Category Archives: Payroll

Wage and Hour Mistakes Can Cost You Plenty

Keep Your Payroll Software Up To Date

For those organizations who use automated software to run their payroll processing, the number one thing they need to do is make sure the software is up-to-date.

This ensures that their payroll processing has all the latest deployed codes and firewalls to help prevent from devious intent from online thieves outside the organization.

Businesses should be working diligently with their I.T. department to keep up-to-date on the best security practices.

Provide Common Sense Online Security Protocol For Employees

Failure to secure payroll processing can often be attributed to human error. Employees who practice bad online security practices put themselves and their organization at risk to the following hazards:

Phishing schemes
Malware
Trojan horses
Spam
Ransomware
Spyware
Viruses and more

Human resources, I.T. and leadership need to make some decisions on what strategies and company initiatives they perform to help keep payroll processing secure from fraud by putting data security at the forefront of their operations.

Restrict Payroll Access Diligently

Simply allow access to payroll and the sensitive information it holds to the select one or few employees whose job it is to run processing for the organization. You’re going to have stakeholders in different departments who may need access to data in payroll, however, everyone needs to be accounted for in this process.

Organizations need to keep an updated list that specifies who has access to payroll. This will allow them to immediately check back on their list easily in the event some payroll shenanigans are afoot in the company.

Be Wary of Third Parties

It’s normal for internal people or departments to need specific information from the payroll department at various times. However, businesses are always being spammed by 3rd party companies looking to acquire the data they hold.

In the event, your organization is considering sharing payroll processing data with a 3rd party, it’s important that businesses consult with their state labor department for clarification on work-related information releases. These businesses should also create a documented procedure that forces whoever wants data from payroll to sign and acknowledge it for auditing purposes later.

Disposal of Older Documentation

Businesses need to keep their legal documentation cleaned up and disposed of properly. Even if the information is old, it can still lead a person with fraud on their mind to other places that can harm employees and employer interests.

Organizations should be auditing their sensitive payroll documentation held online, or hard copy in the office for older and unneeded materials. By cleaning out the older, sensitive data in their filing systems, businesses will not have to worry about it getting into the wrong hands. They will also have less to sift through when it comes to tax season or other auditing duties.

Secure Your Payroll Area(s)

Whether the department is on-premise or located on another campus, organizations should be doing the following to their physical space to secure payroll processing:

Desks should be positioned so computer screens are not facing any windows or doors
All physical documentation should be locked up at all times when not being used
The doors to payroll should always be locked with access only allowed to assigned personnel

CorpStrat offers companies like yours full-service HR and Payroll services. Get in touch with us today to learn more!

It’s Time to Do a Payroll Check-up!

June is IRS Payroll Check-up Month

They say taxes and death are the only certainties in life. While you can’t time the latter, you can time taxes, and doing a payroll check-up is a great way to make sure you don’t have any surprises.

If you are an employer, June is IRS check-up month, a great time to provide tools and help your employees be sure they are on track. By checking their withholding, taxpayers can make sure enough is being taken out of their paychecks or other income to cover the tax owed.

Everyone Should Check Withholdings

The IRS recommends that everyone do a Paycheck Checkup early in 2019. Though especially important for anyone with a 2018 tax bill, it’s also important for anyone whose refund is larger or smaller than expected. By changing withholding now, taxpayers can get the refund they want next year. For those who owe, boosting tax withholding early in 2019 is the best way to head off a tax bill a year from now. In addition, taxpayers should always check their withholding when a major life event occurs or when their income changes.

Doing a Paycheck Checkup now using the IRS Withholding Calculator means taxpayers have the majority of the year to spread out any changes they make to their withholding.

The agency said the average tax refund was $2,729 for the tax year, 2018. While some taxpayers may find it advantageous to get a large tax refund, others may wish to have more of their money in their paychecks throughout the year.

Whatever the goal, the IRS wants taxpayers to know that while taxes must be paid as income is earned during the year, either through withholding or estimated tax payments, they can make adjustments that will influence the size of their refund.

Doing an annual #PaycheckCheckup is a good idea for everyone – it’s designed for people who receive wages, but the #IRS Withholding Calculator can help recipients of pension and annuity income, too. www.irs.gov/withholding

Why You Should Have Job Descriptions

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While there is no “law” that requires that an employer has set job descriptions, writing job descriptions is an important step in planning your staffing programs. They form the foundation for many important processes such as job postings and recruitment. Here’s how it will pay off for your business.

Cover Your Company, Legally

As an example, for remaining in compliant with the ADA, you’ll want to make certain that the description of the physical requirements of the job is accurate down to the offer letter.

A Useful Communication Tool

Aside from any absence of legal reasons to have one, practical reasons weigh strongly in favor of having them. For example, job descriptions can be useful communication tools to tell employees exactly what tasks you expect them to perform. Job descriptions may also address quality or quantity of performance standards, or even work rules that apply to a particular job. Without such clear communications, employees may not perform to your expectations.

