Category: Benefits and Compensation

This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.

Executive Pay—Different Pay Strategy Required

Executive compensation is sometimes called the “third payroll,” says consultant David Wudyka. There’s a general compensation strategy for exempt and nonexempt, but execs are paid differently, he adds. There are different types of incentives for executives, and taxation becomes increasingly important in compensation planning, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, […]

DOL Debuts MHPAEA Web Page, Adds FAQs

The U.S. Department of Labor has collected its rules, guidance and other materials on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act into a new MHPAEA Web page. The materials on this page include a new set of frequently asked questions on “understanding implementation” of MHPAEA, which when enacted in 2008 substantially beefed up HIPAA’s […]

Retaliation by Compensation—Battleground for Comp Managers

“Retaliation lawsuits are among the easiest to prevent,” says attorney Jody Katz Pritikin, but retaliation is a common reaction by managers who are embarrassed or angered by an employee complaint, and that means managers have to be on the watch for it. Pritikin, who offered her tips at SHRM’s Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held […]

Obama’s Same-sex Marriage Statement Doesn’t Change Employer Plans’ Status Quo

Employers likely will need to continue to pay close attention to how their individual states’ approach to same-sex marriage will affect their employee benefit plans, regardless of President Obama’s newly articulated support for it. The president on May 9 said that he supports same-sex marriage, but also that the states should be able to decide […]

N.C. Voters Nix Same-sex Marriage: Implications for Employers

Employers in North Carolina will not face the complications their counterparts in states where same-sex marriage is legal or recognized do, but local and municipal governments that provide domestic partner benefits may have to change their policies. Tar Heel State voters on May 8 approved an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as […]

Job Evaluation—Three Common (and Good) Methods

Strand, owner of consultancy HR Dynamics Inc., offered his comments on the three methods at a recent webinar hosted by BLR/HRhero. Ranking Method This is non-quantifiable and subjective, but is a basic simple approach, says Strand. You arrange all jobs in rank order of their relative duties, responsibilities, qualification requirements, that is, their “importance” to […]

EEOC’s Five Factors for Establishing RFOA

[Go here for Considerations 1 and 2.] Consideration #3—Employer Limited Supervisor’s Discretion This considers the extent to which the employer limited supervisors’ discretion to assess employees subjectively, particularly where the criteria that the supervisors were asked to evaluate are known to be subject to negative age-based stereotypes. EEOC recognizes that in many cases to it […]

Business Necessity No, RFOA Yes (Age Discrimination)

EEOC released its Final Rule on Disparate Impact and “Reasonable Factors Other Than Age” Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 in March and it became effective April 30. EEOC also published an informative Q&A on which this article is based. ADEA and Disparate Impact ADEA prohibits two types of discrimination against workers […]

Perks, Imputed Income, and Phantom Stock—Exec Comp’s Tools

Wudyka is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, MA. His tips came at a recent BLR/HRhero-sponsored webinar. Perquisites Perquisites are benefits unique to executives, says Wudyka. As some may be taxable, always clarify that issue before finalizing your plan. Some examples of perquisites: Country club memberships Cars Financial or legal planning Computers Phones Assistants […]