MBA News - Uncategorized

Our St. Petersburg/Tampa, Florida HR company can help you in five key areas.

MBAHRO — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:10:00 GMT

Our St. Petersburg/Tampa, Florida HR company can help you in five key areas. As a business owner in St. Petersburg, FL, you should know that companies that outsource their HR needs to an HR company are now doing it for many more reasons than just cost savings. Companies are now using their HR outsources to increase workforce performance, too. Check that your HR company is acting as a strategic back office by using their experience, HR processes, and software to support these five key areas: Payroll Administration Employee Benefits Support Risk Control and Workers' Compensation Insurance Business Insurance Management Human Resources Consulting A comprehensive assessment of your current business practices can outline the areas that would best serve your company's human resources outsourcing needs. Please feel free to review the summary of HR services we offer at Modern Business Associates to help brainstorm your needs when looking for an HR company in St. Petersburg, ...

Pay Deductions Quiz: Hourly employee drops the computer! Can you get them to pay up?

MBAHRO — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:13:00 GMT

Pay Deductions Quiz: Hourly employee drops the computer! Can you get them to pay up? Your new hourly front desk staff employee is paid $1.00 per hour in excess of the required minimum wage and works 40 hours in the workweek. The employee drops his laptop and breaks a piece off. Your existing policies require employee responsibility, so you deduct $50.00 from the employee's weekly paycheck. Have you violated any Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements? Yes. Under the FLSA, the employer could theoretically deduct up to $40.00 to cover some of the loss because the employee has earned $40.00 in excess of the required minimum wage during the workweek. However, once the employer has deducted any earnings in excess of the minimum wage, no further deduction can be made without violating the FLSA. Modern Business Associates frequently deals with payroll issues. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics includi ...

HR Outsourcing in Florida. HRO Options

MBAHRO — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:14:00 GMT

HR Outsourcing in Florida. HRO Options As a business executive in Florida, outsourcing your HR department may be one of your biggest decisions this year. One aspect to evaluating outsource candidate companies is their location. If your company is in Florida, wouldn’t you like the increased trust factor in knowing your HR outsource is also in Florida and intimate with issues specific to your state? MBA has been a shining star in Florida area over the last ten years. You should know that we’ve received multiple awards drawing praise for the services and support we provide our clients. As your fellow Florida HRO, we have unique aspects to our services to better serve your company: Better understanding of your own employees and how to take action required based on issues specific to Florida. (like, “How should the housing market affect my recruiting efforts and relocation packages?” Or “How do I handle a multilingual job candidate that is still working on their citizenship?”) More perso ...

HIRE Act Requires Individuals to Sign an affidavit

MBAHRO — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:18:00 GMT

HIRE Act Requires Individuals to Sign an affidavit

The HIRE Act requires that an individual sign an affidavit attesting to certain requirements that would make the employer eligible for the payroll tax exemption available under the law. MBA has received several recent inquiries regarding where this affidavit can be obtained. Please be advised that the IRS is expected to issue a model affidavit to be used for this purpose (see http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=220749,00.html).

When the IRS publishes this affidavit, MBA will make it available to you. In the meantime, please exercise caution using any affidavits located on the internet, as they have not been approved by the IRS.

Will your Professional Employer Organization bring top-notch human resource software to the table to meet your large business HR system needs?

MBAHRO — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:49:00 GMT

Will your Professional Employer Organization bring top-notch human resource software to the table to meet your large business HR system needs? As a large business executive, you may be considering outsourcing your payroll or HR processes. Savvy Professional Employer Organizations have developed specialized services and delivery systems that cater to needs specific to larger companies. A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for the PEO’s technology platform to meet the HR system needs of a large company. Prior to pursuing a PEO relationship, you’ve probably already made a substantial capital investment in human resource software , sometimes called an HRIS system. Therefore, as you look at partner companies to help with things like your payroll processing and benefits administration, here are some great questions to ask: “Why do you believe your technology system will provide reliable data?” Have the PEO explain their expertise in p ...

Payroll deductions should include state income tax and payroll insurance deductions

MBAHRO — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:52:00 GMT

Payroll deductions should include state income tax and payroll insurance deductions As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients ask us to handle their payroll responsibilities including two of the most talked about deductions: their state income tax and payroll insurance deductions. The state income tax is part of the statutory payroll tax deductions. As required by law, statutory Payroll Tax Deductions are payroll taxes that must be withheld from your employees paycheck. You must hand these withholdings over to the multitude of tax agencies on all levels of government. Local tax withholdings (city, county, or school district taxes, state disability or unemployment insurance). State income tax withholding Federal income tax withholding Social Security tax withholding Medicare tax withholding The payroll insurance deductions are part of the Voluntary Payroll Deductions Voluntary deductions pay for various benefits which the employee has chosen to parti ...

What else do they look for during a Department of Labor (DOL) gov. compliance audit?

