Kelly Tyco | Published 1:47 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2021 Updated 10:56 a.m. ET Mar. 1, 2021

Costco is raising its minimum wage to $16 an hour, leapfrogging competitors including Target, Best Buy and Amazon.

Costco CEO Craig Jelinek announced the increase Thursday at a U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing on worker wages at large companies. Democrat lawmakers and President Joe Biden are pushing to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 from $7.25.

"Since Costco's inception, the company has been committed to paying the employees very competitive retail wages and providing them broad and affordable health care benefits," Jelinek said. "Two years ago, we moved our starting hourly wage to $15 everywhere in the U.S. Effective next week, the starting wage will go to $16."

But the membership-based wholesale chain already is paying many of its 180,000 U.S. workers a much higher rate. Jelinek said the average wage for hourly workers is around $24 per hour.

Costco has 558 clubs in 45 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.

"We try to take care of our employees because they play such a significant role in our success," Jelinek said, who noted the longevity of employees and that Costco pays regular bonuses and offers vacation time. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., convened Thursday's hearing titled "Should Taxpayers Subsidize Poverty Wages at Large Profitable Corporations?" to discuss proposals to change the minimum wage.

The Vermont independent railed against corporations like Walmart and McDonald's, saying hundreds of thousands of workers were being left behind.

Target raised the minimum wage for all of its U.S. hourly employees to $15 an hour in July 2020 and Best Buy raised its minimum to $15 in August. Amazon also increased the starting wage in 2018 to $15.

"While Costco, Amazon, Target, Best Buy, and other large corporations have all raised their minimum wage in recent years to at least $15 an hour, the minimum wage at Walmart has remained stuck at $11 an hour for three years," he said. "The result: 760,000 workers at Walmart, about half of their U.S. workforce, are paid less than $15 an hour."

Walmart announced last week it was raising pay for 425,000 employees starting March 13. The nation’s largest employer said the raise for store workers in its digital and stocking workgroups and would bring their average pay above $15 an hour. Starting pay rates for these employees move from $13 to $19 per hour based on the store location and market, Walmart said.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the company has increased starting wages by more than 50% since 2015 and that the average wage in the U.S. will be at least $15.25 per hour. The retailer has about 1.5 million employees in the U.S. at more than 5,000 stores and Sam's Club locations.

Hobby Lobby's rate is even higher than Costco's at $17 an hour, an increase that went into effect in October. In 2014, the chain raised its full-time minimum wage to $15 and says that was "well before it became fashionable with other retailers."

A recent report released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said boosting the minimum wage to $15 per hour would raise income for millions of Americans and lift 900,000 people out of poverty.

But by 2025, when the hourly rate would hit $15 under a proposal before Congress, some 1.4 million fewer Americans would be working, the report concluded. That is because higher wages would increase the cost of producing goods and services and, in response, many employers would reduce their workforce or hire fewer employees, the report said.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: USA Today

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/02/25/costco-minimum-wage-hourly-pay-increase-2021/6816327002/

Reported by LEE BARNEY | February 17, 2021

Equity compensation has not traditionally been used for retirement savings, but there are ways to incorporate it into employees’ long-term financial plans.

WHILE EMPLOYER STOCK OPTIONS, stock purchase plans and equity compensation have not traditionally been thought of as retirement savings tools, benefits executives and attorneys say companies can help their workers think of these options for long-term goals, including retirement.

“I don’t know of many employees, or employers, who view those vehicles as necessarily meant for retirement savings, because they are generally tied to a set vesting period—unless it is a publicly traded company,” says David Joffe, chairman of the employee benefits and executive compensation practice group at Bradley. “There are usually limits to how long an employee can hold those types of stock options, and it may not be possible for them to own it through the time when they retire. They may leave the company or face an event that causes them to sell the stock.”

However, Joffe notes that employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) are used to save for retirement and are becoming more and more popular, particularly if the company wants to help its employees have greater retirement savings. “A lot of the companies I work with not only have a 401(k) but profit sharing and ESOPs, which provide substantial additional retirement savings,” he says.

Sheila Frierson, president, plan managers, North America, at global employee share plan provider Computershare, agrees that “historically, equity has never really been looked at from a retirement-related perspective. However, as more plan sponsors become more concerned about the financial health and well-being of their employees, they might begin to view how such a compensation plan could be used for their employees’ future goals. For now, however, a survey we did jointly with WorldatWork found that only 34% of companies said they might make their restricted stock program retirement related.”

