The 113th Congress met from April 15 to August 2, 2013. This year, several payroll related bills were introduced. Some are good for companies, some not so good. You decide.
Below is a quick run-down on some proposed legislation.
Paid Vacation Act. This would require employers with 100+ employees to allow one week of paid vacation every 12 months. Workers employed over 12 months (100+ employee company) would get two weeks of paid vacation.
Time Off to Vote Act. Employer would have to allow 2 hours of paid leave time to allow employee to vote for federal elections. Can’t include lunch or break time in the 2 hours.
Comp Time—Working Families Flexibility Act. Private employers will finally be able to offer comp time instead of paying for overage of hours. BUT, the time has to 1.5 hours for each hour of overtime worked. The employee has to have worked over 12 months to get this.
Change of Working Conditions— Working Families Flexibility Act. Another item in the WFFA would authorize employees to request a change in: number of hours worked, on call time, location of work, and promptness in informing workers of work schedule assignments.
Support of Working Moms Act. For exempt mothers, their employer would be requried to allow a reasonable break for mother to express breast milk.
Children’s Act for Responsible Employment Act (CARE). This would increase civil penalties and create criminal charges for oppresive child labor. The child laws included are the same as current laws, but this act now makes prosecuting a possible penalty.
FSA/HAS—Medical FSA Improvement Act and Family and Retirement Health and Investment Act. Instead of the “use it or lose it” for FSAs, the remaining amounts at year end would be returned to the participant as taxable income. For HSAs, many items are being proposed including spouse catch-up contributions to HSA, Medicare participation in HSA, and purchase of over-the-counter prescriptions and long term care insurance.
Automatic IRA Act. This would require employers without a qualified retirement plant to provide an IRA for employees wanting such a plan. Good thing for employer—you’ll get tax credit for costs pertaining to the automatic arrangement.
Small Business Job Protection Act. This would redefine the definition of a large employer for insurance purposes to have at least 100 full time employee as opposed to the current 50.
Save American Workers Act. This would define ‘full-time’ for health insurance requirements to be an average of 40 hours instead of the current 30.
Some of these acts may pass, some of them won’t. But it’s always better to be prepared for change instead of taking the chance on non-compliance.