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Compensation & Benefits

Taxable fringes or legitimate business expenses?

07/17/2014
Q: As a condition for an employee to travel, the company has agreed to pick up expenses he incurs to board his dogs. He’s submitted receipts along with his expense report. Are these payments acceptable business reimbursements or taxable income?

Plan now for 2015 insurance renewal: 4 questions to ask

07/16/2014

Don’t wait for the usual renewal offer from your health insurance carrier—typically 60 days before your plan expires. That gives you no time to explore alternatives, either from your existing plan or from competitors. As you plan for next year, ask these questions.

401(k) plans must recognize same-sex spouses

07/16/2014
The fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 U.S. v. Windsor decision continues to percolate. The IRS now says that 401(k) plans that define marriage and spouses in terms of heterosexuality must be amended to define those terms in a gender-neutral way.

When the IRS makes a mistake, what do we do?

07/15/2014
Q: We received a Notice of Levy for an employee on Form 668-A (ICS). It says it’s to collect a CIVPEN tax, and doesn’t allow the employee any exemptions. It also doesn’t tell us how much to withhold per pay period. The IRS can’t take all of this employee’s money, can it?

Report: Higher 2015 health costs aren’t long-term trend

07/14/2014
Employers’ health costs will accelerate next year, but a 6.8% increase in 2015 won’t signal a coming cost spiral, PricewaterhouseCoopers says in a new report.

Uncle Sam is getting rich on 401(k) withdrawals

07/11/2014
Employees who made early withdrawals from their 401(k) retirement savings plans paid $5.7 billion in penalties to the IRS in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available.

Where we’re going on summer vacation

07/11/2014
66% of Americans have at least one leisure trip planned for this summer, a slight increase from 64% in 2013. Here’s where we’re headed.

Legislation will end employers’ annual wage-notice scramble

07/09/2014
On June 19, 2014, New York Assembly and Senate passed legislation eliminating a Wage Theft Prevention Act requirement that employers must provide wage notices to all employees by Feb. 1 each year.

NYC construction workers gain $4.9 million in back pay

07/09/2014
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has announced a settlement with federal contractor MDG Design & Construction, the prime contractor on the Grand Street Guild public housing construction project on New York’s Lower East Side.

State by State 2014 Short-Term Child-Care Leave Laws

07/09/2014
Here’s a chart with a summary of state laws and local ordinances on paid and unpaid short-term leave laws.