Pay equity is both required by law and a sound business practice. However, providing equitable compensation to employees who perform the same or similar jobs, while accounting for differences in experience and tenure, isn’t easy. That’s why every company should at least consider undertaking a pay equity audit to assess its compensation philosophy and approach.

Legal background

The federal Equal Pay Act requires employers to provide men and women with equal pay for equal work in the same establishment. The jobs don’t need to be identical, but they should be “substantially equal.” Moreover, it’s not job titles, but job content — including skill, effort and responsibility — that determines whether jobs are substantially equal.

Many states have enacted their own equal pay laws, some of which are more stringent than the federal legislation. California, for example, requires employers to pay employees the same wage rates for “substantially similar work,” a larger umbrella than “same or similar jobs.”

Some other countries have also introduced laws around pay equity. The United Kingdom, for instance, requires some public companies to annually disclose the ratio of their chief executive officers’ pay to the lower, median and upper quartile of their employees’ pay.

In addition to helping to prevent legal woes, pay equity can offer bottom-line benefits. A company’s commitment to equitable pay can enhance its employer brand, boost employee morale and performance, and reduce the risk of negative publicity.

An involved process

The purpose of a pay equity audit is to:

• Uncover disparities in compensation,
• Identify the drivers behind them, and
• Develop ways to address the inequities.

Although the process can be quite involved, it’s typically worth the effort.

First, assemble participants from multiple departments — including HR, legal, and finance or accounting — to collect data on employee compensation, job classifications and demographics. This cross section of participants also will help ensure buy-in across the business.

The next step is determining how to group employees. That is, which ones will be considered to have substantially similar roles and, thus, should fall within the same pay range?

Some number crunching will come into play. For smaller employee groups, an analysis of, for example, differences in median pay between groups of employees might be enough to identify any unwarranted disparities. With larger groups, you may have to conduct more rigorous statistical analyses. For example, regression analysis can help control for variables, such as employees’ experience levels, when examining disparities.

Critical component

Over the past year, many workers have made it abundantly clear that they’ll leave a job if any of several employment components isn’t to their liking. Compensation is certainly one of these. Our firm can help support your efforts to conduct a pay equity audit.

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Many not-for-profits are understaffed in 2022, thanks to a labor shortage and pandemic-related budget shortfalls. Some organizations are filling the gaps with freelancers and contractors. However, such decisions can lead to trouble if these workers should really be classified as employees according to the Department of Labor (DOL) or the IRS. To ensure your workers are correctly classified, review the rules.

The DOL and FLSA

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t define the term “independent contractor.” But courts generally have focused on several factors related to the “economic reality” of relationships between employers and workers.

The DOL leans on U.S. Supreme Court rulings for guidance. The Court has repeatedly stated that no single rule or test applies to determine employment status under the FLSA. Rather, the totality of circumstances determines a worker’s status, including how integral the worker’s services are to your operations, the permanency of the relationship and the nature and degree of control you have over the worker. The DOL has identified other factors it deems relevant, including:

• Where the work is performed (remotely or on-site),
• The absence or existence of a formal written employment contract, and
• Whether the work is licensed by the state or local government.

Some states have even more restrictive tests. Moreover, the fact that workers qualify as independent contractors under another federal law doesn’t guarantee they qualify under the FLSA. For example, the IRS applies a different test.

The IRS

Providing your workers with IRS Form 1099, “Miscellaneous Information” instead of Form W-2, “Wage and Tax Statement,” won’t automatically make them independent contractors. When assessing worker classification, the IRS typically looks at a variety of factors, as well as the totality of facts and circumstances. But in general, these factors are important:

Level of behavioral control. The more control you exercise over the worker, the more likely the worker is an employee. The IRS might look at the extent to which you instruct a worker on when, where and how to work, what tools or equipment to use and where to purchase supplies.

Extent of financial control. Contractors are more likely to invest in their own equipment or facilities, incur unreimbursed business expenses, market their services to other clients and be paid with a flat fee. Employees are more likely to be paid hourly, weekly or bimonthly.