Find the Right Fit

Job descriptions can help identify particular skills or abilities that are necessary for a position or the environmental pressures that apply to the position. A good job description tells the applicant what the position may involve or require. After reading the job description, some applicants may decide that they are not a good fit for the position or are not interested in it. If an applicant withdraws his or her application, then a prospective employer cannot be held liable for any “adverse action” under any applicable laws.

Guide the Interactive Process

Some state or federal laws require reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Job descriptions can help with the interactive process that such laws require. A job description serves as a starting point for what the employer believes to be the essential job duties. The applicant or employee then must identify which of the listed duties he or she cannot perform.

Once those duties are identified, the employer and individual with a disability can begin an interactive dialogue about what accommodations may help the individual to perform those duties without being an undue hardship on the employer or without creating a direct threat to the individual or others. A job description can also be helpful in soliciting the advice of professionals such as physicians, chiropractors, counselors or rehabilitation therapists about whether the individual can actually perform a particular job.

Describe Legitimate Minimum Qualifications

If a job requires a particular certification, such as a commercial driver’s license, a particular degree, or professional designation, list it in a job description. Similarly, if a negative drug test is required before starting or continuing work, that should be stated in the job description.

Another objective, minimum qualifications can be listed as well, including such basics as the need for good attendance and the ability to work well with others. Then, if a person seeks a position and does not possess the required certification or qualifications, you have a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for not placing the person in the job.

Justify an Employee’s Exempt Status

Job descriptions will not, by themselves, determine whether a person should be exempt or nonexempt under applicable wage and hours laws. A job description must first accurately reflect the duties of a particular position. In addition, other elements of the applicable exemptions must also be present with respect to each individual worker to qualify as exempt.

But if you claim a person is exempt from minimum wage, timekeeping and overtime requirements under the “executive” exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the job description should state that the employee manages a “recognized department or subdivision” of the company and regularly supervises at least two or more full-time equivalent employees every week. Other managerial duties should also be referenced in the job description.

Similarly, for those employees that you are attempting to qualify as exempt under the “administrative” exemption, the job description should state that the employee “regularly exercises independent judgment and discretion about matters of significance” or words to that effect. Again, describing duties that involve such independent judgment and discretion, such as “negotiates” or “decides,” would also be helpful.

Do a great job of describing what you expect, and you have a greater chance of getting exactly what you want from your team members. The ROI is up to you.

6 Ways to Secure Payroll Processing and Fraud Prevention

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If best practices to secure payroll processing are not properly implemented, sensitive information is left vulnerable, which can put both the employee population and the employer at serious risk of fraud, embezzlement and a host of legal issues potentially resulting in millions of dollars in damages.

To prevent that outcome from happening to your organization, you can use these strategies to help keep your payroll processing secure from inside and outside threats of fraud.

Fraud Prevention

Keep your payroll software up to date (if you are using an automated platform currently)

For those organizations who use automated software to run their payroll processing, the number one thing they need to do is make sure the software is up-to-date. This ensures that their payroll processing has all the latest deployed codes and firewalls to help prevent from devious intent from online thieves outside the organization.

Businesses should be working diligently with their I.T. department to keep up-to-date on the best security practices.

Provide common sense online security protocol for employees

Failure to secure payroll processing can often be attributed to human error. As it’s 2018, we’re still struggling to motivate our employee populations to keep online security top-of-mind. Employees who practice bad online security practices put themselves and their organization at risk to the following hazards:

Phishing schemes
Malware
Trojan horses
Spam
Ransomware
Spyware
Viruses and more

Human resources, I.T., and leadership need to make some decisions on what strategies and company initiatives they perform to help keep payroll processing secure from fraud by putting data security at the forefront of their operations.

Restrict payroll access diligently

This one should be simple to implement. Simply allow access to payroll and the sensitive information it holds to the select one or a few employees whose job it is to run processing for the organization. You’re going to have stakeholders in different departments who may need access to data in payroll, however, everyone needs to be accounted for in this process.

Be wary of 3rd parties

Disposal of older documentation

Secure your payroll area(s)

Whether the department is on-premise or located on another campus, organizations should be doing the following to their physical space to secure payroll processing:

Desks should be positioned so computer screens are not facing any windows or doors
All physical documentation should be locked up at all times when not being used
The doors to payroll should always be locked with access only allowed to assigned personnel
For offsite operations, the rules above apply

New Service Allows U.S. Workers to Get Paid Daily Instead of Weekly

Here’s how it works

Workers are notified, typically on their smartphones, at the end of their shifts that they have an hour to tap half their pay and are asked if they wish to do so. The money is instantly downloaded onto their debit cards. No taxes are deducted until employees receive their paychecks. And, there’s no fee for workers, though businesses may pay more in administration costs each month.

Limiting the money available to 50% of their paychecks encourages saving. What’s more, is the one-hour window to draw the money discourages impulse purchases later in the day.

Seventy-eight percent of workers are living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet, according to a CareerBuilder survey conducted in the spring.

Long term studies are not available yet to help understand if the ability to get paid each day will help employers attract, retain, reward, or improve productivity in any way. However, the signal that employee-driven tools and strategies are taking a front seat to a traditional business protocol is obvious.

For these and all other Payroll, HR, and Benefits related services CorpStrat is here to help. Contact us today to learn more.