July Newsletter

Fun fact

The average time spent by recruiters looking at a resume: 5 to 7 seconds. 

Market Update

Proposition 206, the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act (the “Act”), gives the Industrial Commission of Arizona authority to enforce and implement the Act’s minimum wage and earned paid sick time requirements. The following information is derived from the language of the Act and current administrative rules found in Title 20, Chapter 5, Article 12 of the Arizona Administrative Code.

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Payroll Update

In December, courts blocked a DOL final rule revising the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations to raise the minimum salary for employees classified under the executive, administrative and professional (also known as the white-collar) exemptions to $913 per week, or $47,476 per year. It likely will be a year before the issue is resolved, said McCutchen, now a principal with Littler Mendelson’s office in Washington, D.C.

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HR Update

Empathy is a skill which is often overlooked in the workplace. Determined by Frans de Waal as the “social glue that holds human society together,” empathy refers to the awareness of one’s own and other people’s feelings, needs, and concerns. Having the ability to be empathetic has been proven to prevent poor morale, misunderstanding, and conflicts, consequently enabling a person to build significant and long-lasting relationships with others. Empathy, therefore, is the underrated key ingredient for both personal and professional success.

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Accounting Update

The final tangible property regulations issued in 2013 provide a safe harbor election that allows qualifying businesses to immediately deduct purchases of tangible property below certain dollar thresholds. For taxpayers that do not have an applicable financial statement (typically an audited financial statement) (“AFS”), the dollar threshold was $500.The IRS received many comments suggesting that the $500 threshold was too low to effectively reduce the administrative burden of complying with the capitalization requirement for small businesses. After consideration of these comments, the IRS recently announced that the de minimis safe harbor threshold would be increased to $2,500 beginning with 2016 tax years. The dollar threshold for taxpayers with an AFS remains at $5,000.

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Employee Spotlight

Rene Brofft has not only lived in Arizona most of her life but has also had a great deal of experience in management for many years now. After graduating from Thunderbird High School and eventually Northern Arizona University in 1990, Rene began growing her business career by working at Dillard’s Department stores as an area manager and associate for 2 years. She ultimately was promoted to becoming a buyer of men’s and women’s athletic shoes as well as children’s shoes, overseeing 13 million dollars in purchases for her area per year.

After moving on from Dillard’s in 1997, Rene put her expertise to a different use when she came to work in her family business, PayTech, to help grow the payroll company in it’s earlier days of development.

Now as the current owner of PayTech, Rene has proven that she is capable of handling all kinds of responsibilities. She not only runs her company but is also committed to her husband and two baseball playing sons who are 14 and 17. The family also spends their days looking after their crazy dog.