Yearly Archives

2018

Dec 18 2018
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Sexual Harassment Training: More Important than Ever

By | Harassment and Discrimination, Policies and Procedures, Risk Management & Safety

With famous individuals continuing to fall like dominoes as allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment continue, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is stepping up enforcement. In FY 2018, the EEOC recovered nearly $70 million for sexual harassment victims, compared with $47.5 million in FY 2017. As a result, all business owners should be evaluating their corporate stance on sexual harassment, and making sure they know exactly what does, and doesn’t, cross the lines. Fortunately,…

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Dec 11 2018
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Is Cell Phone Usage Reducing Office Productivity?

By | Best Practices

Cell phone usage in the workplace is at an all-time high, and evidence is mounting that employee cell phone use causes unwanted distractions in the office. In a 2015 study by CareerBuilder, 44% of business leaders ranked cell phone usage as the number one productivity killer—placing it atop the list of workplace distractions. Yet, many company leaders struggle to manage cell phone usage effectively. Here’s a simple solution. Unless workers need their cellphones to perform…

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Dec 04 2018
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Reporting of Company-Paid Health Insurance—and an S-Corp Reminder

By | Benefits & Insurance, Best Practices, Payroll, Recordkeeping

As the year draws to a close, company personnel charged with record-keeping should collect their corporate health insurance information in preparation for W-2 and other tax form reporting. For S-Corporations (S-Corps), this information should be segregated by payments made to employees, and their spouses and dependents (which are not wages and are therefore not subject to withholding), and payments made on behalf of officers, owners or employees who own more than two percent of the…

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Nov 27 2018
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Complying with Payroll Recordkeeping Requirements

By | Best Practices, Payroll, Policies and Procedures, Recordkeeping

In the past, we have written about a variety of requirements and forms, from OSHA form to payroll and other accounting documentation. Today, we’ll cover some general guidance related to payroll recordkeeping. This task isn’t easy—although the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are straightforward, other state and federal laws can be complicated and confusing. Additionally, most of them change from time to time. As with so many workplace laws, one principle overrides…

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Nov 20 2018
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Year-End “Punch List” Items – Are You on Track?

By | Benefits & Insurance, Best Practices, Employment Law, Payroll, Policies and Procedures, Record-keeping

The end of any year is always challenging, between juggling personnel holiday vacation schedules, preparing year-end paperwork, and making adjustments for the upcoming year. From Affordable Care Act compliance and reporting to adjusting compensation strategies, there is no shortage of things to do. In case you are overloaded or running behind this year, here’s a handy list of items to review and determine if you have outstanding work for any of them. To simplify things,…

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Nov 13 2018
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If You Don’t Provide Group Insurance to All Workers, Read This!

By | Affordable Care Act, Benefits & Insurance

Have you reminded your self-insured employees to sign up for a 2019 Marketplace plan, yet? This year, the enrollment period is shorter than in previous years—it runs through Saturday, December 15, 2018. (Workers in hurricane-affected areas may have until December 31, 2018.) After that, workers cannot get 2019 coverage unless they qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. On the plus side for the uninsured, the individual mandate, which requires those not enrolled in an approved plan…

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Nov 06 2018
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Compliance Tips for 2019

By | Best Practices, Employment Law, OSHA Regulations, Policies and Procedures

As we head toward the new year, following are some considerations for compliance in various areas. Staying on top of these will help keep your firm out of trouble while minimizing expenses and payroll. Payroll compliance is often more about correct interpretation of the law than math. If you are having trouble discerning between employees and independent contractors, look to the IRS guidelines for direction. Some—but not all—employee discounts qualify as income. Learn the difference. Even…

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Oct 23 2018
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Are Placement “Registries” Employers ? A Recent Agency Bulletin Suggests Not, but Caveats Remain

By | Best Practices, Employment Law, Policies and Procedures

In July 2018, Bryan Jarrett, Acting Administrator of the Department of Labor (DoL), issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2018-4 (FAB) to help Wage & Hour Division (WHD) field investigators determine whether home care, nurse, or caregiver registries are employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Registries aren’t employers – they are “worker matching services,” in this case, matching people who need care giving services with the caregivers who provide them. For this registry, the caregivers were home health…

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Oct 09 2018
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Human Resources Issues for Restaurants: Why You Can’t Ignore Them

By | Best Practices, Payroll, Policies and Procedures, Risk Management & Safety

It’s always amazed us at MarathonHR how many restaurants—even fairly large ones—don’t have a Human Resources (HR) department, or even an HR professional on staff who handles payroll, workers’ comp claims, and other issues that restaurants face. They also may not outsource any of their HR functions to another firm. In the most bare-bones situations, the owner does it all. We have worked with a lot of restaurants and have seen, firsthand, that not having…

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Oct 02 2018
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Reducing Work-Related Motor Vehicle Incidents

By | Driving Safety, Risk Management & Safety, Workplace Injuries

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for people everywhere, and the workplace is no exception. According to the U.S. Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) Guidelines for Employers to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes: Every 12 minutes someone dies in a motor vehicle crash Every 10 seconds an injury occurs Every 5 seconds a crash occurs Many of these incidents occur during the workday or during the commute to and from work….

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