Compensation

Gross up tax for fringe benefits

anessao — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:31:19 GMT

I am in need of assistance in calculating the tax gross up on fringe benefits. I have found costly progams online that can assist with the project, however I was hoping to find someone with a spreadsheet or other tool that I might be able to use instead of buying a program. I only have a couple of instances where this has to be completed and was trying not to spend any additional money if possible. Can anyone help?

Computing hours within a Semi-monthly pay system for non-exempt employees

Northwest1 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:15:29 GMT

Are we doing this correctly?

Our Corporate Office determines when pay periods begin and end, they also determine the maximum allowable hours each non-exempt employee can work within each pay period before OT is compensated.

In our system the maximum allowable hours within each pay period varies, one pay period may be 77 hours long, another may be 80 hours, another may be 88 another, or another may be 96. The number of days within each pay period will vary as well, for example, there are 15 work days in the 77 hours period, 14 days in the 80 period, 15 days in the 88 hour period and 16 days in the 96 hour period.

Employees are usually scheduled to work less than the maximum allowable hours, however it seems odd that in one 16 day period an employee can work up to 96 before being paid OT and yet in 15 day period they can only work up to 77 hours before OT is paid.

How do I calculate OT for hourly employees who scheduled work hours vary within a semi-monthly pay system that variable hours with in a pay period.

Holiday $$-spend on parties for everyone or bonuses for top performers?

CalifCallie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:03:08 GMT

I just saw an HR blog advising companies to ditch holiday parties, however meager, and instead give bonuses to top performers.

This may be a very Jack-Welchian move, but I don't think it would do much for companywide morale during these hard holiday times.

Of course, you could try to keep the move quiet, but you all know about that fairy tale.

Any thoughts?

W2 Contractor v. 1099 Contractor

SubGrapHR — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:21:03 GMT

Can someone please elaborate on the difference between the two other than the tax obligation on the employer end for the W2 contractor. I am struggling to see how people get away with this classification. Any elaboration and/or advice would be appreciated as there is a push within my firm to start alternative contracting methods.

Compensation for Achieving a Degree?

CarolL1999 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:16:23 GMT

We are having an internal conversation about whether to reward folks with an increase in their salary if they obtain an educational degree. I am interested in what others do. Traditionally we have factored in the degree only when it results in a change in the skills someone can bring to their position in demonstrable ways that justify a higher salary. There is some discussion about rewarding with extra compensation (still built into the salary) so that it isn't left to individual supervisors to determine/advocate for, and as a way of sending the message that we support advanced education.

The degrees in question are most often Masters or PhD level, but can also be 4-year college or associates degree.

What does your organization do, or what are your thoughts on this?

Thanks.

In California: Certified Payroll & Prevailing Wage

BDSI — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:29:33 GMT

Hi,

We are bidding on a job and the requirements are that we have certified payroll and Prevailing Wage. I don't know what either mean. Could someone explain them to me please?

Thank you, Sheila

Bonus and Overtime Pay

kaylea — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:30:20 GMT

My employer will be paying a non-discretionary bonus in the first part of 2010 for work performed in 2009. How do you calculate the bonus into the hourly rate for non-exempt employees and when should the new rate be paid (2009 hours worked or 2010 hours worked)? Thanks for your input.

Employees Working From Home

MNHR952 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:15:39 GMT

I have a manager who has asked if his employees that come in and work on the weekends, as part of their normal 40 hours could start working from home on scheduled weekends. I am a little concerned as far as tracking if they are working, but I have been reassured measures are in place to do this. I am also worried about Worker's Compensation and not having record of employee punching in & out. What else should I be concerned about? Are my concerns valid? Any pointers on how to get my point across? Thank you.

Sell of Leave /Deferred Comp

cmrooks — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:43:50 GMT

I am wanting to know if a "sell of leave" program falls under the new 407A tax laws for deferred compensation. Our employees can sell back to the company any leave up to the amount they can accrue in a year that they have not used and is on the books.How does the new tax law affect our leave practice?

Paying Deceased Employee in FL

kmmanbeck — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:29:42 GMT

We have an employee who passed away and still has wages due to him. I am wondering if anyone knows what FL law is on paying deceased employees. I know some states limit how much you can have going to beneficiary.

