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.
First of all, what’s the controversy? Con: Checks Are Dangerous Experts against doing social media background checks say that they are dangerous, for several reasons: In doing these checks, you’re bound to find out information about applicants that you don’t want, such as race, religion, age, etc. Even though it’s obtained innocently, that information […]
Do you have to file the new Form 8955-SSA? If so, you may be able to breathe — and file — a little more easily. The IRS recently provided Announcement 2011-21 clarifying how the form is to be used, including how it is to be signed and electronically filed. The IRS also has provided additional information […]
In the waning days of the COBRA premium subsidy, The Commonwealth Fund is calling for the program to be resuscitated as a way to help unemployed and uninsured workers until health care reform is fully implemented. In an Aug. 24 issue brief, the Fund noted that “the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression has […]
Pink, author of popular management books including his latest, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, offered examples of how employers give today’s employees the autonomy they want—and that you need them to have. Is Management an Anachronism? Management is not a God-given mandate, says Pink, it’s a technology from the 1850s. It’s designed […]
Pink, author of popular management books including his latest, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, offered examples of how employers give today’s employees the autonomy they want—and that you need them to have. Is Management an Anachronism? Management is not a God-given mandate, says Pink, it’s a technology from the 1850s. It’s designed […]
Wudyka, who is founder and managing principal of Westminster Associates, a Wrentham, MA based, full-service HR and compensation consultancy, forecast the following trends at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. 1. Fewer Salary Freezes The number of employers freezing salaries continues to decline: 32 percent froze salaries in 2009. 12 percent did so in 2010. […]
How can you make smart decisions on pay budgets, merit budgets, and overall compensation given the economic turmoil of the last few years? Consultant David Wudyka tells us what’s going on and what we can do about it. Wudyka is founder and managing principal of Westminster Associates, a Wrentham, MA based, full-service HR and compensation […]
If an employer grants severance pay to laid-off employees, it must also pay those who were on leave for disabilities at the time of the layoff. A California auto plant failed to do so and has now agreed to pay into a $6 million settlement fund (along with Toyota) to settle an Americans With Disabilities Act […]
If you file the Form 5500, you know what an odious exercise that can be. And you’d better get it right. Not only is the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) examining the form you file — so is the IRS. The DOL wants the forms to be complete and accurate, of course, […]
I often feel like raising a picket sign when I look at my phone bill, but that’s another story — right now, I just want to use the news of the Verizon strike to remind you of its COBRA continuation coverage implications. As has been widely reported, approximately 45,000 unionized Verizon workers went on strike […]