Can Companies Use the Outside Sales Exemption During a Pandemic?

COVID-19 has altered the way nearly every employee performs their work. Videoconferencing and phone calls have largely replaced in-person visits and face-to-face meetings in many workplaces. By extension, many sales employees who used to visit customers in person now do so remotely. While convenient, this practice may compromise their status as exempt employees under federal and state wage laws, thus forcing many employers to get creative to stay in compliance. READ MORE

Can Employers Expect a New Overtime Rule Under Biden?

Acontroversial overtime pay rule from the former President Barack Obama's administration would have doubled the salary threshold for employees to be classified as exempt from overtime pay under federal law. In 2016, before the rule was implemented, a judge held that the administration exceeded its authority by raising the rate too high, but employers may be wondering if President-elect Joe Biden will revisit the rule.

Here's what employment attorneys had to say. READ MORE

2020’s Silver Lining: Improved Benefits Offerings

The COVID-19 pandemic tested employers and employees alike, which affected the rewards and benefits organizations offered their employees in a tumultuous 2020.

Highlighting these trends, WorldatWork’s “2020 Inventory of Total Rewards Programs & Practices” survey found there were significant increases in employer-offered telemedicine, paid and unpaid caregiver leave, tuition discounts and hazard pay from 2019. READ MORE

Winds of Change Swirl Around Executive Compensation

Just over a year ago at a WorldatWork gathering of senior executive compensation leaders, we were noting the relatively slow pace of change in our field at that moment. Change and challenge tend to come in waves, and we were trying to anticipate when the next wave would hit, and how we would respond.

A few months later, we were all hit with successive waves of challenge and change that have characterized 2020. As we finish this tumultuous year, what can we expect in 2021, and how do we prepare? READ MORE

What You Must Know Before Changing the Sales Compensation Plan

2021 (thankfully) is weeks away. The end of the year is when many leaders tend to consider transforming their sales compensation plan since a new year equals making a fresh start. If you are a leader contemplating changes, I would suggest that a real purpose be at the core of any new compensation plan. The plan should be designed to incent individuals to perform the way leadership desires in support of the company’s goals. READ MORE

We’ll never solve the wage gap without better, transparent data

If your company released a document with everyone’s compensation, would you be shocked by what you saw? The prospect of compensation transparency can be a powerful litmus test for equal pay in the workplace. When comp planning is fair and unbiased, employees across the board should feel good about how salary and equity is allocated and how that ties in to their experience, roles, level, and function. READ MORE

IRS Announces Adjusted Plan Limits for 2021

The Internal Revenue Service has announced cost-of-living-adjusted limits for 2021 that affect the operation of tax-qualified retirement plans, including 401(k) plans and certain other types of employee benefit plans, including deferred compensation plans that may be subject to Internal Revenue Code §409A. The amount by which the limits are adjusted each year is based on a cost of living index. Not all limits increase every year. In connection with the increased limits for 2021, employers should revise participant communications and election forms, amend plan documents and summary plan descriptions and update all payroll and/or human resource systems with the new dollar amount limitations. READ MORE

Nonqualified Plans Helping to Meet the Needs of Participants and Plan Sponsors Amid COVID-19

Despite a challenging year for workers and businesses alike, new research conducted by Principal® indicated that nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans - employer-sponsored benefits plans for key employees – continued to be valuable in helping employers and key talent achieve their goals. Principal gathered and analyzed data from nearly 1,200 plan participants and 137 plan sponsors nationwide to dive into their thoughts about NQDC plans and how their perspectives may have changed this year due to the pandemic. READ MORE

Public Company Nonqualified Plan Amendments May Be Required by December 31: The Law of Unintended Consequences Strikes Again

The Internal Revenue Code is famously complicated, and changes to discrete parts of the code—such as those adopted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA)—have a notorious history of leading to unpredictable and unintended consequences. One such consequence may require prompt action by publicly-traded companies to mitigate the impact of a common provision in nonqualified deferred compensation plans relating to the limitations on deductions for excess compensation paid to top executives. READ MORE