Jon Barber, vice president of compensation and policy research at Ayco, says his company makes sure advisers discuss stock options with clients when it’s applicable to their personal retirement savings strategy.

Barber says the firm seeks to help executives understand that value “comes down to goal setting.”

“We can help participants do cash flow analysis on when the best time is to exercise their stock,” he says. “When it comes to retirement, it might be wise to reign the executive in and help them see the wisdom of not holding the stock up until their retirement.”

Barber says it is important for benefits firms and advisers to communicate the terms of their stock options to executives, especially when it comes to termination events, which might accelerate the vesting of those holdings.

Barber says companies that want to help their employees view their stock options through the prism of retirement can do so by equipping them with tools that can perform retirement cash flow and risk analyses and aggregate all their stock holdings so they can see when the various units are vested and when they can exercise them. “That will enable them to inventory what they have and fully understand when they can monetize those units for their retirement,” he says.

Barber also says companies are giving stock options and restricted stock units to more of their employees these days, not just highly paid executives.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: PLANSPONSOR 

https://www.plansponsor.com/in-depth/employers-begin-see-long-term-value-stock-options/

AUTHOR - Ryan Golden | PUBLISHED - Feb. 11, 2021

Organizations have the opportunity to re-examine several aspects of their plans and educate employees about their health, sources told HR Dive.

Employers have long sought programs and practices that can help workers be proactive in managing their health. But a pandemic disrupted that work in many ways.

COVID-19's spread — a health risk by itself — coincided with a decline in healthcare participation. In one study conducted by healthcare navigation company Castlight Health, researchers found "dramatic reductions" in the use of healthcare during the first two months of the pandemic. Musculoskeletal surgery, for example, declined about 47% compared to the same time frame in 2019, while MRIs declined 45%.

Some of the biggest plummets came at the expense of preventative care, a broad category that can include check-ups, immunizations, screenings and other procedures undertaken for disease prevention purposes. According to data from the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), submitted health claims for mammograms and pap smears were down nearly 80% in April 2020 year-over-year, and those for colonoscopies were down "almost 90%" in mid-April 2020 year-over-year.

Percentage change of selected preventative care procedures during COVID-19 pandemic

Preventative care type	YOY trend (as of April 14, 2020)	YOY trend (as of Oct 1. 2020)
Colonoscopies	-88%	-13%
Childhood vaccinations (aggregate)	-57%	-8%
Mammograms	-76%	-11%
Pap Smears	-77%	+19%

SOURCE: Health Care Cost Institute

Those declines reversed by fall, HCCI data show, but preventative care procedures generally have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, said Daniel Kurowski, senior researcher at HCCI. While Kurowski noted that there are limitations to the type of claim-based analysis used by HCCI in its study, he confirmed that the organization's data suggest the U.S. healthcare system has not made up for the loss of services that occurred since the pandemic's onset.

What can employers derive from these findings? Healthcare industry sources who spoke to HR Dive expressed some concern that deferred care could have an impact on disease prevention down the line, but the complete picture is far from clear. What's more, the scramble to respond to such challenges could yield some positive lessons.

'Everything stopped'

Dr. Mark Cunningham-Hill remembers the initial months of the pandemic well. As the medical director for the Northeast Business Group on Health, a regional coalition of employers and healthcare stakeholders, Cunningham-Hill observed closures on a wide scale. "Everything stopped for a month or two," he told HR Dive, "and gradually, telemedicine started coming online."

An executive at insurer Aetna shared a similar view. "We have seen declines in every aspect of care within our populations, specifically within preventative services," said Julie Bietsch, the company's senior vice president, clinical operations. But by August, Aetna began to see preventative care utilization trends rebound to the point that, by October 2020, those trends were close to 2019 levels, Bietsch noted.

Virtual care has helped to fill in some of the gaps caused by COVID-19 and may even have helped to offset some declines in care utilization, said Magda Rusinowski, vice president of Business Group on Health. While such care was initially delivered via providers that specifically focus on virtual care, the format "has emerged as a way to see your brick-and-mortar provider" as well, Rusinowski said.

Cunningham-Hill said telehealth and similar technologies can allow care providers to review patients' health and direct them to book appointments for in-person procedures, such as a mammogram, when available. For other specialties, such as mental healthcare, telehealth "possibly works better" than it did even before the pandemic, he added.

