This company pays its workers a $70,000 minimum salary, and that’s helping it weather the coronavirus crisis

It’s been five years since we announced a $70,000 minimum wage at our company, Gravity Payments. Since then, our revenue has since tripled and our headcount and customer base have doubled. Meanwhile, our employees have made major improvements to their lives, such as buying houses, starting families, saving for retirement, and eliminating debt. READ MORE

Executive Compensation Limits In Cares Act Raise Questions

The sweeping federal stimulus bill known as the ‘‘Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’’ or ‘‘CARES Act’’ includes a provision intended to prevent federal loans or loan guarantees from being used to enhance senior executive compensation. This provision, while seemingly simple on its face, raises many interpretative questions, and prompt regulatory guidance will be necessary for its implementation. READ MORE

The CARES Act and Compensation – What Employers Need to Know

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) (H.R. 748).

In this blog post we (1) lay out an initial action plan for employers considering obtaining relief under the CARES Act, (2) summarize the compensation-related provisions of the CARES Act, and (3) identify the key questions that the CARES Act leaves unanswered. READ MORE

Banker Bonuses Are a Pre-Coronavirus Thing

Financial regulators are applying all of the lessons of the 2008 credit crisis at record speed. In the past few weeks, they’ve worked with central banks to pump liquidity into markets and to make it easier for banks to lend. It’s essential now that lenders keep providing money to companies and households whose incomes have evaporated in the Covid-19 lockdowns. If the banks stop functioning, what hope for the rest of the economy? READ MORE

The 4 Ways to Judge Minimum Wage Laws

Minimum wage legislation is exploding. What began in 1938 as a modest federal requirement of 25 cents an hour has recently become a major area of policy innovation, with states and cities vying with each other to impose hefty increases. In just the past decade, 26 states have enacted increases in minimum wage requirements. The Democratic Party, in its 2016 platform, called for raising the national minimum wage to $15, and seems headed in the same direction this year. READ MORE

COVID-19 FAQs: For Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

Coronavirus (COVID-19) raises serious concerns for employers of all shapes and sizes, across all industries and in every business sector. As the impact of COVID-19 continues to grow, many employers are faced with new challenges that affect not only their businesses and their employees, but the health and welfare, retirement and executive compensation plans and programs on which those employees rely. These new issues are arising in addition to the myriad benefit plan challenges that employers face each day. READ MORE

Impact of the CARES Act on Executive Compensation

The CARES Act restricts how much executive compensation can be paid by employers that avail themselves of loans and loan guarantees from the US Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund under Title IV of the CARES Act. Employers seeking this relief need to carefully assess the impact of these restrictions before applying for loans or loan guarantees. Participation in the Exchange Stabilization Fund is conditioned on complying with the executive compensation restrictions. Identifying whose pay will be restricted and limiting payments under existing contracts is likely to be challenging. READ MORE

If you're 'essential' enough to work through a coronavirus pandemic, you're essential enough to be paid living wage

My first trip to Trader Joe’s since the start of California’s coronavirus lockdown had all the trappings of order and security. A polite line formed out front, with everyone keeping a respectful and socially distant 6 feet apart. No more than 50 people were allowed in the store at the same time. A worker squirted a dollop of sanitizer into the hands of each and every shopper entering the store. Another wiped down the handles of each shopping cart before use. READ MORE

Coronavirus Stimulus, Executive Compensation, and Share Repurchase

Congressional leaders are currently debating a stimulus to address the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Executive compensation in companies that receive the stimulus funds has become a point of major disagreement. Policymakers are concerned that stimulus funds should be used to safeguard the solvency of these companies and paychecks for the rank-and-file employees, and not be used to increase executive compensation. READ MORE

The disturbing history of tipping: "It's literally a slave wage"

The act of tipping is said to have started in feudal Europe, when strict social hierarchies prevented any real kind of social mobility and it was a common practice among aristocrats to tip servants. It wasn't brought over to the U.S. until the 19th century, and was only popularized after the Civil War. But in this country, instead of being additional compensation on top of a regular  wage, it functioned as an immediate and racist solution for employers who did not want to pay recently freed black slaves. READ MORE