SEC Reopens Comment Period for Pay-for-Performance Proxy Disclosure

Dodd-Frank was enacted to address financial stability after the 2008 financial crisis by requiring accountability and transparency of SEC registrants.¹ Certain Dodd-Frank provisions required rulemaking by the SEC in order to be implemented. In particular, Section 953(a) of Dodd-Frank (which added Section 14(i) to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) requires the SEC to adopt rules for requiring registrants’ proxy statements to describe the relationship between the executive compensation actually paid and the financial performance of the company. READ MORE

The OFCCP’s New Compensation Directive: A Lot Below the Surface

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) new Directive 2022-01, concerning federal contractors’ “obligation to conduct in-depth compensation analysis,” raises issues that will take time to sort out.

The Directive seeks to define federal contractors’ obligations for pay equity self-review under 41 CFR 60-2.17(b)(3), the ‘supply and service’ regulation outlining the gender-, race-, and ethnicity-based affirmative action obligations they must satisfy. READ MORE

Biden pledges to ‘address use of salary history’ in setting federal government pay rates

President Joe Biden has pledged to tackle the use of previous pay rates for setting salaries for federal government jobs – but has stopped short of saying the practice will end.

In an executive order published on Equal Pay Day last week, Biden said that “It is the policy of my administration to eliminate discriminatory pay practices that inhibit the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the federal workforce and the procurement of property and services by the federal government”. READ MORE

How to Make ESG Pay Links More Effective

Shareholder resolutions requesting companies disclose plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 received increased support in the 2021 proxy season. While this is a positive development, companies must do more to cut emissions in half by 2030 to meet the Paris climate treaty goals. One lever in meeting 2050 net-zero pledges is linking executive compensation to hitting climate targets. READ MORE

GE cuts CEO Culp's incentive grant after shareholder rebuke

General Electric Co on Thursday said its Chief Executive Larry Culp would take a 67% cut to an incentive grant this year after shareholders last year rejected his compensation package in a non-binding but rare rebuke over executive pay.

In its annual proxy statement filed on Thursday, the Boston-based industrial conglomerate said Culp's annual equity incentive grant for 2022 will be reduced to $5 million from $15 million. READ MORE

Pelosi marks Equal Pay Day

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., commented on new Department of Labor data Tuesday showing the wage gap burden on women – especially on women of color – and how the coronavirus pandemic disproportionally left more women and moms jobless.

The data release coincided with an Equal Pay Day event at the Capitol on March 15 – the date that women in the United States must work until to be paid the same amount men were in the prior year.  READ MORE

Executive Pay Tied to ESG Goals Grows as Investors Demand Action

Chipotle, McDonalds, Caterpillar, and other companies are increasingly tying executive pay to environmental, social, and governance goals as more investors, regulators, and activists scrutinize corporate behavior.

Executive pay is usually tied to meeting key financial metrics, such as profit margins or return on equity for shareholders. Now, companies are calculating portions of executive pay by factoring in goals such as carbon footprint reduction, employee wellness and retention, and supporting human rights. READ MORE

What Will Compensation Look Like In The New World Of Work?

As we hit the two-year mark of the pandemic, we can reflect on how immensely the world of work has changed over the past 24 months. From the shift to remote and hybrid work to the Great Resignation and the unpredictability of what the world will look like just a month in the future, there have been massive adjustments to the workforce that will likely not change when we reach a more stable “new normal.” READ MORE

How People Actually Make Money From Cryptocurrencies

You saw the many cryptocurrency-related Super Bowl ads, and maybe you found them weird, or deeply dystopian, or just disturbingly familiar. Nevertheless, perhaps you believe the blockchain has financial rewards left to reap and want to jump in, or you’ve already got some of your money tied up in cryptocurrencies via companies like Coinbase and FTX that were advertising during the big game. READ MORE

Workers are quitting because they want higher wages. Employers are finally starting to listen.

For months, a common refrain has been that nobody wants to work anymore.

Billionaire Kim Kardashian was the latest to declare that "it seems like nobody wants to work these days" in an interview with Variety, immediately sparking online backlash. 

Anecdotally, you may have experienced a longer wait than usual for coffee, an unexpectedly closed dining room, or your favorite restaurant closing earlier than usual. READ MORE

Meta employees say goodbye to perks

Meta employees scheduled to return to the office on March 28th will have to find another place to take their dirty laundry. Facebook’s parent company is cutting its free laundry and dry-cleaning service and pushing back dinnertime to a later hour, reported the New York Times. It’s a change in response to the new hybrid work schedule at Meta, where most employees will still be working from home at least a few days of week. Fewer time in the office equals fewer office perks, or at least that’s the logic of Meta leadership. But for many employees at Facebook, Instagram, Reality Labs and other Meta companies, it’s an unwelcome hassle at what is normally a grueling work environment. READ MORE

Mayor Lori Lightfoot warns police and other city employees will lose pay if they don’t get 1st COVID-19 vaccine by Sunday

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will put Chicago police officers and other city workers who don’t get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Sunday on nondisciplinary no-pay status, her administration said late Friday.

The city will also consider disciplining workers, though it will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis as the Lightfoot administration balances its public health policies with staffing problems in the Police Department. READ MORE

Offer Indirect Compensation Methods That Employees Crave

Say you have a friend who is deciding between two different job offers. The first organization is offering your friend a high salary and a standard benefits package that includes health insurance and employer contributions to a retirement account. The second organization is offering a lower salary, but in addition to standard insurance and retirement benefits, your friend would have the flexibility to work from home, gain access to an on-site fitness center, get free lunches every day, and receive a company laptop and cell phone. READ MORE

Appropriately Factoring Risk into Executive Compensation

It’s time to do a better job of factoring risk into executive compensation.

We are barely three months into 2022 and we are faced with yet another “one-in-a-hundred-year” risk event with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the related economic sanctions. This on top of a two-year multi-variant global pandemic, violent social unrest, supply chain disruption, an intense war for talent, inflation, massive wildfires and other environmental disasters — to hit the highlights. READ MORE