Relationship of the parties. Contractors are often engaged for a specific project while employees are typically hired permanently (or for an indefinite period). Also, workers who serve a key business function are more likely to be classified as employees.

Difference in pay, benefits and taxes

If your workers don’t qualify as independent contractors, you must properly treat them as employees:

Pay and benefits. You generally must pay covered, nonexempt employees at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. When an employee’s hours within a workweek exceed 40, you must pay at least 1½ times the employee’s regular pay rate. If the DOL reclassifies an independent contractor as an employee, in addition to having to make up the unpaid wages, you may owe workers’ compensation premiums and unpaid leave and other benefits. Fines and penalties are also possible.

Taxes. For employees, you must withhold federal income and payroll taxes, and pay the employer’s share of FICA taxes on the wages, plus FUTA tax. If the IRS reclassifies one of your independent contractors, you may be liable for back taxes that you should have paid and payroll and income taxes you should have withheld. In some cases, interest and penalties are levied.

Resolving issues

If budget shortfalls are preventing you from hiring the staffers you need or you aren’t sure if you’re accurately classifying the workers you have, contact us. We can help your nonprofit resolve financial and compliance issues.

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If your business doesn’t already have a retirement plan, now might be a good time to take the plunge. Current retirement plan rules allow for significant tax-deductible contributions.

For example, if you’re self-employed and set up a SEP-IRA, you can contribute up to 20% of your self-employment earnings, with a maximum contribution of $61,000 for 2022. If you’re employed by your own corporation, up to 25% of your salary can be contributed to your account, with a maximum contribution of $61,000. If you’re in the 32% federal income tax bracket, making a maximum contribution could cut what you owe Uncle Sam for 2022 by a whopping $19,520 (32% times $61,000).

More options

Other small business retirement plan options include:

• 401(k) plans, which can even be set up for just one person (also called solo 401(k)s),
• Defined benefit pension plans, and
• SIMPLE-IRAs.

Depending on your circumstances, these other types of plans may allow bigger deductible contributions.

Deadlines to establish and contribute

Thanks to a change made by the 2019 SECURE Act, tax-favored qualified employee retirement plans, except for SIMPLE-IRA plans, can now be adopted by the due date (including any extension) of the employer’s federal income tax return for the adoption year. The plan can then receive deductible employer contributions that are made by the due date (including any extension), and the employer can deduct those contributions on the return for the adoption year.

Important: The SECURE Act provision didn’t change the deadline to establish a SIMPLE-IRA plan. It remains October 1 of the year for which the plan is to take effect. Also, the SECURE Act change doesn’t override rules that require certain plan provisions to be in effect during the plan year, such as the provisions that cover employee elective deferral contributions (salary-reduction contributions) under a 401(k) plan. The plan must be in existence before such employee elective deferral contributions can be made.

For example, the deadline for the 2021 tax year for setting up a SEP-IRA for a sole proprietorship business that uses the calendar year for tax purposes is October 17, 2022, if you extend your 2021 tax return. The deadline for making the contribution for the 2021 tax year is also October 17, 2022. However, to make a SIMPLE-IRA contribution for the 2021 tax year, you must have set up the plan by October 1, 2021. So, it’s too late to set up a plan for last year.

While you can delay until next year establishing a tax-favored retirement plan for this year (except for a SIMPLE-IRA plan), why wait? Get it done this year as part of your tax planning and start saving for retirement. We can provide more information on small business retirement plan alternatives. Be aware that, if your business has employees, you may have to make contributions for them, too.

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Common sense dictates that every company, no matter how small, should carry various forms of business insurance. But that doesn’t mean you should pay unnecessarily high premiums just to retain the coverage you need. Here are five ways to better control your insurance costs without sacrificing the quality of your policies:

1. Review coverage periodically. Make sure existing policies reflect your current circumstances. For example, if you’ve sold or sunset some equipment, remove it from your schedule of current assets. If you’ve reduced the number of workers on your payroll, adjust workers’ compensation estimates accordingly. (We’ll address this further below.) On the other hand, if you’ve added equipment, vehicles or staff, see that they’re appropriately covered.

