Prepared and Distributed by The Midwest Hardware Association, Inc.
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Wisconsin Governor Vetoes Bill Repealing Personal Property Tax
By Misha Lee, MHA Wisconsin Lobbyist
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Legislation approved by both the Senate and Assembly that would have finally repealed the Personal Property Tax was vetoed by Governor Tony Evers on July 8th. The Governor in his veto message “objected to the unusual and haphazard process by which the Legislature pursued the repeal” and he requested a “more comprehensive approach” citing several problems that the bill did not address. However, for Main Street businesses like MHA members, the bill would have provided permanent relief from a grossly inefficient, inconsistent and antiquated tax.
Assembly Bill 191 (AB 191), strongly supported by MHA and the Coalition to Repeal the Personal Property Tax, was approved on a vote of 64-34 by the Assembly with bipartisan support and passed the Senate 20-12. According to the Governor’s veto message, he “welcomed additional legislative action to meaningfully address his objections and urged the Legislature to pass a new bill.” It remains unclear whether or not the Legislature will agree to reintroduce a new repeal bill, but MHA is committed to getting it done this session.
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Illinois Finalizes Budget
By Alec Laird, MHA Illinois Lobbyist and Vice President, Government Relations for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association
Entering into this session, the voter’s lopsided rejection of the progressive income tax, anticipated reduced revenues resulting from the pandemic, and additional spending created a deficit that was staggering even by Illinois standards. Early in the session, a report from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget showed that without significant new revenue, spending cuts or a combination of both, the state would face a budget deficit of $3.9 billion in the current fiscal year and continuing deficits of $4 billion or more in each of the next five fiscal years. It also projected that the state’s backlog of unpaid bills could grow to as much as $33 billion by fiscal year 2026, up from the current backlog total of about $7.8 billion.
Subsequently, the federal government provided states with a bailout within the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This included providing Illinois with a one-time payment of $7.65 billion dollars. The state planned on using the money to pay down the backlog and repay the federal government over $3 billion dollars. Illinois was the only state to request a loan from the federal government.
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Jury Duty
Upon notification from state or federal courts of an obligation to serve on a jury or act as a court witness, your employee should notify their supervisor. Check out your state’s jury duty law’s to make sure you are in compliance.
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A Title Is Just a Word - Calling Someone A "Manager" Does Not Make Them Salaried-Exempt.
The Department of Labor is focusing on misclassification issues. Here are a few recent misclassification cases:
Barnes & Noble will pay approximately $1 million in back overtime wages and attorneys' fees to bookstore café managers who actually did much the same work as the other workers, rather than spending the majority of their time actively doing executive "management" duties. Broan et al. v Barnes & Noble, Inc. (S.D. NY, 2021).
Jimmy Johns Will Pay $1.8 Million for Misclassifying Restaurant Managers. In another case of calling someone a "Manager" doesn't make it so, Jimmy Johns Sandwich Shops will pay $1.8 million to settle an FLSA case. The people it paid as salaried managers in fact worked primarily doing sandwich-making, order-taking, stocking, and other non-executive exemption level duties. Thus, they are entitled to overtime pay for the extra hours they worked each week. In Re Jimmy Johns Overtime Litigation (N.D. Ill, 2021).
An exempt employee is not eligible to receive overtime pay, and is excluded from minimum wage requirements. One of the main differences between exempt employees and non-exempt employees is that exempt employees receive a salary for the work they perform, while non-exempt employees earn an hourly wage.
Here are some basic guidelines about exempt employee benefits:
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Here are the most recent Illinois, Minnesota-Dakotas, and Wisconsin hardware store sales trends, gathered from association members using the MHA's monthly accounting services. The figures derived for each region include sales data from the following number of stores:
Illinois - 20 stores
Minn.-Dakotas - 15 stores
Wisconsin - 70 stores
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Changes with timeQplus Time Keeping System
Acroprint, sells and services some time keeping systems, will be discontinuing their timekeeping system, timeQplus, and ending Tech Support as of July 31, 2021.
What does this mean for clients currently using the timeQplus software and terminals: Nothing will change, all timeQplus terminals and software will still continue to function as usual; however, if you run into any issues, there will no longer be Tech Support.
MHA is currently in the process of looking for a replacement system. We want to make sure that the replacement is going to benefit our clients in the best way possible with compatibility with MHA's payroll system, but we also want to find a cost-effective option as well.
In the meantime, we can provide a few timekeeping ideas. "Swipeclock" [https://www3.swipeclock.com/] which is supported by Cyberpay and "Deputy" [https://www.deputy.com/]. MHA does not endorse either of these at this time and do not have specific information on the systems, however these are both good options to look into as a possible replacement and are both currently used by some MHA payroll clients.
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Federal/State Labor Law Posters
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Some businesses order labor law posters through companies online, and pay anywhere from $30 to over $100 per poster, depending on the poster. Sometimes businesses may not receive the appropriate posters they need. MHA makes it easy for Members by automatically sending a FREE 6-in-1 Federal Labor Law poster when you renew your 2020 membership. The Federal 6-in-1 poster includes:
- Equal Employment Opportunity is THE LAW (applicable to most private employers)
- EMPLOYEE RIGHTS, Employee Polygraph Protection Act (applicable to private employers)
- Job Safety and Health, It’s the Law! (applicable to private employers)
- YOUR RIGHTS UNDER USERRA, The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (applicable to all employers)
- EMPLOYEE RIGHTS Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (applicable to all employers)
- EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (applicable to all employers)
To print mandatory State posters applicable to your business, go to www.midwesthardware.com, login to “My MHA”, and click on “Labor Law Posters”. Posters can be printed on normal 8 1/2 x 11 paper.
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