Many working parents today face a tough choice between staying home or paying high childcare costs. In some areas, options are limited, with long waitlists and high prices creating child-care deserts. The challenge is even greater for employees who’ve relocated and no longer have nearby family support. While maternity and pregnancy benefits have improved, the biggest barrier to staying in the workforce is access to affordable, reliable childcare. This is when the biggest drop-off...

For many positions to be exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) it must meet three tests to be Executive, Administrative, or Professional (EAP) exempt. Exempt positions do not have to be paid overtime at time and one-half (1.5x) or keep records of hours worked. The three exemption tests are:

Troy, MI – December 19, 2024 --- ASE, one of the nation’s oldest and largest employer associations, has released the 2025 Starting Salaries for Co-op Students and Recent College Graduates Survey this week. The annual survey provides a comprehensive look at the current state of wages and benefits provided to co-op students and recent college graduates.  The survey also presents employers with a snapshot of the recruitment and retention trends associated with these new...

PBMs or Pharmacy Benefit Managers are under the gun these days. PBMs are third party administrators for many types of drug care plans, especially those covering employers. PBMs earn revenues in a variety of ways. First, they collect administrative and service fees from the original insurance plan. Second, they can also collect rebates from the manufacturer. Third, and more controversial, they can resell drugs at a price higher that than the price negotiated with the manufacturer or...

Michigan is not alone with its paid sick time law. As you wrestle to prepare a new policy to meet Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA), take heart that currently there are16 other states as well as the District of Columbia that require employers to provide some form of paid sick leave to their employees.

Employers are increasingly grappling with the complexities of pay transparency as it reshapes recruitment, retention, and workplace equity. Recent studies from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis indicate that pay disclosure in job postings is growing, partly due to new legislation requiring employers to disclose pay ranges. However, pay disclosure is also expanding in areas where it is not mandated, suggesting that employers are embracing this change in response to unique challenges and...

The Illinois Equal Pay Act (the "Act") is officially going live January 1, 2025.  It was passed in 2023 and amended several times. Employers in Illinois with 15 or more employees will be required to include pay and benefit information in all job postings both external and internal.    The following are specific provisions that must be complied with:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Nebraska v. Su, No. 23-15179 (9th Cir. Nov. 5, 2024) that the president lacks authority under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to set a federal contractor minimum wage.  Initially, Arizona, Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana, and South Carolina brought suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona challenging enforcement of the contractor minimum wage. The district court had dismissed the suit...

Last month the Federal Court in East Texas vacated the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) salary level test regulations. This DOL rule had moved the weekly salary level test to $844/week ($43,888/yr.) as of July 1^st this year and had scheduled a second increase that would have taken the salary level test up to $1,128/week or $58,656/yr. on January 1, 2025.

On Friday the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas struck down the Department of Labor’s 2024 Exempt Employee Salary Level test (White-Collar tests) which had increased the salary level to $844/week ($43,888/yr) in July of this year with a scheduled second increase to $1,128/week ($58,656/yr) January 1, 2025. This ruling returns the salary level test to the level it was before July 1st – $684/week ($35,568/yr). 

Recent surveys on healthcare have taught us one major thing – healthcare costs are expected to rise.  A survey completed by Willis Towers Watson reports that employers are seeking new strategies to manage rising health care costs, which are expected to grow by 7.7% in 2025. Instead of raising employee premiums, many companies are focusing on cost-saving measures like improving health plan designs and offering access to higher-quality care at lower prices. There is also a trend...

Effective January 1, 2025, employers that wish to maintain the FLSA exemption for certain jobs will have to increase salaries from a minimum of $844/week/$43,888/yr, to $1,128/week/$58,656/yr. This next increase is obviously the bigger of the two regulatory changes and may compel some employers to choose not to increase the salary levels and in turn convert those positions to non-exempt. This will mean they will become overtime eligible, and certain recordkeeping activity will now be...

ASE recently released its 2024-2025 Salary Budget Survey, offering a comprehensive view of salary trends, pay structure adjustments, and incentive-based compensation programs among employers. This data provides key insights into the challenges businesses face in an uncertain economic environment.

Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations setting a new salary level test for determining job exempt status. To classify a job as exempt from overtime and certain record keeping compliance requirements, a job typically must meet three tests:

Since the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the process of adopt and amend to be unconstitutional earlier this summer, employers have been faced with the prospect of complying with two problematic employment laws early next year. Michigan’s minimum wage law and the paid sick leave law will change back to the original ballot initiatives passed back in 2018 on February 21, 2025. 

Corporate donation matching programs have become a mainstay in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. With 65% of Fortune 500 companies and 51% of Russell 1000 companies offering these programs, it is clear that donation matching is a popular and effective way for companies to support philanthropy. These programs not only amplify the social good achieved by nonprofits but also engage employees in meaningful ways. Here is some more information on the essentials of donation...

Employee wages and raising the minimum wage has been a hot topic for HR professionals and organizational leaders for a little while now as inflation continues to rise, yet wages have not increased at the same pace. Raising the minimum wage may have various effects on several industries, but one that is likely to see larger effects is the hospitality industry. This is mainly due to the large portion of tipped workers it consists of and the recent legislature to remove the tip credit which...

More than two-thirds of employees said that health care benefits are second only to salary when considering a job offer, and 78% said they would find a new job if their benefits package was inadequate, according to recent research from Intuit QuickBooks and Allstate Health Solutions. The 2024 Intuit QuickBooks Allstate Health Solutions Benefit Survey noted that the survey results emphasize the important role health care benefits play when it comes to an employer’s ability to...

Affordable employer health insurance is becoming an employer burden and an employee wish.  According to the Kaiser Foundation in their 2023 report, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2023 was $8,435 for single coverage and $23,968 for family coverage. The average annual single premium and the average annual family premium each increased by 7% over the last year. Comparatively, there was an increase of 5.2% in workers’ wages and inflation was at...

While employers and others were digesting what the Michigan Supreme Court did to employers with its ruling on the Minimum Wage and Paid Medical Leave laws last week, talk has started to grow around a new law enacting Michigan Paid Family and Medical Leave that could pay employees up to fifteen (15) weeks of leave per year if they qualify for the benefit.

Last week the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the "adopt and amend” enaction of our current minimum wage and paid medical leave was unconstitutional. This means that PA 337 and PA 338, the original ballot initiatives of 2018, will take effect February 21, 2025. It also means larger employers that adopted paid time off benefits compliant with the amended law will have to modify their paid time off policies to comply with the originally passed law. It also means small employers,...

In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in how employers think about workplace benefits. Traditionally, benefits packages have focused on healthcare, retirement plans, and paid time off. While these are important, there is a growing recognition that financial wellness is a crucial aspect of overall employee well-being. This realization has prompted employers to reevaluate and expand their benefits offerings to better support their employees' financial health.

Nancy Mator and Robert Mator participate in the Wesco Distribution, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan.  On behalf of themselves and a class of participants and beneficiaries, the Mators sued the Plan, its fiduciaries, and Wesco Distribution, Inc. (collectively, “Wesco”). The Mators allege Wesco   violated   fiduciary duties imposed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) because it paid excessive recordkeeping fees and failed to monitor...

Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its report on state and local government worker pay. It showed that public worker pay is nearly 40% higher than private sector workers. Remember this next time a call for tax increases is made.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final rule changing the salary level test from $684/week to $844/week took effect as scheduled. This rule is being challenged in several Texas federal courts. It was hoped by some, that one of those Court decisions would result in the issuance of an injunction for the entire United States. However, in one case, the injunction issued on Friday only impacts State of Texas public employees. In the second case, the Court declined to issue an...