Key Employment Topics: Verification, Overtime Standards, and Independent Contractor Issues

Session 1 - 2024 New E-Verify Program! How Will NextGen Impact Completing the I-9 Form?

Pre-recorded Webinar

Duration - 90 minutes

Speaker - Margie Faulk

Webinar Overview

The proposed features for the upcoming revamped version of E-Verify would fundamentally change the way employment eligibility verification is conducted, according to a proposal from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

E-Verify NextGen—scheduled for release in 2024—integrates the Form I-9 process with E-Verify, the federal government’s electronic employment verification system, and shifts much of the process away from HR and to the new hires themselves. Currently, employers must complete a new Form I-9 for each new hire and enter the information into E-Verify if they are enrolled in the program.

“The proposed changes are significant,” said John Fay, director of product strategy at Equifax Workforce Solutions. Fay participated in a demo of the NextGen product with other E-Verify agents as part of a USCIS listening session earlier this year.

Here’s how it works: Using E-Verify NextGen, a new hire will electronically enter their biographical information, citizenship or immigration status, and acceptable identity documents using their myE-Verify secure personal account. Once the system confirms the employee’s employment eligibility, the employer will be notified and can finish the verification by examining the documents—remotely, if it is taking advantage of the new alternative verification option. The submitted information will be used to create a completed Form I-9 for the employer to download and store.

Webinar Highlights

• Learn how the E-Verify NextGen Program Works and when it will be launched
• Learn who are the eligible Employers or individuals involve
• Learn what the criteria is for eligibility
• Learn how the NextGen works and what is the impact for E-Verify
• Learn how the NextGen program can save errors by Employers
• Learn how the criteria can be an obstacle for Employers
• Learn what the features are and how they will be assessed
• Learn how the enrollment process will assist in the number of errors that are made with I-9 Forms
• Learn how email notification will change with the NextGen program
• Learn how the requirements will be a challenge for Employers using the NextGen Program

Session 2 - The DOL Predicts That The Overtime Rule Would Be Launched in April 2024!

Pre-recorded Webinar

Duration - 90 minutes

Speaker - Margie Faulk

Webinar Overview

Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions is a semi-annual compilation of information about regulations under development by federal agencies, published in the spring and fall.

The government’s fall regulatory agenda just dropped. Highlights include overtime regulations slated for April 2024.

The DOL plans to finalize updates to the executive, administrative and professional exemption for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

• Increase the salary threshold for overtime exemptions from $684 per week ($35,568 annually for a full-year worker) to $1,059 per week ($55,068 annually for a full-year worker). The increase reflects the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage census region (currently the South).
• Increase the salary threshold for highly compensated employees from $107,432 annually to $143,988 annually. The increase reflects the earnings of the 85th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally.
• Implement automatic increases every three years to all salary thresholds.

The sizable hike means that, if the rule goes into effect as proposed, employers may have many employees whose salary falls between the current threshold and the proposed new threshold, Coburn noted. Employers "will have to decide whether to increase the salaries for those employees to get them up over the new salary threshold, or to convert the employees to non exempt and start paying them overtime.

In addition to being a costly proposed rule for businesses, there might be nonmonetary impacts on employees whose salary is between the current threshold and the proposed new one.

Based on the Regulatory Agenda highlights, DOL plans to move swiftly through regulations now that the Comments Period (11/7/23) has closed. The DOL is required to take each comment into account and then determine whether to adjust the proposed rule before it becomes final. The agency will then issue a final rule taking the comments into account, and it will then take effect within a few weeks of the final proposal being issued. Employers must start preparing for what could be big changes to your compensation plans.

Now is the time for Employers to make preparations for this impactful process.

Webinar Objectives

Employers should learn that the previous overtime increase created severe complications regarding communications to impacted employees, a decrease in staff morale for those who believed that it was a demotion, loss of benefits when they decided to reduce hours, and costs, challenges with job descriptions and expected impact in Employer’s budget. It led to an increase in turnover and a decrease in retention.

Employers can take the time to review and prepare for setting guidelines on how they communicate the impact to employees, make effective decisions on how to cut costs without reducing employee hours or benefits, and develop a training program for managers and newly non-exempt employees.

Webinar Highlights

• Learn why Employers should learn to review the Federal Regulatory Agendas for what will  priorities are trending to prepare for any items.
• Learn what the highlights mean to the launching date of April 2024
• Learn what the DOL proposal includes and who it impacts more.
• Learn how long Employers have to make changes.
• Learn how Employers can proactively impact the proposed decision.
• Learn what communication details can effectively and positively impact newly non-exempt employees.
• Learn how job responsibilities determine classification, not job titles.
• Learn how to comply without the risk of a decrease in staff morale, increase in turnover, decrease in retention, and removal of benefits.
• Learn how the automatic updates in salary threshold according to the consumer price index (CPI) can impact ongoing budget losses.
• Learn how employers should confirm the duties tests before making negative decisions.
• Learn how the Executive Exemption, Administrative Exemption, and Professional Exemptions can confuse the Employer's judgment on exempt and non-exempt employees.
• Learn how Employers can use the Fair Labor Standards Act to prepare for identifying the proper compliance guidelines.
• Learn what resources Employers can use to mitigate the negative response by employees.
• Learn what Employers need to do to determine how state overtime regulations impact federal regulations and which supersedes them.

Session 3 - W-2s vs. 1099s—Who Should be an Independent Contractor in 2024

Live Date - October 01, 2024

Time - 1 PM ET

Duration - 90 minutes

Speaker - Vicki M. Lambert

Webinar Overview

Misclassifying employees and independent contractors are getting costlier by the day. With federal and state agencies joining forces to combat misclassification, fines and penalties have skyrocketed. And every day the misclassification continues the penalties mount up and up until this ticking time bomb finally explodes! Find out how to defuse that ticking bomb by joining renowned payroll expert Vicki M. Lambert, CPP for this information packed webinar!

Webinar Objectives

This webinar examines what the requirements are to correctly classify a worker as an independent contractor and also the requirements for when a worker must be classified as an employee.

Webinar Highlights

• What classifications of workers are permitted under IRS Rules
• What is the common law rule and how is it used to determine worker status
• What are the three factors the IRS uses to determine worker status and how to apply them correctly
• How the FLSA rules differ from the IRS rules and why you must follow both even as the FLSA regs are being update in 2024
• How does the state trump both the IRS and the FLSA on determining independent contractor status with the ABC test for SUI
• What are the latest agreements or programs being used by the IRS, DOL and the states to “find” misclassified employees
• Using the Form SS-8 to your advantage to determine worker status
• Who gets a W-2 and who gets a 1099 and why it should never be the same worker
• Find out how easily a 1099 audit can be triggered and why the chances of getting one are on the rise
• What are the penalties for misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor and who assesses them.  It is not just the IRS you have to worry about.
• You found out you have a misclassified employee—now what?

Who Should Attend

• Payroll Executives/Managers/Administrators/Professionals/Practitioners/Entry Level Personnel
• Human Resources Executives/Managers/Administrators
• Accounting Personnel
• Business Owners/Executive Officers/Operations and Departmental Managers
• Lawmakers
• Attorneys/Legal Professionals
• Any individual or entity that must deal with the complexities and requirements of Payroll compliance issues
• All Employers
• Company Leadership
• Compliance professionals
• HR Professionals
• Managers/Supervisors
• Employers in all industries
• Payroll Administrators
• Small Business Owners

Credit(s)

IRS CPE Credits: 3 Tax hour