The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports the number of age discrimination claims remains high. The EEOC logged 21,396 such cases during its 2013 fiscal year. (The record was 24,582 in the 2008 fiscal year.) What’s more, the EEOC says that monetary benefits paid out for this type of claim reached a staggering total of $97.9 million...

Taking costs out of a business can be deceptively easy to do — at least initially. Cutting low-hanging fruit such as providing coffee in break rooms, consulting services, laying off temporary employees or removing a layer of management can result in considerable savings. However, these savings are often not sustainable. Slowly but surely, decisions will be...

“The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) continues to receive numerous complaints from workers alleging misclassification, and the Department continues to bring successful enforcement actions against employers who misclassify workers,” said a detailed document issued July 15. The Administrator’s Interpretation 2015-1 is from David Weil, who heads the WHD. It elaborates on positions the...

  New guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Labor provides clarification on the definition of an independent contractor (Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2015-01). This guidance may be helpful to employers who are contemplating hiring extra workers but are concerned about all of the obligations associated with hiring employees, including health insurance, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, sick...

When a professional corporation sells its assets or liquidates, one important tax issue is whether the corporation or the shareholder-employees own any appreciated professional goodwill (with a fair market value in excess of tax basis). For tax purposes, goodwill is an intangible asset. It represents the value of a trade or business based on expected continued...

In his 2015 State of the Union Address last January, President Obama said employees should get the overtime they’ve earned. He then directed the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to review and amend the overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to make more workers eligible. On June 30, the DOL took steps in...