We don’t see a lot of wage and hour poetry these days, but if we did, it would probably look a bit like the foregoing example from an anonymous former U.S. Department of Labor official. When it comes to paying office workers who do not qualify for an overtime exemption, businesses often look for ways to treat those workers as much like exempt personnel as possible, including by paying wages in the form of a salary rather than hourly pay. Salaried nonexempt status ordinarily starts with good motives, but it frequently ends with claims for unpaid overtime. In this month’s Time Is Money segment, we explain that although paying overtime-eligible employees on a salary basis is a lawful, available option, it comes with significant risks that an employer must understand and navigate in order to pay these workers correctly. READ MORE
What Should Be Done About the Gender Pay Gap in Sports?
This week, the United States Soccer Federation pledged to equalize pay for its men’s and women’s national teams as part of a settlement that included a $24 million payment to a group of players for the women’s team who had sued the organization for gender discrimination. READ MORE
Why Pay Equity Matters for Manufacturers and How Manufacturers Can Proactively Reduce Risk
Pay equity is a critical issue for employers — and it should be top of mind for those in the manufacturing industry.
A number of states enacted laws designed to strengthen equal pay protections and improve pay transparency in 2021, and more are expected to follow. These laws reflect a continued and growing focus on the “gender pay gap” and a growing risk for employers that do not take steps to address any inequities in their own workforce. READ MORE
UPS slashes pay for part-time workers as profits grow
Thousands of part-time workers at the United Parcel Service (UPS) around the US were recently informed that their hourly wages would be cut, eliminating raises implemented in 2021 at some hubs as a means to attract and retain workers in the tighter labor market.
Alex Sanchez, a part-time UPS worker in Ontario, California, for one year, said part-time workers at his hub had their base rate increased in 2021 from $15.33 an hour to $18 an hour. READ MORE
A hot market for data scientists means starting salaries of $125K and up this year
It’s a great time to have a degree in data science thanks to a hot job market for these roles. Data scientists made a median salary of $164,500 in 2020, according to a 2021 survey of engineering professionals by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). That’s a nearly 8% increase from the $152,500 median salary in 2019. READ MORE
Did wages keep up with inflation in 2021? Only for the wealthy, analysis shows
The hottest inflation in four decades is inflicting financial pain on millions of Americans, but no one has been harder hit by rising consumer prices than the lowest-income households, according to a new analysis published on Tuesday.
Findings from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan group at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, show that although increases in wage earnings last year offset the higher cost-of-living due to inflation for most households with incomes between $20,000 and $100,000, that was not the case for the poorest Americans. READ MORE
66% of employers plan to address pay equity this year
Companies are paying closer attention to what they pay their employees these days.
To that point, 66% of organizations recently surveyed by Payscale said a pay equity analysis is a planned initiative in 2022, a 20% increase over last year. Pay equity is essentially equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. READ MORE
Most US Employers Plan To Hike Pay and Address Pay Equity in 2022
If there was ever a time for employers to offer financial incentives to workers, it’s now, with millions of workers voluntarily leaving the workforce, the U.S. facing a massive labor shortage and American consumers grappling with the highest inflation rate in decades.
The vast majority of employers plan to respond by hiking their base pay rates this year, with many offering larger-than-normal raises, according to a new survey from Payscale. READ MORE
Companies speed up salary hikes, front load stock vesting
When Amazon announced changes last month to attract and retain talent, analysts tended to focus on the big jump in its base salary, from $160,000 to $350,000. But in another change, the company reportedly is also speeding up its stock vesting, which would enable some employees to access the value of their equity holdings much earlier, including in some cases under a monthly vesting schedule. Prior to the change, vesting was back-end-loaded, at a rate of 5% after the first year, 15% after the second and 20% every six months over the next two years. READ MORE
Rising opposition to CEO pay tied to 'questionable practices,' report says
More frequent shareholder revolts at companies like Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH.N) and General Electric show corporate directors should hesitate to hike CEO pay during tough times, according to a new report.
