Last week Congress passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act as part of the legislative package of spending bills. President Trump signed the legislation on Friday to implement the first major retirement plan legislation since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. As often occurs with major Tax legislation, employers will need to quickly review the legislation as some of the provisions are effective as early as January 1, 2020.  The following…

Calculation of “regular rate” of pay is something which has long given employers fits, and the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) has taken a step which it hopes will clarify the definition, something which hasn’t been done in 50 years.  On December 12, 2019 the Final Rule interpreting “regular rate” was announced. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) employers are required to pay non-exempt workers time and one half the “regular rate” for every…

It’s that time of year HR Pros!  Holiday parties, too much food and drink, devolving into that awful HR role of party planner and gift giver, and a list a mile long of things you meant to get to before year end which, somehow, just didn’t get done.  Here’s an idea.  Let’s not think about what we didn’t do, but focus instead on a real plan for what we realistically can accomplish in 2020, the…

On September 5, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) issued new guidance on when employers must count 1099-MISC workers as part of their workforce for purposes of the Paid Family and Medical Leave (“PFML”) program. In its press release announcing the new guidance, the DFML stated that the guidance was issued after meetings with representatives from hundreds of businesses across Massachusetts during which the businesses consistently sought clarification on whether they…

After numerous delays and revisions the deadline for filing enhanced EEO-1 reports is now just three weeks away, due to be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) by September 30.  Component 1 Data should already have been filed…by May 31. The Component 1 data required affected employers to provide a list of employees organized by job category, race, ethnicity, and gender.…

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey released her fourth annual Labor Day Report this week.  As in past years, the report summarizes the AGO’s Fair Labor Division’s enforcement activities over the past year, and provides insight into the office’s priorities and initiatives in the enforcement of the Commonwealth’s wage and hour laws.…

Following both Massachusetts and Maine, New Hampshire will prohibit non-compete agreements for employees who earn an hourly rate that is equal to or lesser than double the federal minimum wage.  The federal minimum wage, which NH follows, is $7.25 per hour.  This means that employers cannot require employees who make $14.50 per hour or less (or just over $30,000 or less) to sign a non-compete agreement as a condition of employment. NH’s new law defines a…