Aspen Highlights & Updates
Aspen HR Ranks #24 on San Francisco Business Times’ 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Bay Area – We are thrilled to receive this prestigious award for the 3rd consecutive year in a row! Thank you to all our amazing clients for helping make this achievement possible.
Year-End Reporting – Aspen HR is preparing for 2025, which includes assisting our clients with completing & validating their 2024 payroll data. For Aspen HR clients, please be on the lookout for our annual Year-End Checklist, which will be delivered through the iSolved system. The checklist will provide all of the critical payroll data to provide to us and the deadlines by which to do so. We will also email a flyer to all employees, advising them to review their addresses, tax deductions, and electronic form access options in the iSolved employee portal.
HR & Benefits Diligence Webinar Replay – Watch the replay and discover the top priorities for HR and benefits diligence, including HR compliance audits, employee benefits benchmarking, and post-acquisition HR and benefits action plans.
Partner Spotlight
Predictive Index: Make stronger, data-backed decisions across the entire employee lifecycle – Predictive Index is an analytics-driven software platform that helps you hire, engage, and retain talent for optimal business results. They leverage 65 years of science to recruit the right people and build agile teams that get work done. Behavioral and cognitive assessments allow them to improve collaboration, develop top performers, and create a culture where people can truly excel.
Ready to transform your talent? Reach out to Mark Franklin ([email protected]) to discuss how they can help.
HR and Legal Alerts!
DOL Overtime Rule Update – As a reminder, the DOL’s rule raised the salary exempt threshold on July 1, 2024, to $844 a week ($43,888 annualized). The second rate change is slated to become effective on January 1, 2025, raising the salary threshold to $1,128 (or $58,656 per year). Starting July 1, 2027, the salary threshold will be automatically updated every three years.
Additionally, the threshold for the “highly compensated employee” (“HCE”) exemption will rise to $151,164 on January 1, 2025, and will be updated every three years.
It is best to begin to prepare for the pending changes. It’s a good idea to start by creating a list of exempt employees earning below $58,655 a year. If exempt employees fall into this category, you must decide whether to raise their salary to meet the new threshold or convert them to non-exempt status. Aspen can help you draft an employee notification of the changes. It is important to remember that other jurisdictions can have higher, stricter, or different wage and hour requirements.
Finally, we can expect legal challenges to oppose the final rule, which may delay implementation or nullify it entirely. We will continue to monitor the developments and provide updates as soon as they become available.
Maryland Pay Stub/Pay Statement Law – Effective October 1, 2024, Maryland’s Pay Stub/Pay Statement laws went into effect. Under the Pay Stub/Pay Statement law, which covers most private sector employers but not public sector employers, employers must provide specific written disclosures to employees regarding their earned wages. To comply with the law, each payday an employer must provide a “written statement” of the following:
- The employer’s name registered with the state, address, and telephone number;
- The date of payment and the beginning and ending dates of the pay period for which the payment is made;
- The number of hours worked during the pay period (unless the employee is exempt from overtime under federal and state law);
- The rates of pay;
- The gross and net pay earned during the pay period;
- The amount and name of all deductions;
- A list of additional bases of pay, including bonuses, commissions on sales, or other bases; and
- For each employee paid at a piece rate, the applicable piece rates of pay and the number of pieces completed at each piece rate.
To help employers comply with the law’s requirements, the Division of Labor and Industry (“DLI”) has created a pay stub template, which can be found here: pay stub template.
San Diego County Adopts Fair Chance Ordinance – Following the lead of other California cities and counties, the County of San Diego recently passed a local fair chance ordinance restricting the use of criminal history in employment decisions. Effective October 10, 2024, employers that have five or more employees and are located or doing business in the unincorporated areas of San Diego County must comply with the county’s Fair Chance Ordinance. The County of San Diego Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement (“OLSE”) cannot issue fines until July 1, 2025.
Key features of the county’s Ban the Box ordinance include the following:
- The ordinance applies to positions that involve performing at least two hours of work on average each week within the unincorporated areas of the county.
- Employers may not inquire about an applicant’s criminal history before making a conditional job offer or include questions about criminal history on applications prior to that offer.
- If an employer intends to deny employment, transfer, or promotion based on criminal history, the employer must conduct a written individualized assessment evaluating whether the criminal history has a direct and adverse relationship with the specific duties that justify the decision, and follow a county-specific pre-adverse action letter process. This includes an obligation to notify the employee of the right to file a complaint with the County of San Diego Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement (“OLSE”) for violations of the ordinance.
- Employers must retain all records related to employment applications for at least one year.
The ordinance imposes significant monetary penalties on employers for noncompliance. The OLSE may fine employers found to have violated the ordinance up to $5,000 for a first violation, $10,000 for a second violation, and up to $20,000 for third and subsequent violations.
Have questions about these updates? Don’t hesitate to contact our team!