Even for procedures such as colonoscopies that typically require an in-person visit, alternatives are available. The pandemic has caused providers and other members of the healthcare system to "think outside the box" when it comes to preventative care, Bietsch said. Examples include HbA1c test kits that can evaluate blood glucose levels and Cologuard, a Food and Drug Administration-approved, at-home testing kit that helps screen for colon cancer.

'A matter of enormous concern'

Still, the impact of deferred care may be a puzzling development for employers, one with potentially devastating consequences for some patients.

Early detection of serious conditions is a primary concern. In a June 2020 article published in Science Magazine, Norman E. Sharpless, director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, described a statistical model for excess deaths from colorectal and breast cancers between 2020 to 2030. Due to delayed diagnosis and care issues caused by COVID-19, Sharpless said the model suggests almost 10,000 excess deaths from both types of cancer over the next decade, or about a 1% increase.

"This analysis is conservative," Sharpless wrote, "as it does not consider other cancer types, it does not account for the additional nonlethal morbidity from upstaging, and it assumes a moderate disruption in care that completely resolves after 6 months. It also does not account for regional variations in the response to the pandemic, and these effects may be less severe in parts of the country with shorter or less severe lockdowns."

And while declines for procedures such as colonoscopies and mammograms pose a challenge for health plans, another item — childhood vaccinations — can be just as worrisome, multiple sources told HR Dive. HCCI found that childhood immunization rates varied by type. Meningococcal and HPV vaccines saw year-over-year declines of 75% in mid-April 2020, while those for Rotavirus saw a 33% decline.

This area is "a matter of enormous concern" for employers, said Jeff Levin-Scherz, national co-leader of Willis Towers Watson's health management practice, because vaccinations save lives and prevent families from incurring substantial medical costs.

Childhood vaccinations have not only been impacted by closure of care centers, in which such vaccines are often given, but also by the closure of school systems, which often provide reminders to families about receiving vaccines, Bietsch said. Lack of access in certain geographic areas can also play a role in vaccine disparities, she added.

There also are concerns about the management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma. Bietsch said Aetna has messaged plan members after, for example, a trend of diabetic patients who would receive a lab test but not a foot or eye exam.

What employers can do

Providing coverage is the most important thing employers can do to encourage employees to use preventative care, Levin-Scherz said; "No one should miss preventative care because they didn't think it was covered." Employers have several opportunities to improve their healthcare offerings as a result of the pandemic, including the chance to work closely with health plans that are proactive about reminding employees about the importance of such care, he added.

COVID-19 also may prompt healthcare providers, payers and even employers to re-examine what constitutes high-value or low-value care, Cunningham-Hill said. He referred specifically to procedures such as colonoscopies that are performed on patients over the age of 75, as well as false positives that lead to lengthy investigations that do not turn up problems. But there are also items proven to be valuable, such as asthma medications and diabetes management tools. "How do we come out of this doing more of the high-value stuff?," Cunningham-Hill said.

That points to another actionable item for employers: access. It is one thing to provide coverage for a given form of preventative care, but associated copays may discourage workers from actually taking part in that care. Even if the plan provides 80% coverage for a procedure with a $25 copay for the worker, "that copay is a fortune for someone earning $25,000 a year," Cunningham-Hill said. Such examples point to the need for greater healthcare equity, he added.

Employees may have alternatives when it comes to things like ensuring their children have access to important vaccinations. "It doesn't have to be a physician's office," Bietsch said, adding that pharmacies and other qualified health centers can provide such vaccines.

Communication also emerged as a common theme in conversations with sources. Kurowski said his takeaway for employers is to encourage employees to take control of their health and remind them of the access that employers provide to chronic care management, preventative care and even fringe wellness programs, like fitness benefits.

This can be particularly important for workers with chronic conditions. "You can't tell people enough about looking at their diabetes in different ways," Bietsch said. Plans and employers might decide to mix up communications around preventative health by sharing stories about how a plan member managed their diabetes successfully, she noted. Rusinowski said organizational leaders, especially those whom employees trust, can also play a part in communications strategy.

Healthcare industry observers have noted for months that COVID-19 spurred the growth of the virtual healthcare space, but that growth also could yield positive results for preventative care. Telehealth can allow care providers to monitor patient health, recommend follow-ups and help patients manage their chronic conditions. "Many of the telemedicine companies have been doing substantially more primary care," Levin-Scherz said. "As they do that, they become educated on preventative care and they become advocates of preventative care."