Proxy votes against executive pay at S&P 500 companies became more common last year and were often sparked by "questionable practices and metrics" like when companies eased performance targets during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. READ MORE
Most Overpaid CEOs in The S&P 500
Shareholders are starting to push back against outsize CEO pay, but some of the nation's best-known companies are still overpaying their chief executives for paltry performance.
That's according to investor advocacy group As You Sow, which published its eighth-annual report Thursday on the 100 most overpaid bosses of S&P 500 companies. Based on data provided by Institutional Shareholder Services, a shareholder advisory firm, the report found that CEO pay is increasingly becoming untethered from company performance, and, as a result, shareholders are increasingly rejecting pay packages when put to a vote. READ MORE
IRS Form 1040 Changes Impact Stock Options, RSUs, ESPPs
Surprise! (Or maybe not.) Tax-return reporting has changed yet again for the 2022 tax season. If you had income in 2021 from equity compensation, whether from stock option exercises, restricted stock/RSU vesting, or sales of company stock, this article explains what you need to know about IRS tax returns in the 2022 tax season. READ MORE
From equal pay to more paternity leave, here are 5 ways business leaders can fight for gender equity
As a gender economist, my job is to examine key trends of intersectional gender equity and quantify them in economic terms. The past two years have kept me on my toes as the pandemic has brought the cracks of intersectional gender equity to the surface. Women were not only on the front lines of the pandemic, they shouldered the majority of the job losses and fell out of the workforce at a rapid clip. READ MORE
Never Respond First in a Negotiation
One of the most challenging spots in any negotiation is when you get asked the question: What do you want to get paid? This is a highly uncomfortable position to be in, especially when you recognize that the first rule of negotiation is that the first person who talks loses. The last thing you want to do is to say a number that's too high, or worse, too low that you get stuck with. So, if you get asked this question, what can you do to help ensure that you don't leave money on the table?
The good news is that there is an effective strategy for dealing with this. READ MORE
Some Virginia Lawmakers Seek to Reverse State’s Overtime Wage Act
In March 2021, then-Gov. Ralph Northam backed by a full Democratic majority in the General Assembly (Virginia's legislative body), signed the Virginia Overtime Wage Act, greatly expanding the state's overtime requirements effective July 1, 2021. Prior to the act, Virginia adopted the overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). READ MORE
How Companies Should Respond To The Wage Inflation Situation
The Covid-19 pandemic has radically transformed the global economy and labor market. As a result of these changes, countries such as the U.S. are now experiencing significant wage inflation. Currently, many economic experts have suggested that the current ecosystem of wage inflation may be temporary. In reality, however, I believe that the wage inflation situation is permanent, systemic and in some ways contagious. Efforts to address ongoing wage inflation must account for these considerations. READ MORE
Pay and Well-being Top List of What Employees Are Seeking
Amid the Great Resignation — which some are now calling the Great Reshuffle — pay and well-being-related issues have both risen in significance among workers, clinching the first and second spots as the most important factors in accepting a job elsewhere, according to a new Gallup poll. READ MORE
Salaries Increase Across Industries as Workers Drive Change in Today's Labor Market
With workers in firm command of the labor market for the first time in decades, salaries for in-demand positions in key industries are rising at staggering rates, according to a new report from Randstad USA. For example, wages in engineering are rising as much as 19 percent. The report found increases across all eight measured industries as Americans quit their jobs at an unprecedented rate to pursue new, more lucrative opportunities. READ MORE
Nonprofit Salaries And The Leadership Gap
Recently, I was having a friendly conversation with someone at a professional event when he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I was the executive director of a nonprofit organization, his demeanor changed.
“I hate the word nonprofit,” he said. “I always get anxious when I hear it because I know someone’s making a profit.” Although he was quite a nice guy, his manner was a little defensive. READ MORE
Apple Store Employees Want to Unionize, Use Android Phones to Avoid Tim Cook’s Snooping
Largely motivated by employee wages that have stagnated in the face of growing inflation and seeing workers at companies like Starbucks successfully unionize, retail workers are hoping to push the world’s most valuable company to improve worker conditions and pay levels. Apple currently has over 500 retail locations worldwide and over 270 in the United States. READ MORE