Smart Employees Use Their Vacation Time: Third Circuit Holds PTO Is Not Part Of Exempt Employees’ Salaries Under the FLSA

In a boon for employers with exempt employees, the Third Circuit held earlier this year as an issue of first impression that paid time off (PTO) is not part of an exempt employee’s salary under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Thus, although PTO arguably has a monetary value, employers will not be liable under the FLSA for deducting from a salaried employee’s PTO time. READ MORE

6 In 10 US Workers Are Jealous Of UPS Employees' 6-Figure Salary Increase

Unionized delivery workers came to an agreement with UPS that resulted in raising annual pay for drivers’ that sits at around $170,000 within five years. Other workers across various industries have strong thoughts about this.

According to a new report from routing software company Circuit shows that nearly 6 in 10 Americans (57%) are envious of the UPS salary increase, with those in education (72%), manufacturing/engineering (67%), and professional services (61%) being the most envious. READ MORE

UAW justifies wage demands by pointing to CEO pay raises. So how high were they?

It’s been a central argument for the United Auto Workers union: If Detroit’s three automakers raised CEO pay by 40% over the past four years, workers should get similar raises.

UAW President Shawn Fain has repeatedly cited the figure, contrasting it with the 6% pay raises autoworkers have received since their last contract in 2019. He opened negotiations with a demand for a similar 40% wage increase over four years, along with the return of pensions and cost of living increases. The UAW has since lowered its demand to a 36% wage increase but the two sides remain far apart in contract talks, triggering a strike. READ MORE

Deadline Coming for Clawback Provisions in Executive Pay Policies

Public companies have until Dec. 1 to update or add new clawback provisions to their executive pay policies in order to comply with regulations the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized last year.

Clawback provisions are an increasingly common feature of executive compensation packages, according to Anne Tyler Hall, an attorney with Hall Benefits Law in Atlanta. Their purpose is to enable companies to recover incentive pay if an executive's decisions turn out to be ethically and legally questionable, thus imposing financial and reputational liabilities on the company. READ MORE

Proposed DOL Overtime Threshold Increase Could Stretch Some Industries

Businesses are concerned that the federally proposed $20,000 increase in salaried workers' eligibility for overtime is a large-enough jump that they will struggle to comply. 

The increase would mean that most salaried employees making less than $55,068 would be eligible for overtime. The current threshold, $35,568, was put into place in 2020, an increase from the previous threshold of $23,660, which had been in place since 2004.  READ MORE

Salaries falling for senior high-tech roles

There has been a steady decrease in salaries for senior employee or B-level roles in tech as well as an increased job search duration in the last year, according to data shared with CTech by Israeli recruitment firm Ethosia. This is consistent with earlier data reported regarding junior roles, although the drop in salary and increased job search time is not as extreme.

According to the data, collected from August 2022 to August 2023, the salary for senior roles (positions that require at least eight years of experience) has decreased almost across the board. Although it has slightly decreased, devops engineers report the highest salary at 32,000-35,000 NIS ($8,366-9,150). READ MORE

New York employers must include pay rates in job ads under new state law

Help-wanted advertisements in New York will have to disclose proposed pay rates after a statewide salary transparency law goes into effect on Sunday, part of growing state and city efforts to give women and people of color a tool to advocate for equal pay for equal work.

Employers with at least four workers will be required to disclose salary ranges for any job advertised externally to the public or internally to workers interested in a promotion or transfer. READ MORE

How leaders can address the CEO-to-worker pay gap

The CEO-to-worker pay gap is growing—and gaining attention. Fortunately, there are steps leaders can take to address inequality. 

For instance, Taylor Swift’s move to give generous bonuses to her team as her massive Eras Tour came to a close has made headlines. Swift reportedly gave every one of her employees, including truck drivers, catering staff, sound technicians, riggers, dancers, and more, bonuses totaling over $55 million. Her tour is predicted to gross $2.2 billion in ticket sales in North America, and poised to become the highest grossing tour of all time. According to the Wall Street Journal, Swift herself is believed to make between $6 million to $13 million per show.  READ MORE

UAW justifies wage demands by pointing to CEO pay raises. So how high were they?

