Working from Here, There and Everywhere

Learning Objectives

• To explore the requirements for state and local income tax withholding.
• To discover the laws and regulations for unemployment insurance that are required to be followed by employees who work from home and for hybrid employees.
• To recognize payroll's responsibility relating to ensuring the correct wage and hour laws, garnishments, and travel pay laws are followed.

Course Description

This course is valid up to December 31st, 2024 for CPP and FPC Professionals. It is advisable to complete this course before that to get the credit on time.

Before the pandemic, we all normally worked together in the same office at the same time. Then, suddenly, Covid hit. And everything changed. Hundreds of thousands of employees scattered to the four winds. Some just went home from the office and stayed there. Others move their home, maybe to be closer to the family for the duration. And we all thought that after Covid was over everything would return to as it was. 

But has it and will it? 

As the pandemic hit, employees were forced to work from home, and many found they enjoyed the new setup and were even more productive. The advances in technology have made it possible to work from anywhere, and this trend is set to continue. However, compliance issues are arising as employers and employees adapt to this new way of working.

During the pandemic, states did not enforce their taxation rules as they assumed employee moves were temporary. But now, employees are working outside of the standard office or in a hybrid setup, and the states are reacting by implementing taxation requirements. By 2022, all states had reverted to their pre-Covid withholding requirements for state income tax.

Employers must determine the taxation requirements for their employees, depending on where they work. If an employee works from home or in a hybrid setup, it may alter the taxation requirements. It does not just state income tax that employers need to be aware of, but also wage and hour laws, overtime rules, minimum wage rates, permitted deductions from paychecks, paystub requirements, and garnishments for child support and creditors.

An employee's physical location determines which state's wage and hour laws apply, meaning an employee living and working from home in one state is subject to that state's wage and hour laws, even if the employer is located in another state. As employees can work from literally anywhere, payroll departments must make determinations on all these compliance issues.

This CE Tax webinar is divided into sections:

• Section 1: Determining if the company is an employer in the state and liable for state income taxes 
• Section 2: Local Tax Issues 
• Section 3: State Unemployment Insurance
• Section 4: Introduction to State Wage-Hour Laws
• Section 5: Minimum wage
• Section 6: Meals and rest periods
• Section 7: Frequency of wage payments
• Section 8: Salary level test
• Section 9: Mandatory sick or paid leave
• Section 10: Child support and creditor garnishments
• Section 11: Travel pay issues

Join this PDC/RCH webinar, it will highlight the issues surrounding employees working anywhere outside the traditional office.

Overview

• State income tax

  5 mins
• Telecommuting

  15 mins
• Four factor test for SUI

  28 mins
• Meal and rest periods

  47 mins
• Creditor garnishment limits by state

  71 mins