Just in time for bad winter weather, the federal Department of Labor has issued an opinion letter on how employers should pay exempt (salaried) employees for time lost due to weather emergencies. Opinion letters are put out by the DOL to explain how the wage and hour regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) apply to particular circumstances. They generally provide a "safe haven" for employers to rely on.

The opinion letter, which was requested by a healthcare institution, differentiated between when an exempt employee misses a full day of work due to bad weather and when such an employee misses just part of the workday. Exempt employees are paid the same salary every pay period, no matter how many hours they work. However, the regulations provide that salary deductions may be made when an exempt employee is absent from work for one or more full days for "personal reasons" or when absent one or more full days for sickness or disability in accordance with a bona fide sick leave or disability plan.

The end of the year is a traditional time for employers to give something extra to their employees, either in the form of holiday gifts or cash bonuses. However, even though such gifts are given in the spirit of the season, the IRS may, Scrooge-like, extract its percentage in the form of income taxes.

Although most gifts given have no tax consequences, gifts that employers give to their employees may be treated as supplemental wages, and thus subject to payroll and income taxes and inclusion in the employee's year end W-2 form. This is because the gift is not seen as given voluntarily, with no strings attached. Courts have generally found that the employer's intention in giving a "gift" is to reward past performance or as an incentive for future performance, and therefore it is viewed as additional taxable compensation.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has approved final proposed revisions to the Employer Information Report, also known as the EEO-1 Report. If approved, these revisions will be effective for the 2007 EEO-1 reporting deadline.  The EEO-1 report is the principal reporting form by which certain employers provide the federal government with a count of their workforces by ethnicity, race and gender, divided into job categories.  The Report is an annual requirement for employers with 100 or more employees and for employers with federal government contracts of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees.  The revisions to the EEO-1 Report affect both the race and ethnic categories and the job categories.

The EEOC’s final proposed revisions to the EEO-1 Report’s race and ethnic categories include: