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Compensation & Benefits

Get ready for the IRS employment-tax audit blitz starting in February

01/26/2010

Starting Feb. 1, the IRS will begin intensive audits looking into the employment tax compliance of 6,000 randomly selected employers. One key target: identify employers that are improperly misclassifying employees as independent contractors. If your company is selected for audit, follow good IRS examination management practices.

5 ways to extract great ideas from your employees

01/26/2010

Employees are often the best sources of ideas because they are closest to the daily details of the organization. But too often, employees are sitting on great cost-saving, business-generating ideas because they’ve never been specifically asked. Here are five strategies to help encourage their input.

Communication is top benefit at Arizona American Water

01/25/2010

At Arizona American Water, HR goes “overboard” with employee communication, says Senior HR Manager Linda Stillman, sending electronic newsletters around the office, paper newsletters to employees’ homes and setting up teleconferences to share information.

Court must weigh potential conflict of interest when employer decides not to pay benefits

01/25/2010

If an employer decides to deny a fringe benefit to an employee, and the employee challenges the decision, courts must at least consider the possibility that a conflict of interest exists. That’s because anytime an employer decides to provide a benefit, that benefit comes at a cost.

Soft benefits fill in for small employer

01/22/2010

With just 135 employees, staffing agency Winter, Wyman in Boston is limited when it comes to employee benefits, says Michelle Roccia, senior VP of corporate organizational development. So it offers the standard medical and dental insurance, and then managers come up with “soft benefits” to keep employees happy and make the organization attractive to applicants.

Only one job counts when calculating workers’ comp

01/22/2010

When an employee is hurt on the job, workers’ compensation payments are based on average weekly wages before the accident. But what if an employee has more than one job?

DOL proclaims EFAST2 is up and running

01/22/2010

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) electronic filing system is now online. Employers that must file forms 5500 and 5500-SF must now do so electronically.

Helping out when laying off: Supplemental unemployment plans

01/22/2010

Layoffs are difficult for employees and employers alike. In these tough economic times, some employers are trying to help employees during layoffs and help prevent the permanent loss of good employees by implementing supplemental unemployment benefit plans.

Is it legal in North Carolina to withhold bonuses not paid at the time of termination?

01/22/2010

Q. May we include a provision in our bonus plan for North Carolina employees that they will forfeit any bonus that has not been paid at the time of termination?

Who gets paid first: employees or creditors?

01/22/2010

Q. My small construction business is closing its doors, and we have limited funds with which to pay employees and numerous creditors. What should we do? Who should we pay first?