There are still hurdles to the adoption of telehealth and similar services and, importantly, not all visits can be replaced by virtual care. But Rusinowski sees the space "not as a replacement, but as a way to enhance" care specialties and improve the overall patient experience.

As employers seek to communicate to employees the importance of continuing their care routines and seeking preventative care, businesses should not focus solely on costs. "I just want to make sure that when we talk about it, we emphasize the well-being component and the desire to create an environment where employees can have the best health outcomes possible," Rusinowski said. "The pandemic has shown us more than anything else that you can't have a productive workforce where health is an issue, but this is not anything new for [employers]."

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Rusinowski's name. HR Dive regrets the error.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: HR Dive

https://www.hrdive.com/news/workers-skipped-preventative-healthcare-in-2020-how-should-employers-respo/594908/

***** 

BY MARK MCGRAW, WORLDATWORK | FEBRUARY 9, 2021

There’s a segment of the population that doesn’t believe in the medical advantages of vaccinations.

A 2019 Gallup survey, for instance, found that 11% of 1,025 American adults actually consider vaccines to be more dangerous than the diseases they’re intended to prevent.

Given the distaste that some have for vaccines in general, it stands to reason that a fair number of individuals have no intention of receiving one of the vaccines now available to help fend off COVID-19. One recent poll sees more than a quarter of U.S. respondents saying they definitely or probably won’t get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Many of the American employees who do receive COVID vaccinations will do so via their employer-sponsored insurance plans. And, while companies can — with some exceptions — require employees to receive a coronavirus vaccination, most won’t.

That’s according to an ongoing Mercer survey, which finds 78% of more than 350 employers saying their organization has no plans to mandate the vaccine for employees. (Just 13% said their company is considering mandatory vaccinations at this point.)

Still, employee skepticism toward the coronavirus vaccine creates a challenge for employers with designs on providing vaccines for their workforce. The Mercer poll also looks at the likelihood of companies creating rewards to encourage COVID vaccine uptake among employees who are hesitant about being vaccinated.

Many companies remain unsure as to whether they will provide incentives in hopes of motivating this group of workers to get the vaccine, according to Mercer’s data. Roughly 44% of respondents have already decided against it, but a nearly identical number (46%) said their organization is still thinking and talking it through.

Most of these discussions center around the possibility of offering incentives like cash, gift cards and/or paid time off, Mercer finds, with the still-open survey finding nearly half of employers (47%) indicating they will provide employees with additional paid time off to go get the vaccine. 

Companies that do opt to proceed with such vaccination incentives will have a host of factors to weigh, said Wade Symons, leader of Mercer’s regulatory resource group.

“There are different considerations, depending on whether the employer will be involved in the vaccine administration or simply encouraging employees to seek vaccinations in their communities,” said Symons.

Symons points out that the EEOC’s updated guidance clarifies that the administration of a vaccine alone does not constitute a medical examination, but the questions an employee must answer before receiving the vaccine “will almost certainly qualify as a disability-related inquiry under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).”

As such, ADA restrictions would apply, even if the employer has contracted with a third party to deliver the vaccine.

“In connection with an incentive program, that means the incentive likely must be limited in order for it to be considered a ‘voluntary’ program.”

That said, simply encouraging employees to get vaccinated through, say, a pharmacy chain or county health department would not carry ADA implications, said Symons.

“Limits should not apply, since the pre-vaccination medical questions do not tie back to the employer. And, per the EEOC, requiring proof of vaccination is not a medical inquiry under the ADA. Thus, the employer would be free to ask for such proof in order to provide the applicable incentive.”

Companies providing vaccination incentives should also be careful to provide accommodations due to disability or religious objections, he added.

“The obligation to accommodate would only be implicated in situations where an employee is unable to get the vaccine due to a disability or an objection based on a sincere religious belief, and then, only absent undue hardship to the employer.”

When an accommodation is required, the employer would need to consider alternatives to getting the vaccine, such as periodic COVID testing or remote work options, so the employee with the religious- or disability-related objection can still earn the incentive, said Symons.

“As far as ADA limitations on vaccines, we don’t currently have guidance as to what amount of incentive would exceed the threshold to make vaccination ‘involuntary’ for those employers involved with vaccine administration,” he continued.

“Rules which permitted incentives of up to 30% of the employee-only medical plan premium amount were struck down by the courts several years ago and regulations to replace them have yet to be formally proposed.”