It’s been a central argument for the United Auto Workers union: If Detroit's three automakers raised CEO pay by 40% over the past four years, workers should get similar raises.

UAW President Shawn Fain has repeatedly cited the figure, contrasting it with the 6% pay raises autoworkers have received since their last contract in 2019. He opened negotiations with a demand for a similar 40% wage increase over four years, along with the return of pensions and cost of living increases. The UAW has since lowered its demand to a 36% wage increase but the two sides remain far apart in contract talks, triggering a strike. READ MORE

Growth in Total Compensation Cost Slows for Employers

Employers spent more on employees' overall compensation from March to June this year, according to figures released today, but the pace at which they are hiking total compensation is slowing.

According to the latest Employer Costs for Employee Compensation report, released September 12 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employers spent just 0.59 percent more on wages and benefits in June 2023 compared to March 2023. READ MORE

Striking autoworkers want to end a system that pays different wages for the same job

Striking autoworkers want to be paid more. They also want to be paid more equally.

One of the top goals of the United Auto Workers, which began striking at three plants early Friday, is to eliminate “tiered” compensation at the Big Three U.S. carmakers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler-maker Stellantis. The union says the arrangements leave many employees with steeper climbs up the wage-and-benefits ladder than some of their colleagues. READ MORE

A GM worker with median pay would have to work 362 years to make the CEO’s annual compensation

It’s been a central argument for the United Auto Workers union: If Detroit’s three automakers raised CEO pay by 40% over the past four years, workers should get similar raises.

UAW President Shawn Fain has repeatedly cited the figure, contrasting it with the 6% pay raises autoworkers have received since their last contract in 2019. He opened negotiations with a demand for a similar 40% wage increase over four years, along with the return of pensions and cost of living increases. The UAW has since lowered its demand to a 36% wage increase but the two sides remain far apart in contract talks, triggering a strike. READ MORE

How much does an average UAW autoworker make?

When their existing labor contract expired at midnight Thursday, United Auto Workers began a strike against Detroit's Big Three automakers after being unable to navigate a major speed bump in what have been contentious negotiations: pay.

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler) have spent weeks in talks with the UAW, mulling over details of a new labor contract that also has major implications for the U.S. automotive industry. UAW President Shawn Fain said members deserve hefty pay raises, emphasizing that the auto companies have brought in billions of dollars in profit and boosted CEO pay in recent years.

What is the average U.S. autoworker's wage? READ MORE

Automakers offered double-digit pay hikes but it was not enough

The United Auto Workers union is on strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, the first time in its history that it has struck all three of America’s unionized automakers at the same time.

Workers on Friday walked out of three plants – one each from the Big Three automakers – in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio. Picketers were met with cheers from sign-waving union members. READ MORE

The 15 ‘most fairly’ paid CEOs

As more states require companies to share information on salary transparency, the question of pay equity between executives and workers is being taken up by unions, shareholder activists, and researchers who question why CEO pay has ballooned in recent years.

But the latest batch of executive compensation disclosures filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission also reveal some CEOs who (at first glance, at least) have more reasonable pay packages. Urban Outfitters CEO Richard Hayne, for example, takes a token $1 per year, but earns bonuses and other compensation. Still, his pay is fairly equitable compared with his peers on the Russell 3000 Index. Box’s Aaron Levie is also among the reasonably paid by this metric, and the average salary of a worker at his cloud-based content management company earns a nice salary as well. And then there’s Elon Musk who, in his role as CEO of Tesla, appears to be paid like a man of the people. READ MORE

Class of 2022 Average Starting Salaries Higher than Those of Previous Class

The average starting salary for recent graduates with bachelor’s degrees has risen noticeably, according to findings from a new National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) report.

The report, NACE’s Summer 2023 Salary Survey, found that the overall average salary for graduates increased from $55,911 for the Class of 2021 to $60,028 for the Class of 2022. READ MORE

A majority of job listings now include salary information, Indeed says

Thanks to an increase in state pay-transparency laws, slightly more than half of the listings on Indeed.com now include salary information, the highest share yet, per data from the jobs website out Thursday morning.

Why it matters: Job seekers appreciate salary transparency because it gives them an edge in negotiations over pay — employers are less fond, for the same reason. READ MORE