UNEMPLOYMENT
INSURANCE / SOCIAL SECURITY
| Issues and Answers | ||
| Health insurance coverage must continue for dependent students on medical leave | |||
|
| Summary of State Law Changes | ||
|
| |||
|
| Test Your Human Resources Knowledge | ||
|
| Labor Law Journal Submissions | ||
|
| Human Resources Links | ||
|
| Labor Arbitrators' Awards and Biographies | ||
Links within news stories display full text documents including legislation, regulations, court decisions, rulings and government reports.
The first time you click on a link you will be taken to the standard IRN login page (or IP Login page), where you will need to enter your ID and password. Subsequent links will take you directly to the desired document.
Signing up for a 7 day free trial will allow you to click on the links within the news stories and see the full text documents.
The minimum wage in Vermont will increase from $7.68 to $8.06 per hour on January 1, Governor Jim Douglas recently announced. The basic wage for tipped employees will also increase from $3.72 to $3.91 per hour. Service or tipped employees are individuals working in places who customarily and regularly receive more than $120 a month in tips for direct and personal service. Tipped employees', like other workers', total earnings during a pay period must equal or exceed $8.06 per hour. If a combination of tips and the basic wage do not meet that requirement, the employer makes up the difference. (State of Vermont, Office of the Governor, Press Release, September 25, 2008.)
The House has passed the Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008 (H.R. 7006). The standard mileage rate for use of a passenger automobile for charitable use after the date of enactment and before January 1, 2012, would be the rate determined by the Secretary, which rate will not be less than the standard mileage rate used for deducting travel expenses related to medical care under Code Sec. 213 (currently 27 cents-per-mile). As under present law, as an alternative to determining the amount of the deduction using the standard mileage rate, a taxpayer may determine the amount of the deduction using actual out-of-pocket expenditures, effective for taxable years ending after the date of enactment.
The minimum hourly wage in Arizona will increase from $6.90 to $7.25 effective January 1, 2009, according to the Industrial Commission of Arizona. This change will mean that Arizona's minimum wage in 2009 will continue to exceed the federal minimum wage through the first half of 2009. The federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 per hour in July of 2008 and is scheduled to increase in July of 2009 to $7.25 per hour; at which time the Arizona and federal minimum wage rates will be the same. (The Industrial Commission of Arizona Press Release, September 24, 2008.)
The Social Security Administration is soliciting comments on two computer matching programs that are set to become effective no sooner than October 17, 2008. The computer matching programs are with the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and appear in two separate announcements in the September 17 and September 18, 2008, issues of the Federal Register. The program with the BPD establishes conditions under which the BPD agrees to disclose to the SSA ownership of savings securities to verify an individual's self-certification of eligibility for prescription drug subsidy assistance under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). The BPD will match the SSNs on the finder file with the SSNs on its savings-type securities (Series E, EE and I) registration systems. An eligible individual may not have income that exceeds 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. The agreement allows the SSA to conduct the match on an annual basis. The full text of both announcements appears in this week's Report (¶14,270C and ¶14,271C).
Unemployment Insurance Reporter with Social Security provides in-depth coverage of federal and state laws and regulations, including Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Disability. With all the facts and data about taxes and benefits under major subject categories, and expert “plain English” explanations, analyses and indexes, there is no other product that offers the same scope of coverage.
CCH® is the leading provider of information covering Human Resources, Employment and Labor Benefits, Pensions, Payroll, Safety, and Workers Compensation. For more information about our products and services, go to http://hr.cch.com/ or call 800-449-9525. This newsletter is copyrighted by CCH® and may be redistributed only for non-commercial purposes and only in its entirety, specifically including the CCH® headers, this paragraph and the CCH® copyright line. No other redistribution or re-purposing, including but not limited to use on a web site, intranet or extranet, is permitted without prior written permission of CCH®.
© 2008, CCH®. All Rights Reserved.
A WoltersKluwer Company
©2008, CCH. All Rights Reserved.