For employees without strong feelings one way or the other, incentives might ultimately be “the nudge they need to make the effort to get vaccinated,” said David Zieg, MD, clinical services leader at Mercer.

On the other hand, such rewards could lead some workers to feel the organization is “coercing them into accepting the vaccine, especially if they are experiencing financial challenges and view the money being offered as substantial,” he added.

“The good news is that the majority of the population is willing to get vaccinated, which means that incentives are not targeted to these people and will not change their behavior.”

Then there are employees for whom no amount of encouragement, financial or otherwise, will likely make much difference, said Zeig.

“Widespread disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines has fostered confusion and distrust. It seems unlikely that incentives will affect the behavior of people who are strongly opposed to taking the vaccine.

That said, it remains unclear whether incentives “will meaningfully improve uptake among those who are hesitant rather than opposed,” said Zeig. “Many will wait to be vaccinated until they feel comfortable, which will take time and experience, not money.”

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source; WorldatWork 

https://www.worldatwork.org/workspan/articles/thinking-through-covid-vaccine-incentives

Industry sources have recommended that participants adopt a savings hierarchy for retirement plan and health savings account contributions.

Reported by REBECCA MOORE

More than half (56%) of 401(k) participants reduced their retirement plan contributions in the first year that they made health savings account (HSA) contributions, according to a study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

In general, as income increases, the percentage of participants reducing their deferrals to their 401(k) increases in the first year that they made HSA contributions. There was also a spike among low-income workers in the percentage making a reduction.

EBRI found that the “crowding out” of HSA savings on retirement savings was modest at the median: The median dollar reduction in participant 401(k) contributions in the first year of HSA contributions was $34. However, deferral rates decreased by $5,127 at the 10th percentile.

Higher HSA contributions were associated with lower 401(k) contributions. While at the median, 401(k) contributions fell $315 among HSA participants allocating more than $4,350, among HSA participants committing $1,000 or less, median 401(k) contributions fell only $8.

“Not only does the amount of 401(k) contributions decrease as HSA contribution levels increase, the higher the 401(k) contribution, the greater the reduction in 401(k) contribution among those who contributed to their HSA for the first time,” says Paul Fronstin, director of the health research and education program at EBRI and coauthor of the report.

Specifically, 401(k) contributions fell $482 in the year following initial HSA deferrals among those allocating more than 10% of their income in the year prior to the HSA contribution. They fell $49 among those contributing 6% to 10% of their income. At the median, 401(k) deferrals were essentially unaffected among participants contributing 6% or less of their income.

The results of the EBRI survey highlight the need for retirement plan participants to establish a savings hierarchy. During the 2018 PLANSPONSOR HSA Conference, Jack Towarnicky, executive director of the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA), advocated for saving enough to get the employer match in both the retirement plan and the HSA, if the HSA offers an employer match and if the participant can afford it. Otherwise, Towarnicky said the common-sense approach is to contribute an initial amount to fund the HSA and contribute up to the full match in the 401(k). Participants can then alternate contributions between the two vehicles.

More recently, Brian Hanna, a partner and executive vice president at Everhart Advisors, told PLANSPONSOR, “What’s becoming more accepted as a best practice is that you should save into your qualified employer plan up to the match level first. Then you should save into your HSA up to the maximum annual contribution—and not spend your HSA on an annualized basis but use it as a retirement savings vehicle. Then, if you have any money available for savings, you can go back to the 401(k) and make a higher contribution.”

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: PLANSPONSOR

https://www.plansponsor.com/participants-reducing-401k-contributions-contribute-hsas/

ByCatherine Thorbecke | February 2, 2021

Google to pay $3.8 million over alleged discrimination against women, Asians

As part of the resolution, the tech giant denies wrongdoing.

Google has agreed to pay more than $3.8 million, including nearly $2.6 million in back pay, to settle allegations of "systemic" pay and hiring discrimination that disadvantaged women and Asian workers.

The payments will go to more than 5,500 current employees and job applicants from the company's California and Washington state offices, the Department of Labor announced in a statement Monday evening.

As part of the resolution, Google denies any violations or noncompliance with any laws or regulations.

Of that sum, more than $1.3 million will go toward back pay, with interest, to 2,565 female employees in engineering positions who were allegedly subjected to pay discrimination, while over $1.2 million will be set aside for 1,757 women and 1,219 Asian applicants for software engineering positions who weren't hired.