2. Shop around. Spend some time and effort to compare coverage and costs of various insurers. Investigate whether you qualify for any discounts that you’re not getting. To facilitate the process, you might want to engage an insurance specialist in your industry. The right expert can help you weigh the total, true costs of various policies and advise you without a vested interest in selling you a particular product.

3. Actively manage workers’ compensation coverage. In some industries, such as construction and manufacturing, workers’ comp is a major focus. In others, business owners might pay little attention to it if accidents rarely occur. Be sure that you keep up with the costs of this coverage and make regular adjustments as the nature of work changes.

Workers’ compensation insurers assign risk classification codes to employees based on their duties, responsibilities, and level of exposure to the risk of injury or illness. Higher risk means higher premiums so, at least annually, check that you’re classifying employees accurately. For example, if an employee who now works from home is still classified as someone who travels regularly or works in a higher risk location, your premiums may be needlessly inflated.

4. Consider higher deductibles. If you’re comfortable assuming some additional risk, and your cash flow is strong enough, calculate whether you can save on premiums by raising the deductibles on certain policies. It could be worth paying a higher deductible so long as the premium savings is enough to cover a claim or two if they do occur.

5. Prioritize safety. Keeping employees safe is a worthy goal in and of itself, of course. But emphasizing the importance of safety to managers, supervisors, employees and any independent contractors you might have on-site can also positively affect your company’s insurance costs. After all, the premiums you pay are based in part on your claims history. There are various steps that every business should take to avoid injuries and illness:

• Provide safety training to new hires,
• Conduct drills and refresher training for current employees,
• Issue personal protective equipment, as appropriate, and
• Strictly enforce safe work practices with no exceptions.

By keeping your employees safe, and promoting wellness in every respect, you’ll not only decrease the likelihood of costly insurance claims, but you’ll also likely contribute to higher morale and more robust productivity. We can help you measure and assess your insurance costs so you can make the right adjustments without incurring unnecessary risk.

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When a nonprofit is new, it may struggle to find an adequate number of board members. But as it grows, its board is also likely to grow — sometimes, to an unwieldy size. The question is: How many directors does your organization need to effectively pursue its mission?

Perks and drawbacks

Both small and large boards come with perks and drawbacks. For example, smaller boards allow for easier communication and greater cohesiveness among the members. Scheduling is less complicated, and meetings tend to be shorter and more focused. Several studies have indicated that group decision making is most effective when the group contains five to eight people. But boards on the small side of this range may lack the experience or diversity necessary to facilitate healthy deliberation and debate. What’s more, members may feel overworked and burn out easily.

Burnout is less likely with a large board where each member shoulders a smaller burden, including when it comes to fundraising. Large boards may include more perspectives and a broader base of professional expertise — for example, financial advisors, community leaders and former clients. On the other hand, larger boards can lead to disengagement because some members may not feel they have sufficient responsibilities or a voice in discussions and decisions. Larger boards also require more staff support.

No ideal number

State law typically specifies the minimum number of directors a not-for-profit must have. But so long as your organization fulfills that requirement, it’s up to you to determine how many total board members you need. So if you’re assembling a board or thinking about resizing, consider such issues as director responsibilities, desirable expertise, fundraising demands and your nonprofit’s staffing resources.

You may have heard that it’s wise to have an uneven number of board members to avoid 50/50 votes. In such a case, though, the chair can break a tie. Moreover, an issue that produces a 50/50 split usually deserves more discussion.

Good governance

Increasing the size of a board typically is easier than trimming it. Asking members to resign can be awkward, plus you may need to change your bylaws to shrink your board. In general, it’s best to set a range for board size — rather than a precise number — in your bylaws. For more about nonprofit governance best practices, contact us.

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