Hot Tips for Staying on Top of HR Issues
Cash
is King
Mileage
allowance for 2010
Key
items to know in 2010
Holiday Scheduling for 2010 and 2011
Rules for overtime pay
No smoking MA statewide
New series:
Your employees--retention, do's &
dont's on job descriptions
Mileage Reimbursement
Allowance to 50.0 cents effective January 1, 2010
(IR-2009-131, Dec. 3, 2009)
The IRS has announced 12/03/09 a decrease in the business mileage reimbursement allowance to 50.0¢ per mile effective January 1, 2010, a 9% reduction from 2009. The IRS reimbursement allowance is set as an upper limit of what is allowable under federal tax law and most employers use the IRS standard as a benchmark for their own policy. According to the IRS, the reduced 2010 rate reflects generally lower transportation costs compared to 2009.
2010
(effective 01/01/10)
50.0¢ per mile
2009
(effective 01/01/09)
55.0¢ per mile
2008 50.5¢ per mile
2007 48.5¢ per mile
2006 44.5¢ per mile
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Key
items to know in 2010
FICA
employee’s share for 2010 – 6.2% of gross compensation
on the first $106,800 of gross wages (no change from 2009).
MA Minimum wage is $8.00 / per hour (effective 1/1/2008).
Federal Minimum Wage increased 7/24/2009 to $7.25 / per hour. No change (yet) announced for 2010.
2010 Merit Budget increase projections
range 3.0% - 3.4%
(per The Survey Group, 08/27/09)
If
you have any questions about this tip or any other human resource issues,
send your request to RuthL@hrinsourcing.com
or call (617) 719-5636.
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Holidays Schedules for 2010 and 2011
If you have not yet issued your 2010 Holiday schedule, we support our client companies in establishing this and communicating it to all employees as early in the 4th quarter of the previous year as possible.
For 2010, the 4th of July 2010 is on a Sunday this year. Companies usually declaring July 4th as a holiday may choose to consider Monday, July 5th as a holiday or may allocate this day as one of their “floating holidays” (if part of their benefits package), giving employees the benefit of a long summer weekend. Both Christmas Day, December 25, 2010 and New Year’s Day, January 1, 2011 occur on Saturdays – here too, companies may choose to consider the Christmas Eve day, Friday, 12/24/10, a holiday, which means employees with this day off as declared holiday will have the advantage of a three-day weekend, which makes for great flexibility around this busy season. For New Year's Eve day, Friday, 12/31/10, companies may not choose to declare this a 2010 holiday. With the Jan. 1, 2011 New Year's Day holiday falling on a weekend, companies will look ahead at their likely 2011 Holiday schedule and determine how best to allocate 2011 declared holidays.
The Massachusetts
Secretary of State holiday guidelines can be found at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cishol/holidx.htm.
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New Rules for Overtime Pay
You have read about the revisions recently
adopted by the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) – Overtime Pay, New Rules
adopted under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), effective 8/23/04.
As with so many government publications, overtime rules have several
twists and turns to consider.
A recent Boston Globe business section article, entitled “Numbers in dispute as OT rules kick in” summarizes the changes well. It states that the key target industries impacted are: retailers, restaurants, insurance firms and banks, with jobs in those industries generally exempted from (not eligible for) overtime in the new rules.
Some important HIGHLIGHTS to note:
-
Workers earning LESS THAN $23,660 annually (divided by 2080 hours, this equates to $11.38 / per hour) are eligible for overtime for working more than 40 hours in a week.
-
Workers earning $100,000 or more a year are exempt from overtime.
- The article lists common titles for positions generally exempt from (NOT eligible for) overtime pay, including: accountants, athletic trainers with degrees or specialized training, chefs, computer system analysts, dental hygienists, embalmers, executive and administrative assistants, financial services industry workers, funeral directors, human resource managers, insurance claims adjusters, journalists, management consultants, physician assistants, programmers, purchasing agents, registered or certified medical technologists, and software engineers.
The general consensus from experts is that an update has been needed for decades and that prior rules have been ambiguous and out-of-date, given the changing nature of the U.S. workforce and jobs since the 1940’s and 1950’s.
If you would like a copy of this article, send your request to RuthL@hrinsourcing.com or call (617) 719-5636.
If you have questions about job classifications within your organization or any other human resource issues, please keep HR Insourcing in mind for support now or in the future.
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No Smoking Goes Statewide in MA
Many of you have already initiated "Non-Smoking" workplaces.
The level of anti-smoking was governed by restrictions at the city and
town level, and now state-wide. Former Gov. Romney signed the bill effective
7/5/04. Click
here to read a one-page summary.
If you have questions about this new Bill or any other human resource issues, send your request to RuthL@hrinsourcing.com or call (617) 719-5636.
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