The Department of Labor said its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs identified pay disparities affecting female employees in software engineering positions at Google offices in Mountain View, California, as well as in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington, during a routine compliance evaluation.

"Pay discrimination remains a systemic problem," Jenny Yang, programs director at the OFCCP, said in a statement. "Employers must conduct regular pay equity audits to ensure that their compensation systems promote equal opportunity."

The agency said it also found hiring rate differences that disadvantaged women and Asian applicants for software engineering positions at Google outposts in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California, as well as in Kirkland.

In addition to the back pay, the tech company will also allocate a reserve of $1.25 million for pay-equity adjustments over the next five years for employees in engineering positions in Mountain View, Kirkland and New York City -- where approximately 50% of Google's engineers work.

A Google spokesperson told ABC News in a statement the company is pleased to have resolved the matter and that the company has conducted an internal analysis of pay equity for the last eight years.

"We believe everyone should be paid based upon the work they do, not who they are, and invest heavily to make our hiring and compensation processes fair and unbiased," the spokesperson said. "We're pleased to have resolved this matter related to allegations from the 2014-2017 audits and remain committed to diversity and equity and to supporting our people in a way that allows them to do their best work."

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: ABC News

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/google-pay-38-million-alleged-discrimination-women-asians/story?id=75633080

February 2, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced the immediate termination of its Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program. The PAID program began in March 2018 as a pilot program to allow employers an alternative method to rectify overtime and minimum wage violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) without the worry of an extended statute of limitations, penalties, and threat of private litigation or attorneys’ fees. The Wage Hour Division has repeatedly touted the program’s success. Although after a successful trial period the program was extended indefinitely in October 2018, the DOL abruptly ended the self-reporting program on January 29, 2021.  

In its press release announcing the end of the program, the DOL indicated that the resources and outreach provided by the Wage and Hour Division to employers are sufficient to help employers comply with the FLSA “without relieving them of their legal obligations.”

Under the PAID program, employers were able to self-report a wage violation, submit a calculation of back wages to the DOL, and enter into an agreement to pay 100% of back wages owed over a two-year period. In turn, the DOL would supervise and approve the settlement permitting employees to issue a valid release of the claim, limited to the reported issue. The DOL agreed not to seek a third year of back wages, liquidated damages, or civil money penalties, and kept the identity of reporting employers confidential, subject to FOIA requests. As an additional incentive for employers to participate in the PAID program, the DOL agreed not to investigate the underlying merits of the issue that the employer self-reported; instead, its review was limited to the back wage calculations prepared by the employer for accuracy. 

Without the self-reporting PAID program, the only two options available to release FLSA claims are through a court-approved settlement or as a result of a DOL-initiated investigation. While the PAID program did not release any state law claims, it allowed for significant relief for employers to correct issues without the threat of additional litigation or negative publicity. It is not clear whether employers currently working with the DOL through the PAID program will be allowed the benefits of the program.

Even without the added benefits of the PAID program, employers should continue to be proactive to audit pay records and correct potential wage issues if identified.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: JD Supra

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/dol-ends-payroll-audit-independent-8523810/

By WCCO-TVJanuary 25, 2021 at 11:48 am

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Target announced Monday that it’s giving $500 bonuses to more than 375,000 of its frontline team members working at stores across the country, including seasonal workers.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said the bonuses are the company’s fifth round of recognition for team members amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The company says the bonuses should be paid out by early next month.

Included in this round of bonuses are store directors, executive team leaders and salaried distribution center leaders, who will receive $1,000 to $2,000 bonuses.

In total, these bonuses will amount to a $200 million investment in workers, the company says.

Additionally, Target says that it’s extending COVID-19 benefits into 2021, such as paid leave for team members who test positive for the virus.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: CBS Minnesota

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/01/25/target-to-give-500-bonuses-to-frontline-team-members/

AUTHOR Katie Clarey | PUBLISHED: Jan. 21, 2021

Dive Brief:

• Federal courts saw fewer Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) filings for the fifth year in a row in 2020, according to Seyfarth Shaw LLP's Jan. 5 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report. Wage and hour litigation saw more class and collective actions certified than any other area of workplace law, however, with the rate of certification success increasing. 
• This trend is likely to "explode" in 2021 with the arrival of a more worker-friendly U.S. Department of Labor that is "apt to make supposed wage theft its enforcement priority and to shift its regulatory focus toward a plaintiff-friendly agenda."
• Work from home arrangements drove litigation in 2020 and will continue to do so in 2021, Seyfarth said. Specifically, claims will relate to subjects germane to telework, such as expense reimbursement and off-the-clock work.

