How Do You Stack Up to the Average Income in Your State?

Understanding what the average income is in your state can help you determine if you’re ahead of the curve or behind it when it comes to your own salary. Averages are typically measured in two ways: mean and median. Mean or “average” income takes the total amount of earnings across a sample and divides it by the number of participants. Median income, on the other hand, is the midway point of a sample, with half the people sampled earning above the median and half earning less. READ MORE

A Summary of Key Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic stimulus bill. ARPA contains provisions affecting employee benefits and executive compensation, including temporary fully subsidized COBRA premiums, a temporary increase in dependent care assistance dollar limits, relief for single employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, and the expansion of the pool of covered employees subject to the compensation limitations under Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m). READ MORE

Equity Compensation: Why Millennials Like It and How Entrepreneurs Can Use It

Entrepreneurs already have to muster a great deal of time and energy to get their businesses off the ground. Covid-19 hasn’t done them any favors: A survey by Alignable in September 2020 found that 60% of small businesses were still suffering financially from the pandemic and 42% of owners were at risk of closure.

It is not clear how much federal stimulus can change that outlook until consumer confidence rebounds, but with or without a recession, entrepreneurs will continue to find that payroll costs often compete with other strategic priorities. If they do have the cash flow to compete for talent on salary, leaders may need the money for other aspects of the business. Equity compensation is a way to attract high-quality employees and help keep payroll manageable. READ MORE

Spring Ahead, Fall Back, Pay Now, Pay Later: Daylight Savings Time And The FLSA

This Sunday was Daylight Savings Time and we pushed the clocks ahead by one hour. This is, on a human level, a welcome event, as it signals winter’s end. Now, I can fling away any vestiges of Seasonal Affective Disorder and turn my attention to outdoor activities. Employers, however, must be vigilant on the particular day that this event takes place, as there is a FLSA implication to it. READ MORE

Biden Calls For Back Hazard Pay

President Biden recently put out a statement “calling on employers to meet their obligations to frontline essential workers and provide back hazard pay.” While the idea of “back” hazard pay is somewhat counterintuitive, as back pay would not encourage essential workers to stay at their jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this is not the first time that policymakers have floated the idea of mandating national hazard pay. Congressional Democrats included hazard pay in their Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act in May, while Senator Mitt Romney introduced his own proposal the same month. READ MORE

Starbucks shareholders vote against executive pay plan

Starbucks shareholders rejected the coffee chain’s executive compensation proposal, in a rare admonition of an S&P 500 company.

The resolution is not binding and likely won’t impact the board’s decision. However, the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said only 10 S&P 500 companies have had shareholders reject annual say-on-pay resolutions in the last year, based on data from ISS Corporate Solutions. READ MORE

Who are the highest-paid coaches competing for title?

As the weeks go on, the top teams in the tournament are hoping to have their hands on the title in the first week of April. The tournament will not feature some of the top teams with the highest-paid coaches, as Kentucky’s John Calipari and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski both missed out on the Big Dance.

The tournament will not be short of some of the greatest coaches the sports have seen. But even without Calipari and Krzyzewski, the bracket still has coaches making a very pretty penny. READ MORE

Considerations for Employers Contemplating Incentive Programs to Encourage Employees to Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published guidance in December 2020 on employer mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies. That guidance explained that subject to a few exceptions, employers can require that employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of returning to, or remaining in the workplace. However, even though mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies have been deemed permissible by the EEOC, many employers remain hesitant to mandate that their employees receive the vaccine. With that said, as the vaccine becomes more readily available, employers that are looking for an alternative solution to encourage their workforce to receive the vaccine, but without requiring it, may want to consider whether implementing an incentive program would be right for them. Indeed, a number of high-profile employers in multiple industries such as retail, transportation, and food services recently have announced their own incentive programs designed to encourage their employees to receive the vaccine, in lieu of implementing a mandatory vaccination policy. READ MORE

Competitive Market Surveys Rarely Produce Identical Pay

Compensation professionals love to cite “the open market,” while being less eager to admit that every market is different. Despite continual references to reliance on the free labor market, the competitive pay values established between and among employers almost never match. The reasons may seem obscure to outsiders, but they are clear to those who follow the arcane practices of the wage and salary management field. READ MORE

ARPA Expands Section 162(m) Deduction Limits on Executive Pay

A provision in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law March 11, will increase the number of employees subject to Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m)'s limit on corporation's ability to deduct executive compensation.

Section 162(m) generally prohibits tax deductions by publicly traded companies on the portion of covered employees' pay that exceeds $1 million per year. Currently, covered employees are the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and the three next-highest-compensated individuals. READ MORE

AI-Based Compensation Management and Bias: Can AI Close the Pay Gap?

A critical component of a successful employer-employee relationship is the employer’s fair and equitable treatment of employees, often embodied in the employer’s employee engagement, retention, and compensation practices. When it comes to compensation, U.S. employers must comply with federal and applicable state equal pay laws that prohibit discriminatory pay practices, and a myriad of state and local laws banning inquiries into, or the use of, prior salary history in setting pay. Yet, compensation bias and discrimination still exist and continue to be the subject of government investigations, audits, and litigation. READ MORE

The daring architecture of Elon Musk’s compensation plan has the Tesla CEO on track to make history

In 2018, the Tesla board fashioned a 10-year pay plan for founder and CEO Elon Musk that so far stands as the most successful long-term compensation blueprint in history. The structure is highly innovative in rewarding Musk for raising Tesla's market value, and it has delivered brilliantly. In the just over three years the program's been in place, Musk has multiplied the EV pioneer's value 12-fold to $647 billion at the market close on March 9. Musk hit many of the laddered targets that trigger the awards years earlier than the board could possibly have anticipated, leapfrogging one market-cap goal after another. His reward is what this writer anticipates to be the largest stock options award, secured in a brief period, in the annals of capital markets: $31.7 billion since May 2020, including over $10 billion alone in the first quarter of 2021. READ MORE

Pandemic affecting worker expectations about compensation, survey finds

Numerous surveys have asked employees about remote work, health and wellness, and other topics since the pandemic began a year ago. Despite the rapid changes and workplace disruption, however, nearly every employee continues to work for one simple reason – compensation. Elements Global Services recently surveyed more than 2,200 employees from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom about how the pandemic has affected compensation. As many as 65 percent of Americans surveyed said their income either stayed the same or fell in 2020. READ MORE