SEC’s Proposed Buyback Disclosure Rules: Actions Companies Should Consider Taking Now

In addition to the proposed rules regarding insider trading policies that we wrote about a few weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also proposed amendments to its rules regarding disclosure about stock buybacks. The proposed rules would require an issuer to provide a new Form SR before the end of the first business day following the day the issuer executes a share repurchase. The new Form SR would require issuers to identify the class and total amount of securities purchased, the average price paid, and whether the amounts were repurchased in reliance on the safe harbor found in Exchange Act Rule 10b-18 or pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan. READ MORE

Cryptocurrency’s Role in a Total Rewards System

Cryptocurrency is gaining popularity and moving to the mainstream. This digital currency is used to buy goods and services, but it uses an online ledger with solid cryptography to secure online transactions. Some organizations have created their currencies, which can be traded within the company for their services. They are essentially like arcade tokens; one must exchange real currency to access cryptocurrency to retrieve a good or service. READ MORE

Employee Stock Plans: International Reporting Requirements

This White Paper highlights some of the principal annual or quarterly reporting requirements for employee stock plans that multinational companies most commonly encounter when offering these programs to their employees in selected jurisdictions worldwide. A chart summarizing these items appears at the end of this White Paper. Please note that this White Paper does not address routine, year-end tax reporting obligations nor does it cover filings that are required for purposes of relying on a securities law-related exemption tied to the grant of an equity award. READ MORE

New York City Employers Will Soon Be Required to Include Salary Ranges in Job Postings

The New York City Council has approved a bill that will require New York City employers to include salary ranges with any job advertisements. The stated purpose of the amendment is to further the city’s effort to achieve pay equity. Similar efforts previously resulted in the introduction of laws prohibiting New York employers from asking job applicants about their salary histories. READ MORE

Smart Compensation Practices Can Make Wealth Management Hiring Easier. Here’s How.

While many advisors excel at rainmaking, they often lack skills around hiring and compensation. Getting this right is even more important in a tight job market to prevent crippling business mistakes. Barron’s Advisor spoke to several experts who routinely counsel financial advisors about hiring and compensation best practices. Here are their recommendations: READ MORE

New Year, Same Old California Pay Data Reporting Requirements

After many delays, employers nationwide just filed their 2020 EEO-1 reports in November.  But it’s already time for California employers to begin preparing their annual pay data submission to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

The Background

In 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 973, which creates massive pay reporting requirements for California employers that also file EEO-1 Reports. Under SB 973 private employers with 100 or more employees and at least one employee in California must report certain pay and related data to DFEH. READ MORE

What counts as pay transparency? Depends on who you ask

Americans have a cultural aversion to discussing personal income. A 2018 survey from Capital Group found “salary or household income” to be Americans’ foremost conversational taboo, ahead of “marriage problems, mental illness, drug addiction, race, sex, politics, and religion.” And when it comes to the corporate world, many companies make it a matter of policy to keep the reality of who makes how much locked in a figurative vault; according to 2021 research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “nearly half of full-time workers reported they were either discouraged or prohibited from discussing wages or salary” between 2017 and 2018. READ MORE

Bernie Sanders: Pay your workers better. Warren Buffett: That's not my job

Warren Buffett, the ninth-richest person on the planet, says it's not up to him to settle a strike by 450 steelworkers at a company he owns.

Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote a letter to the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, requesting that he intervene in a United Steelworkers union strike at the Special Metals plant in Huntington, West Virginia. They've been on strike for three months. Special Metals is a unit of Precision Castparts, which is owned by Buffett's Berkshire. READ MORE

Rethinking Fairness in Exec Comp Amid a Changing World

A frequent criticism leveled against executive compensation is that “it’s just not fair.” If looking purely at the statistics, one may draw a similar conclusion.

The average annual pay for United States workers in 2020 according to Bureau of Labor Statistics was $52,168, while the average CEO/median worker pay ratio disclosed by the S&P 500 was 299:1. The total pay for CEOs in the 300 largest US companies reviewed by Korn Ferry increased by approximately 7% annually over the last decade, while that for the average worker went up only 3%.  READ MORE

Minimum wage hike among new laws taking effect Jan. 1 in Illinois

Minimum wage workers in Illinois will see a boost in their hourly pay to $12 per hour starting Jan. 1, while tenants in affordable housing units will be allowed to keep pets.

Those are just some of the more than 300 new laws that take effect in the new year.

The minimum wage increase is actually the result of a 2019 law that phases in a state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. This year, it will increase by $1 to $12 an hour. READ MORE

The “Wages Are Skyrocketing” Narrative Is False

“We are paying the guy cutting up fruit $19 an hour,” complained the CFO of a major agricultural producer I recently spoke with. Almost on a daily basis I speak with an executive who tells me how one of their team members received a tremendous pay increase to jump ship. The problem with such stories is that everyone likes to talk about that one example that catches everyone else’s attention. And if all you hear is such stories for a while, you end up believing that such wage increases are the norm, not the exception. READ MORE

New York City Council Passes Bill Requiring Minimum and Maximum Salaries in Job Postings

On December 15, 2021, the New York City Council passed a bill that would require New York City employers with four or more employees (including independent contractors) to disclose minimum and maximum salary information in job postings. The bill, which has not yet been signed by the mayor, would amend the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) and go into effect 120 days after it is signed into law. It remains to be seen whether Mayor-elect Eric Adams will choose to sign the bill, should Mayor Bill de Blasio fail to do so before he leaves office in the coming days. READ MORE

Hourly vs. Salary Employees: What's Better for Your Business?

Before hiring the right person for the job, you need to decide how you'll pay them. Two of the most common ways to pay employees is with a salary or an hourly wage.

You're probably wondering which option is better: the flexibility of an hourly employee or the stability of a salaried one. Of course, the answer is never as straightforward as we'd like.

Let's compare the pros and cons of hourly vs. salary workers, the different laws for each, and what to look for when determining the right fit for your business. READ MORE