#compensation
Employee compensation, payroll, executive pay, and related tax compliance
California, New York, and Illinois each mandate a weekly day of rest — measured three different ways, with per-employee penalties for every week you miss.
The IRS lets employers withhold a flat 22% on bonuses up to $1M and 37% above it. That's withholding, not your tax rate; the gap settles when you file.
A rabbi trust defers tax but leaves the employee behind your creditors in bankruptcy; a secular trust is IRS-taxed at funding. Pick by who bears credit risk.
Florida's minimum wage hits $15.00 ($11.98 tipped) on September 30, 2026. Update payroll rates, tip notices, and posters before the midweek changeover.
Under federal FLSA rules, exempt employees are owed full salary for any holiday-shutdown week they work at all; require PTO use instead of docking pay.
A draw against commission is an advance settled against later commissions. Once paid it is wages under the FLSA, so never claw it back from a final paycheck.
Singapore's Local Qualifying Salary rose from S$1,600 to S$1,800 on 1 July 2026 — full-time locals below the line now count as half a head (or zero below S$900) toward Work Permit and S Pass quotas, CPF filings drive the weekly headcount refresh, and 30% PWCS co-funding offsets qualifying raises.
Employers can contribute up to $2,500 per employee per year to a child's Trump Account tax-free and report it in W-2 Box 12 under the new Code TA, debuting on 2026 forms. This guide covers the written Section 128 plan, the per-employee (not per-child) cap, the $5,000 aggregate per-child limit, cafeteria-plan salary reductions for dependents only, Section 129-style nondiscrimination testing, and the payroll and account-verification controls that keep the benefit out of taxable wages.
Virginia requires a good-faith pay range in every public and internal job posting as of July 1, 2026, with no employer-size exemption; Maine requires one from employers with 10 or more workers as of July 29, 2026, plus three-year pay records. Here is what each law demands, how they differ, and the posting and payroll steps to comply.
When clocks fall back at 2:00 a.m. on November 1, 2026, a scheduled eight-hour overnight shift becomes nine paid hours under the FLSA — and that ninth hour counts toward the 40-hour overtime threshold. Spring forward is not the mirror image: the hour never worked may be paid voluntarily but is excluded from the regular rate and cannot offset real overtime.
An accrual-basis employer can deduct year-end bonuses in the year earned only if employees actually receive the money within 2½ months after year-end — March 15 for calendar-year businesses. The deduction also requires a liability fixed by December 31 under the all-events test, and it fails for bonuses owed to related parties under Section 267 regardless of payment timing.
A stay bonus agreement pays a key employee to remain through a fixed date, usually 10% to 30% of base salary as a lump sum or milestone installments. This guide covers when a retention bonus beats a raise, how to size it against replacement cost, the terms a written agreement needs (forfeiture carve-outs, clawback limits, who pays in a sale), and the payroll rules that apply, including the IRS flat 22% supplemental-wage withholding, FICA, and state supplemental rates.
