agenda. Here’s the latest news from the regulations front.

Beware disciplining by withholding pay raises

06/01/2012
Any adverse employment action—including withholding an ex­­pected pay increase—can form the basis for a discrimination lawsuit. If you hold back raises to punish rule-breaking, make sure you can show you do so impartially.

IRS official clarifies tax issues at APA Congress

05/31/2012
Anita Bartels, the IRS’ senior program analyst for employment tax policy, appeared at the American Payroll Association’s 30th Annual Congress, held this year in Orlando, Fla., to report on some major initiatives and to clarify others. Here’s the rundown on three hot payroll issues.

Can we require employees to use direct deposit?

05/30/2012

Q. Can a Texas employer require employees to accept payment of wages through an electronic transfer of funds?