Vision Payroll

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, employers must provide a nursing mother a reasonable break time to express breast milk for up to one year after her child’s birth. There is no quantified limit on the number of breaks to be allowed or the duration of such breaks. Employers must provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public” for mothers to use. Nothing in this amendment requires this break time to be compensated, although other federal and state laws may require compensation. Employers with fewer than fifty employees are exempt if the “requirements would impose an undue hardship” either through the relative difficulty or expense of complying with the law. As in other sections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), state laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Due to the vagueness of the law and possibility of conflicts with other statutes, Vision Payroll strongly recommends that affected employers consult with a competent labor law attorney to ensure compliance.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released revised 2010 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and revised 2010 Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements. The revised 2010 Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 indicate that employers should:

Report the amount of wages and tips paid to the qualified employee for which you claimed the payroll tax exemption in Box 12, using code CC. This will include wages and tips paid to the qualified employee from April 1, 2010, through December 31, 2010, for which you claimed the payroll tax exemption, plus wages and tips paid to the qualified employee from March 19, 2010, through March 31, 2010, for which you claimed a credit in the second quarter of 2010. The amount may not exceed $106,800 (2010 maximum social security wage base).

The box on the Form W-3 to report deferred compensation was moved from box 12 to box 12a. In addition, a new box 12b was added to report HIRE exempt wages and tips. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on the 2010 Form W-2 and revised 2010 Form W-3.

This week’s question comes from Kate, a restaurant manager. We know that the Spanish W-4 doesn’t come out at the same time as the English W-4. Is the 2010 Spanish W-4 now available? Answer: The 2010 Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate was released last December. The Spanish equivalent, 2010 Formulario W-4(SP), Certificado de Exención de la Retención del Empleado, was not released until April, but is now available. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any further questions on 2010 Formulario W-4(SP).

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending May 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 444,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 448,000. The 4-week moving average was 450,500, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 459,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6% for the week ending May 1, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.6%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 1 was 4,627,000, an increase of 12,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,615,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,639,500, a decrease of 14,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,654,250.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.174 million.

A job offer letter should try to contain the right combination of professionalism, optimism, information and, of course, relevant disclaimers. Court cases such as Williams v. Computer Resources, Inc., 851 P.2d 967 (Idaho 1993) show the importance of proper wording in a job offer letter. The date of a job offer letter can be very important as well. When writing a job offer letter, be sure to consider these five key elements:

1. At-Will Employment
2. No Annual Pay Rate
3. Job Offer Details Beyond Pay
4. Generalized Language
5. Professional Review

Get further details on each of these elements by listening to 5 Key Elements in a Job Offer Letter in this month’s HRCast, a recording provided by our team of HR Pros and available exclusively on MyHRSupportCenter. This information will help you the next time you write a job offer letter and guide you in deciding if you should send a job offer letter to all new hires.

Visit MyHRSupportCenter regularly, not only for our HRCasts, but also to get late-breaking compliance alerts, best practices to implement, and HR tools to use every day. If you’re not yet signed up or would like a free trial of MyHRSupportCenter, contact Vision Payroll today.

Due to the severe storms, flooding, straight-line winds and tornadoes in Tennessee beginning April 30, 2010, President Barack Obama declared the following counties a federal disaster area: Benton, Cannon, Carroll, Cheatham, Chester, Clay, Crockett, Davidson, Decatur, DeKalb, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Giles, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lewis, Macon, Madison, Marshall, Maury, McNairy, Montgomery, Obion, Perry, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Shelby, Smith, Stewart, Sumner, Tipton, Trousdale, Wayne, Williamson and Wilson. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced recently that it will waive failure to deposit penalties for employment and excise taxes due after April 29, 2010 and before May 18, 2010 as long as the deposits are made by May 17, 2010. In addition, affected taxpayers will have until June 29, 2010 to file most tax returns. Contact Vision Payroll if you were affected by the severe storms, flooding, straight-line winds and tornadoes and need further information on the relief provided by the IRS.

Due to the severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding in Alabama beginning April 24, 2010, President Barack Obama declared the following counties a federal disaster area: DeKalb, Marshall and Walker. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced recently that it will waive failure to deposit penalties for employment and excise taxes due after April 23, 2010 and before May 11, 2010 as long as the deposits are made by May 10, 2010. In addition, affected taxpayers will have until June 23, 2010 to file most tax returns. Contact Vision Payroll if you were affected by the severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding and need further information on the relief provided by the IRS.

Due to the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in Mississippi beginning April 23, 2010, President Barack Obama declared the following counties a federal disaster area: Attala, Choctaw, Holmes, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Union, Warren, and Yazoo. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced recently that it will waive failure to deposit penalties for employment and excise taxes due after April 22, 2010 and before May 11, 2010 as long as the deposits are made by May 10, 2010. In addition, affected taxpayers will have until June 22, 2010 to file most tax returns. Contact Vision Payroll if you were affected by the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding and need further information on the relief provided by the IRS.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 290,000 in April, the unemployment rate edged up to 9.9%, and the labor force increased sharply, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, professional and business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality. Federal government employment also rose, reflecting continued hiring of temporary workers for Census 2010.

In April, the number of unemployed persons was 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.9%. The rate had been 9.7% for the first 3 months of this year.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for whites (9.0%) edged up in April, while the rates for adult men (10.1%), adult women (8.2%), teenagers (25.4%), blacks (16.5%), and Hispanics (12.5%) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.8%, not seasonally adjusted.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to trend up over the month, reaching 6.7 million. In April, 45.9%of unemployed persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the labor force rose by 195,000 over the month.

In April, the civilian labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 65.2%, as the size of the labor force rose by 805,000. Since December, the participation rate has increased by 0.6 percentage points. The employment-population ratio rose to 58.8% over the month and has increased by 0.6 percentage points since December.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was about unchanged at 9.2 million in April. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

About 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in April, compared with 2.1 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.2 million discouraged workers in April, up by 457,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.2 million persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

This week’s question comes from Kim, an HR director. We have employees who maintain coverage on their health insurance policy for children, including some children who are not dependents. We have always included the cost of this coverage in our employees’ income. How does health care reform affect the taxation of children’s health insurance coverage? Answer: Generally, the Affordable Care Act allows the cost of coverage for children who are under age twenty-seven at the end of the year to be tax-free to employees. Additionally, employees may make pre-tax contributions to cafeteria or §125 plans for children who will be under age twenty-seven at the end of the tax year. These benefits are available even if the child qualifies as a dependent under the tax law. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2010-38, Tax Treatment of Health Care Benefits Provided With Respect to Children Under Age 27, to explain these changes and provide further guidance to employers, employees, health insurers and other interested taxpayers. Contact Vision Payroll if you have further questions on Notice 2010-38.