Inflation sparks global wave of protests for higher pay

Rising food costs. Soaring fuel bills. Wages that are not keeping pace. Inflation is plundering people’s wallets, sparking a wave of protests and workers’ strikes around the world.

This week alone saw protests by the political opposition in Pakistan, nurses in Zimbabwe, unionized workers in Belgium, railway workers in Britain, Indigenous people in Ecuador, hundreds of U.S. pilots and some European airline workers. Sri Lanka’s prime minister declared an economic collapse Wednesday after weeks of political turmoil. READ MORE

Asking Employees About Salary Expectations Could Lead to Discrimination Claims

In recent years, a number of states have passed laws prohibiting prospective employers from asking applicants about their salaries in their current jobs or overall salary history. However, these laws may not restrict employers from asking applicants about their salary needs or expectations for the advertised position. Asking questions such as these during job interviews could raise questions with regard to compliance with federal equal pay laws. READ MORE

SEC Reminds Public Company Executives That Clawbacks Are A Priority

On June 8, 2022, the SEC issued a release reopening the comment period for the clawback rules initially proposed in July 2015 to implement the provisions of Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The 2015 proposed rules would require securities exchanges to establish listing standards that would require public companies to develop, implement and disclose a clawback policy. This reopening release follows on the heels of the SEC’s October 2021 reopening of the comment period for the proposed rules, which closed on November 22, 2021. Last week’s re-reopening of the comment period is intended to allow interested persons to comment on the additional analysis and data provided in a memo from the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (“DERA”). READ MORE

Employers Need to Look Out for Local Laws on Salary Transparency, in Addition to PERM Regulations

Employers doing PERM cases need to be on the lookout for local laws that require salary transparency in recruitment ads. Pursuant to the Department of Labor’s PERM regulations, recruitment advertisements must include only the name of the employer, the job location, directions on how to apply for the position, and a description of the position specific enough to apprise U.S. workers of the opportunity – not salary information. Local laws may impose additional requirements. READ MORE

October Surprise? DOL Proposal for Exempt Status Minimum Salary Hike Could be Coming

The DOL has made clear that, during the Biden Administration, it will attempt to increase the minimum salary that employers must pay to most of their exempt employees. DOL has conducted several listening sessions with various groups, including employer representatives, over the past few months to gather information and opinions on whether, when, and to what amount the DOL should increase the minimum salary which employers must pay to exempt employees to maintain their status as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements under the executive, administrative, professional, and computer employee exemptions. READ MORE

Fine-Tune Compensation Strategies to Keep Workers On Board

Compensation structures are not something you set and forget, said Tina Marie Wohlfield, SHRM-SCP, founder and chief people strategist at HR consultancy TIMAWO LLC in Fraser, Mich., near Detroit.

Wohlfield offered tips to keep pay strategies up-to-date on June 14 at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2022 in New Orleans, in her concurrent session "When Pay Strategies Fail—Why HR Needs to Act Now." READ MORE

Here's what the Fed rate hike means for your salary

American workers have seen their wages climb faster than at any time since the mid-1980s. But inflation has risen so fast that workers have actually been handed a pay cut instead.

Every time inflation ticks up, it takes a bite out of workers' pay and chews away at their bank accounts. And this current stretch of inflation -- triggered by a confluence of events, including the war in Ukraine and the ongoing pandemic -- has had a voracious appetite. READ MORE

New York Passes Salary Disclosure Law

As part of the end-of-session rush of legislative activity, New York State lawmakers passed a bill that will require private-sector employers in the state to disclose salary ranges on job postings.

The bill now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature or veto.

If enacted, which is expected, New York will be the latest state to jump on the hottest trend in pay equity legislation. READ MORE

US makes billions from prison labor as inmates earn pennies: rights group

Montrell Carmouche praises Mexico's white beaches and coral reefs, selling it by telephone as a holiday destination while trying not to reveal that he has never been there -- or that he is, in fact, an inmate imprisoned in the United States.

His story -- and his pay, a meager $6 commission per sale -- are featured in a report released this week by the powerful American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the University of Chicago which documents the work of the US prison population. READ MORE

Number of the day: salary increases

New survey data released by executive compensation consultancy Pearl Meyer show that 70% of organizations implemented larger salary increases this year compared to 2021, with 21% reporting “significantly higher” levels. When polled in November 2021, companies expecting larger increases indicated an average of 4.2%. The data show actual implemented increases were even higher than anticipated at 4.8%. READ MORE

Creating a Motivational Cash Compensation Program

Variable pay incentive bonuses are becoming a larger part of employee compensation, but that doesn't mean organizations can ignore their base pay salary structures.

Before paying bonuses, organizations "must first have appropriate base pay as an anchor," said John A. Rubino, founder and president of Rubino Consulting Services, a global HR consulting firm based in Pound Ridge, N.Y. He spoke June 14 at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2022 (SHRM22) in New Orleans. READ MORE

Stock market's fall has wiped out $3 trillion in retirement savings this year

The U.S. stock market rout that has put U.S. equities in a bear market isn't just reducing the net worth of billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. It's also taking a toll on Americans' retirement savings, wiping out trillions of dollars in value.

The selloff has erased nearly $3 trillion from U.S. retirement accounts, according to Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. By her calculations, 401(k) plan participants have lost about $1.4 trillion from their accounts since the end of 2021. People with IRAs — most of which are 401(k) rollovers — have lost $2 trillion this year. READ MORE

Senator bristles at FDA commissioner over nine-figure payment to CEO

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during a Senate committee hearing on the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, brought up a nine-figure "golden parachute" payment that Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel received, criticizing the huge sum that came after the vaccine developer received billions in government funding.

Sanders was not just upset about the payment itself, but about how FDA Commissioner Robert Califf was not aware of it. When asked about the payment, Califf said he was "not aware of that," as it was  "not something I would keep up with" in his job. READ MORE

How To Disclose Salary On Job Postings

At what point in your life do you learn to negotiate? As a child in a military family, I think they skipped over that lesson. No one who went to Boot Camp negotiated with a three-year-old afterwards. That’s just not how we handled tiny terrorists in the military. My childhood was non-negotiable.

In all fairness, negotiation was not the more important career skill to have – as a child or for my parents as soldiers. In the military, you get what you get. Based on a formula consisting of location, time, education, and a few other variables, pay is calculated. There’s a compensation plan. READ MORE