A federal Judge on Tuesday blocked the law that was passed on May 17th, 2016 to increase the minimum salary amount a worker can earn and remain exempt from overtime pay. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, of Texas, agreed with 21 states and a coalition of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that the rule is unlawful and granted their motion for a nationwide injunction. Mazzant stated that the federal law governing overtime does not allow the Labor Department to decide which workers are eligible based on salary levels alone. The rule was to take effect on…
Posts published in “Employee Management”
Whether you are in a state that has already legalized the use of marijuana (medical or recreational), or you are just waking up to your state passing the legalization last night, you need to consider its impact on your workplace. How does legalized marijuana use come into play in regards to your Zero Tolerance/Drug Free Workplace policy? Are you required to accommodate the use of medical marijuana during an employee’s shift? Does language in your employee handbook conflict with your state’s laws? These are just a few of the questions a business needs to take into serious consideration. For example, some…
A biometric recognition timeclock is a great way to assure that the employee who is ‘on the clock’ is actually the one on-site and performing work, as it utilizes a part of the person’s body as their verification. In mainstream practice, I find two main types of biometric clocks; hand recognition and fingerprint recognition. In this article, I will discuss a few pros and cons, and how reliable they are in making a positive id. First up is hand recognition. The device is the HandPunch clock which reads the unique geometry of each person’s hand. Contrary to popular belief, it…
By; Rhonda Bunker Director of Sales In the event you aren’t a football fan, the NFL draft just happened. The time of year when coaches and owners are all vying for the same players. You know the ones, the Heisman Trophy winners, the players who could take out a semi truck, the guys who run faster than gazelles. Those are the guys every team wants. The guys who look good on paper, the ones who have gotten the job done in college. It’s probably similar to the strategies you use when picking the right candidates to join your teams. Have…
I guess you can’t say we did not warn you. One day after our posting of the new Overtime Regulation coming, it is signed into law taking effect on December 1st, 2016. On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited final rule updating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime regulations. The most material changes relate to the minimum salary you must pay to exempt employees, which is discussed in more detail below. For full details, be sure you read the previous article “Are You Ready?” The new regulation increases the salary test to $913 per week ($47,476 year),…
By: Matthew N. Thibaut, Esq. Employment Law Practice Group CIKLIN LUBITZ & O’CONNELL The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is an extremely technical statute that was enacted in 1938, which is the federal law providing employees overtime protection. Under the FLSA, an employee in the United States is entitled to receive 1.5x their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 unless they are exempt. The most common exemptions are the executive, professional and administrative exemptions, also referred to as the “white collar” exemptions. These exemptions are not determined by occupation, job title or classification, but rather by a two-part test: (1) duties test and (2)…
On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the Omnibus Spending Bill H.R. 2029 and the PATH Act (Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015) into law, which among other provisions, provides a five-year extension to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program, as well as expands its scope of eligible groups. The WOTC is basically a tax incentive for employers to hire and retain individuals from specific target groups. The groups include certain Veterans, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, Food Stamp recipients, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Referred Individuals, Ex-Felons, and Summer Youth employees.…
This past week, the Internal Revenue Service has published the final versions of Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, and their respective instructions for tax year 2015. These forms will be used by employers to report offers of health insurance coverage made to their full-time employees after year end. While not much has changed on the forms themselves from the earlier draft, there has been some clarification in reporting in the final version of the instructions. Applicable large employers (ALE) must file these forms with the IRS annually, no later than February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) of the year immediately…
Be aware that you must classify your employees correctly. If you do not, and you are audited, you may face payment of back wages plus taxes and fines. If you are paying anyone via a 1099 form, re-evaluate and make sure they do not fall within the IRS guidelines for employees. The IRS has 3 categories in determining whether or not someone is an employee or an independent contractor. Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his/her job? Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job…