It is estimated that 41 million workers do not receive paid sick leave, but that number is going to steadily drop. This past month the President has signed into effect an Executive Order (EO 13706) that establishes paid sick leave for federal contractors. Work performed by parties that contract with the Federal Government will now be required to provide their employees with at least 7 days of paid sick leave on an annual basis. The employee will receive 1 hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, which can be used for: their own illness, injury, or medical condition; the…
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Same Day ACH becomes effective on Friday, September 23rd, 2016, and one of its primary uses will be for the Direct Deposit of payroll transactions. Rather than the 1-2 day window for current ACH, payments will settle the same day for Same Day ACH. Employers should understand how they can effectively use this for those same day deposit needs. The nation’s 12,000 financial institutions will be implementing Same Day ACH, although some institutions may take longer than the end of business day to credit some employees’ accounts. By March 2018, all financial institutions will credit Same Day ACH deposits to…
One of the items passed in The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015, which was signed into law by President Obama on December 18th, 2015, was an effort to prevent tax return fraud. The Act accelerated the filing deadline for businesses for year-end informational returns such as forms W-2 and 1099-MISC* by 60 days to January 31st of the year following the tax year of the form. This makes the SSA and IRS filing deadline of their respective forms the same as the deadline for their distribution to employees and contractors. This new deadline of January 31st…
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…
The death of an employee is a difficult time for any business. Grieving co-workers, loss of productivity, and finding and training a replacement are just a few of the factors a business will need to deal with, but one area that is often mishandled is the treatment of wages and payroll. How payroll is handled is all about timing, and I can break it down into three distinct parts. Part 1 – Wages earned and paid prior to the death For wages paid to the employee prior to the death, where the payroll check remains uncashed, a stop payment should…
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…
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)…
To pay Weekly or Biweekly (or some other frequency), that is the question. The US Department of Labor (DOL) does not specify any sort of frequency in which employees should be paid minimum wages or the overtime compensation it calls for. Instead the language states that “Wages required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered.” While this seems vague, the DOL takes this principal seriously. For example, if an employee fails to record time worked or submit a timesheet, and the employer is aware that work was performed, the…
Going paperless. Some do it to save the environment, some do it to save money, and some do it to save time. No matter what the reason, there are some things to consider when it comes to the payroll process and the payroll check. While the “check” itself becomes obsolete as many individuals go on direct deposit, it is always attached to a check stub, or as we call it, a pay statement, a detail of the employee’s wages, deductions withheld, taxes withheld, and sometimes other important information. According to the United States Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act…
Late last year, Congress passed what is titled the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. This past week, the IRS issued Notice 2016-22 which provides guidance and Transition Relief for employers claiming the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). If you are not familiar with the WOTC, it is 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, Summer Youth employees, and effective January 1st, 2016, there is…