On Dec. 7, 2021, a Georgia federal judge blocked the federal contractors mandate nationwide. This new order comes right after a Kentucky federal judge issued a preliminary injunction effectively blocking the implementation and enforcement of President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal government contractors and subcontractors for Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio on Nov. 30, 2021.

Federal Contractor Vaccination Mandate – On Nov. 10, 2021, the Biden administration updated its guidance for the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, clarifying that federal contractor employees must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 18, 2022. This update was released in conjunction with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vaccine mandate for private employers and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate for health care workers, both of which have also since been blocked in federal court.

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Many employees look forward to year-end workplace holiday celebrations. These events allow employees to celebrate with their colleagues and sometimes even family and guests. Importantly, these celebrations can also be a great way to drive employee engagement. While these events are often a long-standing company tradition, many organizations canceled holiday parties last year or found ways to connect virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, holiday parties—including in-person celebrations—may be making a comeback. Some key COVID-19 vaccine developments like widespread vaccine availability and workplace vaccine mandates may be driving change in the second holiday season of the pandemic.

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The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to adapt and test their operational capacities. One of the most common pivots has been remote work.

Now that workplaces are reopening, a significant number of employees want to retain their remote status. In fact, 58% of workers said they want a fully remote position, and only 3% said they wanted to return to fully in-person work, according to a recent FlexJobs survey.

So, how does a business that wants to utilize its in-person workspace deal with employees who want to stay home? For some, the answer is a hybrid work model.

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Employers across the country are facing an unmistakable issue right now: too many open positions and not enough workers. On its face, it might seem like there are not enough workers available for jobs—hence all the openings. But, confoundingly, that’s not the case.

The unemployment rate is still hovering just below 5%, translating to around 7.5 million unemployed Americans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, several key COVID-19 initiatives ended at the end of summer—expanded unemployment benefits ceased, and children returned to in-person classes. As such, many economists expected workers to be spurred back into the workforce this fall. That’s decidedly not been the case; while some individuals are returning to work, others are quitting in record numbers.

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Check out our chart below for a full list of states that have upcoming minimum wage increases in 2022:

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On Nov. 4, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced new caps for employee and company 401(k) contributions in 2022:

	2021	2022
Maximum employee elective deferral (age 49 and younger)	$19,500	$20,500
Employee catch-up contribution (age 50 or older)	$6,500	$6,500
Maximum employee elective deferral plus catch-up	$26,000	$27,000

The new 2022 limits have been updated in our payroll system to ensure that the contributions from our clients’ employees do not exceed the annual dollar limits. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Employers are constantly looking for ways to attract and retain workers. These efforts often include tailoring benefits packages or adjusting compensation. While valuable offerings, these solutions don’t always address the needs of one critical workplace segment: part-time workers.

In some cases, part-time employees don’t qualify for benefits packages; in others, they are only offered limited perks. An obvious solution would be expanding all benefits to all employee segments, but that’s not feasible in many cases. Instead, employers can consider offering perks that speak directly to the unique needs of part-time workers. This article identifies two coveted workplace perks that part-time employees are looking for right now.

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On Oct. 28, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the publication of a new rule for tip regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new rule clarifies that employers may only take a tip credit for tipped employees when these employees are performing work that is part of their tipped occupation. The new rule becomes effective on Dec. 28, 2021.

Workers can only be paid the tipped minimum, established under federal law at $2.13 per hour, for tasks that directly support tipped work and do not take up more than 20% of a worker’s time or 30 consecutive minutes.

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On Nov. 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a federal emergency temporary standard (ETS) to require affected employers to mandate employee vaccines or weekly testing. Click the following link to read our bulletin for more details on the OSHA ETS.

On Nov. 12, 2021, a U.S. federal appeals court affirmed its stay of the ETS requiring OSHA to “take no steps to implement or enforce” the ETS.  OSHA has since announced that it “has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.”  OSHA is believed to be weighing its options to continue to fight for the ETS.

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We recently released our 4^th quarter edition of the Attraction and Retention Newsletter.  The newsletter includes the following topics:

• Considering the role of vaccines in the workplace
• Enabling the success of remote workers
• Upskilling can help combat labor shortages
• Workplace outlook and BLS data

Click the following link to read this quarter’s Attraction and Retention Newsletter:

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