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Should I Offer Ownership to My Key Employees?

One of the most difficult parts of owning a business is finding great employees. Successful business owners know they cannot be everywhere at once and therefore must rely on their key employees. Sometimes retaining key employees becomes vital not only for day-to-day operations but also for the future success of the business. This drives many […]

Employment Law Tip: Don’t Forget to Post Voting Rights Notice

A special statewide election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The California Elections Code requires employers in the private and public sectors to allow employees to take paid time off to vote if they don’t have sufficient time outside of work hours, but […]

Amid Criticism, Labor Withdraws Plan to Limit When Children May Work on Farms

The U.S. Department of Labor is abandoning its plan to limit when children under the age of 16 can work on farms. The plan, proposed in the fall, limited the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “parental exemption” and was intended to help reduce farm-related accidents. Introducing the now-defunct proposal, DOL officials said they were responding to […]

Exempt Employees: Labor Commissioner Won’t Follow Federal Docking Rules, Issues Strict New California Standard

Under federal wage and hour law, employees must be paid a predetermined salary to qualify as exempt from overtime. And there are strict guidelines on when salary docking can jeopardize exempt status. When overhauling state wage and hour laws in 2000 with the passage of A.B. 60, California for the first time adopted similar salary […]

Will ‘Mental Minefields’ Blow up Your Corporate Wellness Program?

Our last issue talked about how “mental minefields,” as defined by the consultant McKinsey & Company, erode corporate health and prevent sustained growth. Let’s see if those minefields attack wellness efforts as well. Yesterday’s Advisor detailed five factors spelled out by consultant McKinsey & Company that foster “corporate health” (sustained growth) and three “mental minefields” […]

Comments on Smartcard Guidance Include Harsh Assessment of Implementation Process

Even as the IRS announces it plans to issue guidance on the use of smartcards with qualified transportation fringe benefits, public comments on such guidance include allegations of impropriety from one vendor. The IRS asked for input on whether it should issue such guidelines (see related story) last May. Thompson Information Services requested copies of […]

Effective Today: New IRS Mileage Reimbursement Rate

The IRS, taking pity on drivers fueling up at increasingly costly pumps, has upped the mileage reimbursement rate to 55.5 cents per mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2011, through Dec. 31, 2011. This is an increase of 4.5 cents from the 51 cent rate in effect for the first six months […]

Supreme Court Rules Public Employee’s Text Messages Not Private

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public employer did not violate an employee’s constitutional privacy rights by searching his personal (and often sexually explicit) text messages that were sent and received on his employer-issued pager. The Backstory The City of Ontario, California, issued pagers that could send and receive text messages to Ontario […]