Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto announced that his city is now participating in a program receiving funding from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, in which eligible residents will receive $500 in monthly "guaranteed income." READ MORE
What COVID means to compensation
The coronavirus pandemic has upended scores of traditional HR structures: hiring, recruiting, onboarding and compensation. The latter is one area, experts say, that has become increasingly more complex, as employers must consider the full context of the pandemic—both now and what may come in the near future—while they redesign approaches to compensation. READ MORE
Eastman Kodak’s top executive reportedly got Trump deal windfall on an ‘understanding’
Eastman Kodak on Monday granted its executive chairman options for 1.75 million shares as the result of what a person familiar with the arrangement described as an “understanding” with its board that had previously neither been listed in his employment contract nor made public. READ MORE
Redefining productivity and compensation in an AI age
This week I ran into an interesting product that could substantially speed up writers who do a lot of repetitive work. It's called ActiveWords, and it's now in its fourth generation. It works by allowing you to connect elements to acronyms you create. For instance, if you must use the same charts in different responses, such as for product support, you type a few letters and instantly the chart pops into in the email. READ MORE
Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division Issues New Guidance Materials
The Department of Labor’s (DOL's) Wage and Hour Division has issued a new set of assistance materials to help employers navigate the evolving challenges facing businesses during COVID-19. These assistance materials come at a time when many businesses are beginning to set long-term adjustments to the virus, such as remote work policies, mask and safety guidelines and modified hours. READ MORE
COVID-19: Impact on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans
The IRS’s guidance on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and COVID-19 has largely been focused on tax qualified plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), but sponsors of nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans need to deal with some of the same issues as qualified plan sponsors. These include understanding the current financial needs of participants, the impact of furloughs and leaves, and their own financial difficulties. READ MORE
The hidden way companies are paying women unfairly
That women are paid less than male colleagues is a stubborn fact in the U.S. workplace.
As of July, women earned 84 cents for every dollar a man earned. It is a discrepancy that has garnered significant attention from scholars, the media, and sex discrimination lawsuits. READ MORE
Are option grants promoting gender and racial inequity?
You’ve probably seen them on highway billboards and your Instagram feeds: startups promising to get it right on racial and gender inequity when it comes to employee pay. But how much progress has actually been made? Are companies even aware that upcoming stock option grants might worsen the very problem they claim to be fixing? READ MORE
Is now the time to raise the minimum wage? Economists debate
It has been 11 years since the federal minimum wage was increased, and Congress is weighing if now is the time to give minimum wage employees a raise. READ MORE
Compensation Issues in the Recovery: Setting CEO and Senior Management Compensation
Compensation during recovery from COVID-19 will be under great scrutiny, whether it’s from actions by executives and directors to reduce their own pay, short-term and long-term incentive considerations, or the recalibration of metrics for near-term incentives. This scrutiny will come from both internal and external sources as proxy advisers provide direction and boards take a second look at compensation models. READ MORE
Post-employment compensation – is it taxable?
When an employment relationship comes to an end, it is not unusual for the employer and the employee to negotiate and enter into a separation agreement to put in writing the employee’s benefits, entitlements and post-employment obligations. It may be within the leaving employee’s expectation that most of the payments under the termination agreement (such as accrued salary, payment in lieu of notice and annual leave pay) would be subject to salaries tax, but is this really the case for all compensation/benefits received from the employer after termination of employment? READ MORE
Lowe's shelling out $100M in coronavirus bonuses to hourly workers
Lowe's Companies Inc. announced Thursday that it would be doling out an additional round of bonuses to support employees "with unforeseen expenses and hardships" during the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE
Kodak’s top exec sees $200 million windfall on stock frenzy
The net worth of Kodak’s top executive has skyrocketed on the company’s transformation from an ailing camera maker to cutting-edge pharmaceutical start-up — thanks in part to some timely share purchases. READ MORE
ISS Publishes COVID-19 Case Study Focused on Executive Compensation Adjustments
The challenges presented to management and corporate boards from COVID-19 are significant. Among other considerations, companies might adjust 2020 performance goals, delay compensation decisions or change the mix of equity awards by making more full-value grants. In recent months, proxy advisors Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) and Glass Lewis have published guidance with respect to these and other governance issues (summarized here and here). READ MORE
The importance of wage and hour audits
With so much uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, one step that business owners can take to regain control of their circumstances is to conduct an annual wage and hour audit of their practices and policies. As a business owner, you should be asking yourself these 10 questions at least once every year: READ MORE
Compensation and Governance Restrictions on CARES Act Stimulus Recipients
We provide a deeper dive into the key stimulus programs under the CARES Act, as summarized in our client note “Congress Passes Largest Ever Economic Stimulus Package: Key Provisions of CARES Act.” The following table summarizes selected compensation and governance restrictions on recipients of assistance through key stimulus programs under the CARES Act. READ MORE
10 Keys to Excise Tax on Executive Compensation Paid by Tax-Exempt Organizations
Proposed Regulations under Section 4960 of the Internal Revenue Code provide important guidance for tax-exempt organizations and their affiliates regarding an excise tax on certain executive compensation. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) are accepting comments until August 10, 2020. (Throughout this post, “Sections” refer to sections of the Internal Revenue Code.) READ MORE
Can You Actually Become a Millionaire on an Average Salary?
For a long time, becoming a millionaire has been synonymous with becoming wealthy. While $1 million doesn't go nearly as far as it used to, it's still a generous sum that can help set you up for a secure retirement. But saving so much money may seem like a pipe dream for many, especially for the millions of Americans looking at a bank account with little spare cash. READ MORE
SKILL-BASED PAY 2.0 & TECH
The very definition of a “job” is evolving rapidly in many organizations today — and not just in technology fields. “Work” today is more dynamic and unpredictable than ever. According to research on workforce reskilling by the World Economic Forum, one in four adults reported a mismatch between the skills they possess and the skills they need for their current job, with the shelf life of those professional skills being just five years. READ MORE
The New Stimulus Is The Right Time For Streaming Wages
The Senate confirmed this week that as part of the HEALS Act’s new round of stimulus payments, individuals will be eligible for up to $1,200 each. These payments will be distributed alongside the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program to support workers dealing with economic stress. READ MORE