Pay Pratice

cjus10200 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:22:02 GMT

I have recently started looking into our pay practice for a specific group of employees and this has raised some concerns. I would appreciate any feedback on how things are currently being done. Sorry this will be long:

We have a two groups of employees that are Service Technicians and are both paid differently. One used to be viewed as a separate company which is no longer the case.

Group 1 - Located off-site around the country and are based out of their homes. They receive a base rate of pay for 40 hours a week regardless of whether or not they work. When they work or are at a job site, they receive a premium of $6.25 in addition to the base rate. None of the hours spent at hme and paid for accumulate toward 40 hours for overtime. All worked hours and travel hours accumulate toward 40 worked hours for overtime calculations. Is it okay to exclude the time paid while at home and "not" working from overtime?

Group 2 - Also located off-site. These guys are only paid when working (at a job site). They are paid daily overtime, any over 8 in a day. However, all their travel time is paid at a straight time rate and does not count in the accumulation of 40 hours for overtime.

Both groups receive an hour of pay for every report completed. Reports are done upon the completion of the job and this time is always paid at straight time. Not counted as worked hours.

Both groups also also a flat payment of $85 a day when international travel is required. This is not a per diem, it is additional compensation for working out of the country. This is not calculated as part of the "regular rate" or "overtime rate".

I'm concerned some of these practices are not in compliance with the FLSA. Your comments are appreciated.

FLSA vs. Jury Duty

cb499 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:52:11 GMT

The following excerpt is on the BLR database: Jury duty/witness appearance/military leave. Deductions may not be made for absences for jury duty, attendance as a witness, or temporary military leave. The employer may, however, offset any fees the employee receives as a juror or witness or military pay for a particular week against the salary due for that particular week without loss of the exemption.

Can someone please point me to the exact location in the FLSA that states this?

Thank you!

Salary increase for next fiscal year

PHS09 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:03:11 GMT

I'm currently working to determine a percentage to pencil in for salary increase for fiscal yr 2010. Have any of you started thinking about this? Do you know where I could look for information about what the average proposals are in different companies or industries?

Vehicle Rentals when traveling on Company business

mcoleman150 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:15:59 GMT

Does your company require your employees to use their personal insurance coverage as first line of coverage in the event of a loss for rental cars? If not, what are your procedures? We thought it would be covered by a credit card that advertises coverage on auto rentals, but have now discovered they pay only what is not covered by other available policies - employee's policy and the company's policy.Thank you.

mandatory direct deposit

afpgraves — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:32:50 GMT

Does anybody know if mandatory direct deposit is prohibited in the state of Kentucky?

afpgraves

sales commission protected by law?

bsaxton — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:00:28 GMT

I am in Illinois and we recently had a salesperson resign at the end of Aug. We're in the process of running commissions payments for our August deals (and prior) and the question we have is: beyond this month, are we legally obligated to pay out the salesperson on any deals he closed during his tenure here? Some deals have not been provisioned or started billing (both are requred as per our comp plan in order for the salesperson to be paid out). We don't have language in our comp plan that states what happens after a salesperson leaves the company (which is an oversight on our part and will be resolved).

thanks for any help.

Outsourcing ROI

LauLan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:02:55 GMT

Greetings all

I've been asked by management to do an ROI analysis of Payroll Outsourcing versus doing it myself. I don't even know where to begin! Most examples that I've found usually involve reducing population in the HR Dept, but that is not our objective. We simply would like to free me up to do other things since our two person dept is consistently overwhelmed over the past year or so. How do I go about showing how much of my time (and salary) are allocated to payroll, and if outsourcing is the answer? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Salary/Benefit Survey Analysis Software?

fremontc — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:25:13 GMT

Hi! I am the HR Manager of a small (less than 50 employees) community mental health center in rural/frontier Wyoming. I have been asked to perform a salary/benefit survey of all (20+) of the community mental health centers in the state. The benefit piece should be fairly easy to analyze, however, the salary portion of this type of survey is going to be a pretty big undertaking.

I'd like to be able to enter all of the different salary information by position and incumbent and compare it to the other centers and nationwide. Is anyone out there aware of any software (or web-based product) that would be able to do this? And doesn't cost a fortune?

Thanks so much for your help! W

Boss is a bully - Reporting Procedure Advice Please

new2hr — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:56:47 GMT

Hello,

We have a supervisor in our company who is not well liked by the majority of employees in the office. She has been with us since October of 2008 and has really taken a liking to bullying one of her staff members. Additionally, she has been known to make snide and accusatory remarks to others in the company.

