Anchor Payroll Blog

The Department of Labor has released sample notices employers may use to meet their obligations related to the COBRA subsidy available through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021:

If you’re finding it difficult to hire employees, you’re not alone. Bloomberg reports that many small businesses are struggling to find people who currently want to work—in fact, 42% say they have jobs they can’t fill. The number of people quitting jobs right now is also higher than average.  

The answer will depend on a number of factors, such as how many employees are misclassified, how much extra money they would have been paid if properly classified, and whether or not lawyers or regulatory agencies get involved.

HR is a broad category. It brings to mind employee benefits, the oversight of the employee lifecycle, and lots of paperwork, but it does have a precise business purpose. The real intention for HR is to make employment more profitable. It does this by helping the employer save money and make money in all aspects related to employment.

When the 2020 pandemic hit, it caught the entire world off guard. Current economic and social circumstances combined with the upcoming election could be a recipe for extreme volatility. We encourage you to refocus on our planning philosophy (Protection First) and utilize it in multiple areas of your life.  Below are a few suggestions:

Employee turnover is expensive—more so than you might think. According to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost-per-hire is $4,129. However, turnover costs can vary depending on the length of time it takes to fill the role, the importance of the position to the employer, and the employer’s industry. Some costs are easily calculable, such as those of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding. Other costs can be difficult to measure, such as the impact of a termination on employee engagement. Easily measurable or not, all these costs hurt your bottom line.

New York has passed an expansive law to legalize recreational cannabis (a.k.a. marijuana). The law, called the Marihuana Regulation and Tax Act, includes strong employment protections for off-duty use, effective immediately. 

With the recent addition of Connecticut, eight states and a number of municipalities have passed laws prohibiting race-based hair discrimination, also known as natural hair discrimination. CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) acts are laws intended to create and enforce legal protections so that employees don’t have to hide their racial identity by changing their natural hair in the workplace.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which is the latest bill to address the ongoing economic impacts of COVID-19, has been signed into law. Most aspects of the law do not directly affect the HR function, but two of those that do—optional extension of sick and family leave and establishment of COBRA subsidies—are outlined below.

In 1970, when Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law, an estimated 14,000 workers were killed on the job every year. Fifty years later, that number is down to 5,333, but safety in the workplace remains a paramount concern, and not only because we’re struggling through a pandemic.

We’ve broadened our knowledge of what dangers threaten the workplace and what strategies are best suited to promote organizational health. We better understand the psychological effects of stress, the damage caused by harassment, and harmful consequences of inequality. And we know how to mitigate these risks more effectively.

As you work to keep your workplace safe, consider implementing the following practices: