Companies across the U.S. are cutting salaries as they fight to survive the coronavirus, upending a key assumption in modern economics and raising another hurdle to rapid recovery. READ MORE
DOL Broadens Overtime Exemption Rule for Commissioned Retail and Service Workers
In an effort to provide clarity during an uncertain time, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule on Tuesday to simplify an overtime exemption for commission-based workers in retail and service industries. READ MORE
What is the average American salary?
The U.S. workforce is one of the key things that makes it one of the world's superpowers. From education and health care, manufacturing and construction through to business and agriculture, American jobs vary at levels, skills and also, in wages. READ MORE
A CARES Act Executive Pay Framework
Companies that are participating in the CARES Act are still facing a hot market for their top talent, particularly those recipients in distressed circumstances. Associated compensation restrictions freeze or reduce executive pay, requiring a different playbook than what companies have become used to. While being cognizant of windfalls, it is a time to ensure your best talent is responsibly aligned with recovery, while sending the right messages to stakeholders. As such, companies need to turn to a new playbook. READ MORE
Companies are giving essential workers bullshit rewards
As the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States took hold in March, Walgreens decided to let its workers wear jeans. It would be nearly two weeks before the pharmacy announced it was also giving them masks. READ MORE
Pay Cuts Become a Tool for Some Companies to Avoid Layoffs
“Shared sacrifice” in the white-collar ranks aims to avoid the cost of staffing up again. With no end to the crisis in sight, it is a leap of faith. READ MORE
US billionaires got $434 billion richer since coronavirus pandemic began
Even as the coronavirus pandemic plunges the U.S. economy into the worst downturn since the Great Depression, some of the wealthiest Americans have seen their collective fortunes increase exponentially, according to a new report. READ MORE
Facebook: Workers Can Bid Goodbye To Menlo Park And Hello To Midwest – But With A Salary Cut
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that most Facebook employees can work from home wherever they want. But they should not expect to get Silicon Valley salary levels if they relocate to less-expensive areas. READ MORE
Investors Beef With McDonald’s Board Over Fired CEO’s Exit Package
McDonald’s Corp. Chairman Enrique Hernandez, Jr. and another key board member up for reappointment on Thursday will face opposition from investor groups who take issue with their approval of a severance package valued over $44 million for former CEO Steve Easterbrook after he was accused of wrongdoing. READ MORE
Alphabet Investors Should Reject CEO’s Pay, Proxy Firms Say
Alphabet Inc.’s executive pay packages have come under fire from a second influential shareholder advisory firm ahead of the Google owner’s annual meeting. READ MORE
DOL Issues Final Rule Permitting Use of Non-Salary Compensation under ‘Fluctuating Workweek’ Pay Method
On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Final Rule expressly permitting employers to provide additional pay, such as bonuses, commissions, or premiums, to employees when utilizing the “fluctuating workweek” (FWW) pay method under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), without jeopardizing the use of that pay method. READ MORE
Avoiding COVID-19 Wage & Hour and Labor Law Pitfalls
In Part Eight of our Roadmap Series, we take a closer look at wage and hour compliance concerns that may arise during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what employers can do to minimize these pitfalls. READ MORE
As Employers Cut Coronavirus Hazard Pay, What About A Living Wage?
As more Americans emerge from their homes and resume their day-to-day routines, there is a new casualty stemming from the coronavirus — hazard pay. READ MORE
Reassessing Executive Compensation and Benefits in Tax-Exempt Organizations as the COVID-19 Crisis Deepens
Hospitals, health systems and other tax-exempt organizations are responding to a longer and deeper economic crisis by making or considering significant changes to their executive compensation and executive benefit programs. The economic crisis, and these executive compensation and benefit changes, have far-reaching implications for the ongoing work of the board’s compensation committee. We want to provide this review of what we see happening “on the ground” as the crisis continues. READ MORE
What the Media’s Most Powerful Executives Were Paid in 2019
Media chieftains don’t suffer from low self-esteem. Industry titans including Bob Iger, Reed Hastings and Rupert Murdoch probably need big egos to believe they’re entitled to make far more than most CEOs at similarly sized companies — and much more for 12 months of work than an average employee could make in several lifetimes. READ MORE
Walt Disney's grandson slams company's bonuses for managers while workers are furloughed
Another heir of Walt Disney is publicly expressing disgust with the company his grandfather founded for furloughing thousands of workers while continuing to pay its executives millions of dollars and massive bonuses. READ MORE
Reducing Salaries of Exempt Employees under the FLSA
As daily headlines have shown, the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has led businesses of all types to announce dramatic changes in workforce levels and employee pay. Many of these companies have made the decision to reduce the salaries they pay to their exempt employees. These reductions, which often range from 10 percent to 30 percent, have affected executives, managers, and professionals. On the positive side, salary reductions give employers an option for reducing labor costs that preserves more jobs and mitigates the loss of skilled employees. READ MORE
Many low-wage workers earn more on unemployment than in their former jobs
For millions of employees who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, unemployment may end up paying better than employment. New research shows that, for many low-wage workers, enhanced jobless benefits paid out through federal stimulus measures will exceed their previous paychecks. READ MORE
Companies Are Quietly Pulling the Plug on “Hero Pay” for Essential Workers
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted a major modern contradiction—many "essential" workers, the ones whose jobs are too important to shut down, are the ones making the least money. Meat processing, for example, is a job that pays poorly and is riddled with danger. And yet it's been deemed so important that Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act to order that plants stay open. READ MORE
The Pandemic's Impact on Compensation and Benefits
Disruption in business operations by the pandemic has increased the need for employers to focus on compensation and employee benefits. Developing a comprehensive business response will involve benefits plans and more broadly the compensation philosophy employers will adopt. The CARES Act provided some additional flexibility, but this entire area is otherwise heavily regulated, and any contemplated change should be approached with caution. READ MORE