Question of the Week: How Can We Prevent Pay Discrimination?
You can help prevent pay discrimination by basing all pay decisions on legitimate, job-related criteria. Here’s how to do that: Establish a clear, written compensation strategy that defines pay ranges, job classifications, and criteria for starting pay, raises, and bonuses. These criteria often include performance, skill level, and tenure along with market data for each […]
Preparing for an Extra Bi-weekly Payroll Period in 2026
We wanted to share an article titled “Preparing for an Extra Bi-weekly Payroll Period in 2026” that provides an overview of salaries, explores the implications of an additional bi-weekly payroll period, and offers strategies to prepare for it next year.
Health Plan Affordability: Avoiding Common Mistakes
The ACA’s “pay-or-play” rules require applicable large employers (ALEs) to offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to their full-time employees or risk paying a penalty. This Compliance Overview addresses common mistakes ALEs should avoid when determining health plan affordability under the ACA’s pay-or-play rules.
Health Plan Cost-sharing Limits for 2027 Plan Years Are Released
On Jan. 29, 2026, HHS released the maximum limits on cost sharing for 2027 under the ACA — $12,000 for self-only coverage and $24,000 for family coverage. Our Legal Update summarizes these updated limits; you can view it by clicking the link in this email titled “Health Plan Cost-sharing Limits for 2027 Plan Years Are […]
Upcoming Webinar: ACA Readiness 2026: Are You Prepared to File with Confidence?
ACA Readiness 2026: Are You Prepared to File with Confidence? Tuesday, Feb 3, 2026 10:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM ET Register here: Link ACA filing deadlines are just around the corner, and many employers don’t discover reporting issues until after forms have already been submitted. At that point, fixes can be costly, time-consuming, and stressful. With […]
Question of the Week: How Do I Calculate Overtime When an Employee Takes PTO During the Same Week?
Question of the Week JANUARY 21, 2026 QUESTION How do I calculate overtime when an employee takes PTO and gets paid for more than 40 hours in the workweek? ANSWER You’re only required to pay overtime when a nonexempt employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek. Paid time the employee didn’t work—such as vacation, paid […]
Calculating FMLA Leave During Holiday Weeks
Holiday weeks can pose an extra administrative challenge for employers with employees on leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This Compliance Overview discusses how to calculate FMLA leave properly when it is taken during weeks that include a holiday.
Question of the Week: Can I Track Hours Worked by Exempt Employees?
Question of the Week JANUARY 07, 2026 QUESTION Can I track hours worked by exempt employees? ANSWER You can, but we generally recommend not tracking unless you’ve got a legitimate business reason for doing so. Most exempt employees don’t expect to have to track their hours and will likely bristle at the idea. After all, not having […]
Question of the Week: What is Job-Protected Leave?
Question of the Week QUESTION Can we terminate someone for taking FMLA leave during a major project they committed to helping with? ANSWER No. When a leave of absence is “job protected,” like the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), it means you can’t terminate or demote the employee or take away any benefit they […]
Trends Shaping Employee Benefits in 2026
This HR Brief newsletter discusses trends shaping employee benefits in 2026 and provides winter attraction and retention tips for employers.