Merry Christmas!
This year has been a huge blessing with the pleasure of serving wonderful clients that made this dream possible and this business so fun! I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your business and confidence in our services this past year. I hope and pray that 2009 will be one of recovery for our economy as well as stability and growth for your business. May you and your family have a wonderful, safe and blessed holiday season. We’ll see you next year!
Terri Olson Spreen
If your business is fortunate enough to afford a Christmas celebration or holiday gathering, you may benefit from a few tips to make it pleasurable instead of ending in “drama!” Here are several ways to increase the chances of everyone having a great time:
- If you’re serving alcohol, we recommend you limit consumption by issuing drink tickets to each employee. If an employee does not drink, s/he may give the drink tickets to another employee, so the opportunity to overindulge is still there. A catered lunch at the office is always a good alternative. (BTW, I know a great caterer!)
- You may want to remind employees of your policy on unlawful harassment, especially sexual harassment. When employees get in social situations, especially when alcohol is involved, they can be less inhibited and more inclined to behave inappropriately.
- Post or issue a notice to employees to remind them that this event is voluntary; any injuries sustained as a result of their participation are not covered by workers’ compensation. Need a posting? .
Do you have a specific concern about YOUR holiday party? Give us a call…
Even retailers aren’t as busy as they hoped this season. Regardless of your business, if you find that you don’t have enough work for all of your employees and want to send some home early, there are requirements on how many hours to pay. Employees who report to work must be paid one-half of their scheduled work day with no less than two hours. For example, a full-time (8 hour) employee needs to be paid four hours; a part-time employee scheduled for three hours must be paid at least two hours for reporting to work. Of course, there is no compensation due if you called the employee before the shift to cancel his/her schedule for that day.
With gas prices going down, the standard mileage rate for computing the value of the business use of an automobile will decrease to 55 cents-per-mile on January 1, 2009. The business mileage rate was 50.5 cents in the first half of 2008 and 58.5 cents in the second half due to the huge increase in the price of gas. Employers may use this standard mileage rate to pay employees for use of their cars for business related mileage. The standard mileage rate is the maximum a business can deduct for expenses. The amount you reimburse employees for business travel can be less.
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