Although no formal complaint has been filed, I have been informed of many of her actions. I believe on Monday, the target of the bullying is going to make a formal complaint as she requested a meeting with me. We are a very small company. I am 99% certain this meeting is going to involve the Bully.

At this time, I have briefly informed the Bully's Supervisor of her actions. I do not believe anything has been done. We just hired a new President who is very involved in the staff and likes to be "in the loop" with us. My question is, do I inform the President, as a heads up, that this is all going on? I would like to tell him but am afraid that by doing so, I am going over the Bully's Supervisor's head, who is also my Supervisor. He is out of town until Friday. Maybe I can just shoot them both an email?

Thoughts? Also, once this complaint is filed, I know we are going to have to sit down with the bully and discuss the issues. Any suggestions?

Thanks a bunch!

Eligible for PTO Pay?

jclan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:23:46 GMT

An employee who has been with the company for nearly 5 years has just given her notice. Our policy is that PTO has no "cash value" therefore the employee cannot be paid for unused PTO time.

She is now claiming that she never received an employee manual and was unaware of this policy. I have checked her file and there is no signed receipt so chances are this is true.

Are we then obligated to pay her for PTO time?

Taxing of bonuses

11dls55 — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:28:25 GMT

I have been told that bonuses are taxed at a higher tax rate than the rate for regular wages. Can anyone confirm this and tell me where I can get this information in writing?

Boss is a Bully - Follow UP

new2hr — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:03:36 GMT

The meeting has occurred. These are the accusations:

Preaching God (ie: We have to deal with many people in our lives here on Earth, but we will all have to answer to God someday when we are standing in front of him)

Being led into the kitchen by a "come here" finger, pointing to a tomato top in the sink and asking the employee if she had tomatoes for lunch

Being told that she is whispering to people at her desk

Being told that she can be heard huffing and puffing at her desk and that she doesn't care about her job

Basically, the employee came out said "I feel like I am being harrassed. I want to come to work and do my job but I feel like I am being watched at every corner." I do not have much experience or any training in this situation so regarding investigating and due diligence, what is the next step? There are only two people on her staff. The other one, she constantly praises in front of everyone.

PS- I don't know how this ended up in the Compensation section...but figured I should keep it here so people aren't confused.

Unemployment Compensation and Temporary Employee

edaffin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:52:12 GMT

I am hiring a temporary employee to fill in for 2 employees that are on Family Medical Leave.

Is there any legal way to ensure that this employee will not be eligible for unemployment compensation at the end of the temporary assignment?

Do I need to include certain verbage in an offer letter? Do I need to have this person only work for 10 hours a week? What is the magic formula here for the State of FL?

Commission

jackie123 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:03:27 GMT

Last Friday, I was confronted with a Sales Employee about when our President of our Company would start paying commissions again. I am fairly new to the company and don't work in HR. In fact we don't have a HR Department anymore. This company went from 146 employees to 6 office employees and 10 crew members in 1 year due to the economy. We work in Construction.

There is not money for commissions anymore. We barely financially squeeze by. I have seen the reports.

However, this employee who was in my opinion very unethical and very agressive when it came to describing his flustration. He claimed that he signed an agreement that he was owed the money for his commissions last year and wants to start getting paid from them.

My problem is this same employee I believe has been feeding the competition very important documents and information about our company. We are missing files and he is always the last person to leave the office. And is the only person with friends of the competition. And it seems with jobs we are always competiting with the same competitor. No proof though.

2 questions...Can this employee be fired if it is proved that he has been feeding the competition information about our company? Even though, he is owed the commission.

And #2 We are forecasting another 2 years before we are in anyway able to pay out on these commissions. I feel that we should come up with a new agreement or perhaps a new job description that describes no commissions.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Employee working in a Non-Exempt and Exempt capacity

6403634 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:55:06 GMT

I work for a public university and am trying to determine whether or not an employee in a exempt and non exempt position would receive overtime. Here are the specifics: Employee A currently works as a full time non-exempt employee in Dept B. Dept C would like to hire the employee in a part time exempt position. Dept B is willing to reduce the current position to part time. Employee would be working 20 hours in each position. If the employee works additional hours in the non-exempt position, how would you pay this time? Would you add both positions together to determine overtime or only use the first position as it is non-exempt?

Any assistance you can provide is greatly appreciated.