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.

Inadvertantly Encouraging Your Best Salespeople to Leave? What to Avoid

Compensation pros, are your sales incentive policies actually driving your best salespeople away? It’s likely, if you aren’t careful, says Chally Group’s Vice President of R&D Sally Stevens. Even with the best of intentions, you can incentivize your best people to leave, says Stevens. Chally Group Worldwide is a global leadership, sales potential, and performance […]

The Five Laws that Cause Contingent Worker Challenges

Cooper chairs the labor and employment practice group at law firm Garvey Schubert Barer in Portland, Oregon. Her tips came at a recent BLR-sponsored webinar. Here’s Cooper’s quick rundown of the five legal arenas where you may be exposed to “joint employer” liabilities with contingent workers: 1. Wage and hour laws. While the temp agency […]

IRS Hearings on Governmental Plan Status Set for July 9-10

As noted in this earlier blog post, the IRS and Treasury Department recently issued proposed rules that they hope will better define governmental plan status. They’ve been seeking comments from the governmental plan community and now have scheduled public hearings on the matter on July 9 and 10. Both public hearings will take place 10 […]

Part-Timers, Temps, Interns, and Volunteers: Moneysavers or Moneypits?

Cooper chairs the labor and employment practice group at law firm Garvey Schubert Barer in Portland, Oregon. Her tips came at a recent BLR-sponsored webinar. Technically, What’s a Part-Timer? Regular part-time employees are workers who are normally scheduled to work fewer than 40 hours per week and who are not designated to receive the typical […]

Know What Retaliation Is, So You Can Prevent It

Most employment laws include provisions protecting employees from vindictive managers who would otherwise punish them for exercising their rights. The Family and Medical Leave Act is no exception. Late last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released Fact Sheet # 77B explaining the FMLA’s anti-retaliatory provisions. Here are some highlights: Prohibitions An […]

When Non-Exempts Travel, Comp Gets Confusing

Travel by non-exempts outside the normal area brings two different sets of rules into play. (As we mentioned yesterday, exempt employees are expected to work as and when the job requires.) Special Assignment in a Different Location When an employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special one-day […]

Travel Pay—Trickier Than It Should Be

Whether time spent traveling is paid work time depends on the type of travel involved: commuting, day travel, and overnight travel. Travel time that is work time is subject to both the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Don’t forget to check state laws on travel pay; some states, […]

IRS Hikes Cents-per-mile Car Value Limit

Employers with fleets of vehicles can now determine the value of making them available for use in 2012, thanks to the IRS, which on Jan. 17 released the maximum vehicle values for use with the special valuation rules for employer-provided cars, trucks and vans in 2012. Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.) 2012-13, provides the new maximum […]

What’s Penn State Mean for Comp Pros? More Harassment Cases

Sexual harassment charges had been declining somewhat, but the recent publicity will reverse that trend, says Schickman, who is a partner at Freeland Cooper & Foreman LLP in San Francisco. His remarks came at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Las Vegas. Schickman is a member of the Employers Counsel Network, and edits the BLR/HRhero […]