MBAHRO — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:54:00 GMT

What else do they look for during a Department of Labor (DOL) gov. compliance audit? During a DOL gov. compliance audit, the investigator covers many areas of your business. The primary focus is on your pay records. DOL investigators also usually review the employer's adherence to federal child-labor laws, which prescribe the number of hours and times of day-night youths may work, as well as the jobs they may perform. Click here for a link to the DOL’s FAQ on child labor laws DOL investigators will also perform at least a cursory analysis of the employer's compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act and will make sure mandatory posters are displayed. See DOL's Web site for poster information. Click here for a link to the DOL’s FMLA information page Modern Business Associates helps our clients deal with DOL gov. compliance audit issues. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them ef ...

Why national unemployment levels mean legal hassles for you.

MBAHRO — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:56:00 GMT

Why national unemployment levels mean legal hassles for you. As a business owner, you should understand that a significant level of unemployment is the largest predictor of an increase in employee lawsuits relative. Understandably, employers face difficult questions and concerns during a weakened economy What is the process for an employee’s layoff? Which employment laws are relevant? How can I avoid an employee lawsuit? How do I combat lowered employee morale? A downsizing employer is expected to navigate a complex legal and human resources minefield, and must get its answers right the first time. Employers will increasingly seek legal guidance to minimize risk when answering these critical questions and dealing with laws. You may need compliance assistance (or a shoulder to cry on) during an isolated layoff, You should develop a strategic reduction-in-force plan while consulting your legal resources. In this way, you can avoid looming legal hassles that are charac ...

Employer Payroll Taxes – How to stay out of trouble

MBAHRO — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:03:00 GMT

Employer Payroll Taxes – How to stay out of trouble Many growing companies have questions like, “How do employer payroll taxes work?” At Modern Business Associates, many of our small clients come onboard with our payroll processing to let us handle their entire payroll processing burden, which includes payroll taxes. Our systems are set up to ensure your business does not get into trouble by missing withholdings or taking the wrong amounts. As background, you should know that employer payroll taxes are the state and federal taxes that you, as an employer, are required to withhold and/or to pay on behalf of your employees. After having each new employee complete their IRS form W-4, we’ll use this information to calculate the amount of federal income tax to withhold from the employee’s wages. Most all of the states have income tax structures that are based on the federal blueprint, so you will use the same W-4 to calculate the amount of state income tax to withhold as well. You ar ...

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection

MBAHRO — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:06:00 GMT

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection A performance appraisal system, when properly managed, provides you with a means of measuring, maintaining, and improving your employee’s job performances. Through the job performance appraisal program, your company can: Validate hiring decisions Recognize employees' job performance strengths and weaknesses Identify employees who are ready for promotion or greater responsibilities Assess training needs From a compliance perspective, you should be able to rely on performance appraisals to justify the full range of personnel decisions, including discipline and termination actions. For example, if a performance appraisal reflects poor job performance by the employee and this employee is later terminated, the you can point to the performance appraisal to show the employee was not performing to standards. If, however, an employee with overall weak performance is given a good or even average appraisal, and ...

How to avoid age discrimination issues during layoffs.

MBAHRO — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:07:00 GMT

How to avoid age discrimination issues during layoffs. There are a variety of reasons for an employer to offer severance to an employee who is separating from employment (e.g., to settle threatened or actual litigation, as a goodwill gesture in the event of a layoff), but in virtually all situations, the employer is going to insist that the employee sign a release as a condition to receiving the settlement payment. This article outlines some of the most important issues, specific to age discrimination, employers should consider when drafting such waivers. In all circumstances, it is advisable that outside counsel review all agreements. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) has a list of requirements that must be incorporated into your release. They focus on making sure the departing employee does not waive any right or claim under ADEA unless the waiver is “knowing and voluntary”. This means the release must: Be "written in a manner calculated to be understood ...

Outsource Human Resources – Tampa

MBAHRO — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:08:00 GMT

Outsource Human Resources – Tampa Outsourcing some, or all, of your human resources processes for a Tampa company is an important decision. As a Tampa business owner, your human resources capabilities can hinder your growth with time-consuming paperwork and expose you to legal complications that can be avoided by leveraging a local Tampa Bay human resources partner. We enable you to off-load your: Payroll Administration Workers’ Compensation Benefits Support Human Resources Tampa Bay local knowledge. Possibly the most important aspect of our business is the monitoring of legislative changes and keeping your HR procedures and policies up to par. These services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue and avoid situations that lead to lawsuits. Our knowledgeable Tampa Bay human resources team includes employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents, employment law attorneys, and a ...

Get upfront PEO-contract clarity on HR and Payroll Outsourcing fee structures from a professional employer organization, to prevent hassles down the road.

MBAHRO — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:03:00 GMT

Get upfront PEO-contract clarity on HR and Payroll Outsourcing fee structures from a professional employer organization, to prevent hassles down the road. With the changing business environment and the need to focus on generating revenues, many business owners are considering outsourcing the payroll, tax, insurance and employee benefits support tasks for their businesses. Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) are designed to take on these duties for you. It is not uncommon for one PEO company to structure its fees differently from others. Building trust with your HR outsourcing company is critical to the relationship’s long term success. When looking at a PEO contract, here’s a list of things to ask upfront, to prevent misunderstandings down the road. “Do you bundle your fees?” Traditionally, PEOs bill their service package in either a bundled or unbundled format. PEOs opting for the unbundled invoice method list the services individually on the invoice. Th ...