Latest Compliance News

In September 2018, the Michigan legislature adopted as law a proposed ballot measure that would require employers to provide their employees paid leave to be used for “sick” and “safe” time purposes, and other reasons. The law has been amended. The law, now known as the Paid Medical Leave Act, requires covered employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid medical leave per year to eligible employees.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) created a new employer tax credit available to employers who provide paid family and medical leave to their employees. The tax credit applies to wages paid to qualifying employees between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2019. The Internal Revenue Service has now released Form 8994, titled “Employer Credit for Paid Family and Medical Leave,” and instructions to be used by an employer when claiming the credit.

Below is a summary of compliance requirements that took effect recently or will take effect over the next few months. For more information on these topics, please see this month’s edition of the ADP Comprehensive Services Newsletter or the Comprehensive Services Newsletter Archive located at http://adpcomprehensiveservicesnewsletter.com/.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Publication 15 (Circular E) Employer’s Tax Guide for use in 2019; Publication 15-A, Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide; and Publication 15-B, Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has ruled that the individual mandate ― and, as a result, the rest of the ACA ― are unconstitutional. The decision is likely to be appealed, and employers should, thus, continue to comply with ACA requirements to avoid penalties.

In furtherance of a practice reinstituted earlier this year, the DOL’s Wage Hour Division (WHD) issued Opinion Letter FLSA 2018-25 which provides guidance to employers paying exempt employees on an hourly, daily, or shift basis by addressing the requirement in 29 C.F.R. Section 541.604(b) that a “reasonable relationship” exist between an exempt employee’s guaranteed amount and the amount actually earned.