News & Events

Every business owner knows they should have an exit strategy, because buying and/or selling a business can get pretty complicated, and they may be relying on a successful exit to retire or start their next venture. The thing is, keeping your business up and running, getting your work done AND ensuring you have a smooth, functioning exit strategy isn't easy. Usually business owners will develop their own organizational structure and internal office practices, and then hire employees to run them a specific way. This specific way is not usually the “right” way, but the way that the business owner has always done it and is afraid or overwhelmed by the thought of changing it.

To ensure long-term success, companies need to become as efficient and productive as possible, while still retaining the integrity of the company values. Since every organization is comprised of its workers, it only stands to reason that the HR department is the backbone of success. It’s the HR department’s job to not only help bring on engaged staff, but to quickly resolve issues as they develop. That role includes making sure that the HR department is in compliance.

Both Dallas and San Antonio recently passed city laws mandating paid sick leave. However, the status of these municipal ordinances remains unclear. Austin attempted to pass a similar sick pay ordinance in 2018 that was ultimately shot down.

There is something magical about hiring your first employee. Armed with the optimism of running a small- to medium-sized business (SMB), it is easy to get swept up in the romance of expansion while ignoring the hundreds of state and federal guidelines that govern hiring and onboarding a new employee. Still, ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the law; making HR compliance a necessary part of operations in an SMB. But where do you start to create a compliant organization? And more importantly, how do you maintain that compliance in the long run?

On March 7, 2019 the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued an update to their Overtime Rules that will make more than a million more American workers eligible for overtime. You can read the full notice here: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Overtime Update.

On Jan. 5, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule that would give small businesses and sole proprietors more freedom to join together as a single group to purchase health insurance in the large group market or to selfinsure. These benefit arrangements are called association health plans (AHPs).

The proposed rule would broaden the criteria for determining which employers may band together to form AHPs. Under the proposal, employers could form an AHP if they are in the same industry or have a principal place of business in the same state or metropolitan area.

The proposed rule would also allow working owners, such as sole proprietors, to join AHPs. The proposed rule includes requirements for AHPs that are intended to distinguish them from commercial insurance-type arrangements and prevent adverse selection.

ACTION STEPS
The DOL’s changes for AHPs are only proposed at this point. It is possible that the DOL will change the proposal before it is finalized, based on comments it receives on the proposed rule. Small employers and sole proprietors who are interested in AHPs should monitor the proposed rule for developments.

Starting Feb. 15, 2018, employers must use new tables to determine how much income tax to withhold from their employees’ paychecks. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued the required new tables, in Notice 1036, on Jan. 9, 2018. The notice contains early release copies of the “Percentage Method Tables for Income Tax Withholding” that will appear in IRS Publication 15 (Employer’s Tax Guide).

According to the IRS, Notice 1036 is the first in a series of steps that the agency will take to help employers improve the accuracy of their tax withholdings under changes made by a new tax reform law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted on Dec. 22, 2017.