New Year, New State Minimum Compensation Thresholds for Restrictive Covenants

For many employers, a new year is a new opportunity to update policies, procedures, and agreements—including restrictive covenants. In addition to ensuring compliance with applicable state requirements as to timing, consideration, and restrictions, companies need to be aware of applicable compensation minimums for employees being asked to sign noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements. With the start of the new year, many states have increased minimum compensation floors for such employees. READ MORE

Tim Cook agrees to a massive pay cut

Apple CEO Tim Cook has agreed to cut his pay this year after shareholders rebelled.

The world’s largest tech company said it would reduce Cook’s target pay package to $49 million, 40% lower than his target pay for 2022 and about half Cook’s $99.4 million total compensation that he was granted last year.

The vast majority of Cook’s 2022 compensation — about 75% — was tied up in company shares, with half of that dependent on share price performance. READ MORE

Will Pay Transparency Laws Level the Playing Field?

According to the federal government, “[a]lthough the gender pay gap has narrowed since the signing of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women earned 82 cents for every dollar a man earns, according to 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”1 As a result, women would have had to work an extra 42 days to earn what men did in 2020.2 And according to the Department of Labor, “[m]any women of color were paid even less. For example, Black women were paid 64%, and Hispanic women (of any race) were paid 57% of what white non-Hispanic men were paid.”3  To level the playing field, state and local governments are turning to pay transparency laws to try to reduce and ultimately eliminate the gender pay gap. READ MORE

American Airlines Made the Wrong Bet by Doubling Regional Pilot Pay

American Airlines may be regretting its decision last year to unilaterally hike regional pilot pay to historically high levels, according to Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier fundamentally changed the economics of regional flying when it raised pilot pay at its three wholly-owned affiliates — Envoy, Piedmont Airlines, and PSA Airlines — to nearly the level earned by its own pilots. The move doubled the cost of regional operations, which have long been a lower cost capacity option for major airlines like American to serve small cities and, at least as recently as October, had yet to solve the pilot staffing issues that American’s affiliates face. READ MORE

Majority of employers tying ESG metrics to executive pay

A majority of employers are tying ESG (environmental, social and governance) metrics in compensation plans for CEOs or other named executive officers (NEOs), according to a new report.

Specifically, 67% of companies in the TSX60 index and 80% of CEC40 companies (which have been identified by Climate Engagement Canada for being among the country’s top carbon emitters) disclose the use of one or more ESG metrics in these compensation plans, according to law firm Fasken. READ MORE

Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans Increasingly Include Noncompete Clauses

Non-qualified deferred compensation plans are increasingly being used by employers as retention tools by including noncompete or “bad actor” forfeiture clauses, according to research released Wednesday by the Plan Sponsor Council of America.

Of 135 companies offering NQDC plans to employees, 30% said they had noncompete clauses in the 2022 report, up from just 11.5% in 2021, according to data provided to PLANADVISER. In addition, 40% of employers said they have a “bad actor” forfeiture provision in 2022’s report, up from 23.7% in 2021. READ MORE

More and More Employers Are Using an Overtime Loophole to Pay People Less

Congratulations on your new role as manager. But before you celebrate, you may want to ask your boss a few questions—and do some quick math.

Employers are increasingly giving workers phony job promotions and creating lofty-sounding managerial titles to avoid paying overtime wages. That’s according to new research from a trio of economists at Harvard University and the University of Texas-Dallas who reviewed online job postings and compensation data from 2010 through 2019. READ MORE

Elon Musk Might Never Be the World’s Richest Person Again

Elon Musk, the “Chief Twit” and Tesla “Technoking,” might never reclaim the title of the world’s richest person. Just how far he has to fall is anyone’s guess.

It’s not just that he became the first person in history to have $200 billion erased from their personal fortune. And it’s not only about how he’s spending more time on Twitter these days, striking a conspiratorial tone about everything from politics to vaccines to the very social-media company he purchased for $44 billion in a debt-fueled buyout. READ MORE

New website aggregates tech salary ranges in California and New York City

Starting Jan. 1, California required employers to include salary ranges on job postings. A similar law went into effect in New York City last year. As transparency laws become more common, business leaders and employees alike can use the increased visibility to their advantage. 

In addition to tracking salary ranges, Comprehensive.io provides users with pay transparency compliance rates for California and New York City. READ MORE

Trimming benefits because of the economy? You may want to think again

As the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the world of work over the last few years, employers across industries turned to their benefits to support—and retain—struggling employees. Childcare subsidies, beefed-up parental leave, flexible hours and more became staples at many companies, as workers navigated the new norm—and they became even more integral to retention as the Great Resignation took hold. READ MORE