Dive Insight:

Workplace class action lawsuits are the most common type of class actions, according to the results of the 2019 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey. The report, which gathered responses from general counsel or senior legal officers at 395 large companies, revealed that organizations spent a collective $2.46 billion in 2018 defending class actions. Labor and employment cases accounted for 26.1% of spending, Carlton Fields found, and companies reported that wage and hour matters were "their top concern in this category." In 2020, organizations shelled out nearly $295 million to settle wage and hour class action claims, according to Seyfarth.

Employers likely rejoiced when, in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that employers could require workers to arbitrate disputes individually, waiving their right to class or collective actions. Attorneys urged caution, however, and recommended employers refrain from widespread arbitration mandates, as arbitration can be expensive and create backlash, especially if claims contain allegations of sexual misconduct.

There has been some movement to hedge the freedom the decision granted employers. Lawmakers introduced the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act) in 2019, calling forced arbitration "unfair, unjust and un-American." The bill would allow employees and consumers to choose arbitration at will. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill in September 2019, but the U.S. Senate has yet to vote on the legislation.

Even without the FAIR Act, employers will likely see more wage and hour collective actions in 2021, due to the incoming, employee-friendly administration, Seyfarth predicted. The Biden administration may focus on raising the federal minimum wage, one attorney previously told HR Dive.

Management-side attorneys identified another factor in wage and hour claims that Seyfarth called out as well: telework. The pandemic has forced many hourly workers to work from home — a rare occurrence in pre-pandemic times, Venable Partner Nicholas Reiter said. Such workers generally have fixed schedules that easily facilitate overtime pay; with many working from home, employees may not have the infrastructure to track hours worked as diligently as previously. "That could be a real risk," Reiter said.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: HR Dive

https://www.hrdive.com/news/seyfarth-flsa-class-actions-will-likely-explode-in-2021/593754/

By  Chris Mellor | January 7, 2021

Final approval has been granted to a Western Digital settlement of a class action lawsuit, which accused the company of underpaying female staff and discriminating against them in pay, promotions, and placement.

Western Digital will pay $7.75m – $5m to 1863 female employees, and most of the rest to their law firm. In addition, the company will undertake “sweeping programmatic measures to help eliminate gender disparities and foster equal employment opportunity going forward”.

The lawsuit was bought by Yunghui Chen, who  joined WD’s Audit Department in 2005 and resigned in September 2016, having been promoted to Internal Audit Manager in 2008.

She alleged that Western Digital “paid her $30,000 less than her male counterparts performing equal and substantially similar work and refused to promote her to Senior Manager, despite promoting similarly situated, less-qualified men.” 

Her class action lawsuit, filed in May 2019, stated: “Men dominate Defendants’ leadership and management. Upon information and belief, the overrepresentation of men in Defendants’ leadership is both the source and product of continuing systemic discrimination against female employees.”

Also, Western Digital’s “compensation, promotions, and placement policies and practices have resulted in and perpetuated longstanding, company-wide gender discrimination and sex-based disparities with respect to pay, promotions, and job placement.”

The company relies “on a tap-on-the shoulder promotion process that disparately impacts women and encourages the predominantly male management to engage in a pattern of disparate treatment. Rather than posting open positions, managers evaluate which, if any, of their reporting employees should be placed into them.”

Where the money goes

The $7.75m settlement will be disbursed to several groups of people;

• $4,811,667 goes to California-based female employees of WD and related companies at or below the senior management level after November 1, 2012, and also to female employees of WD elsewhere in the USA with similar posts since November 1, 2013,
• $2,583,333 at a maximum goes to class counsel in attorneys fees,
• $97,324 goes to them for for litigation costs,
• $180,000 at maximum to Chen for her litigation costs,
• $18,000 service award to Chen,
• $50,000 for Class Administrator’s fees and costs,
• $75,000 for PAGA costs.

Any remaining money goes to a couple of legal aid charities.

The 1,863 individual class action members (plaintiffs) and they will get $3,615 each on average. The precise amount will depend upon their employment duration and pay rate.

Interested parties with Pacer access can read the final settlement document or by looking up Chen v. Western Digital Corp., C.D. Cal., No. 8:19-cv-00909, final approval of class settlement 1/5/21.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: Blocks & Files

https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/01/07/western-digital-settles-sex-discrimination-class-action/