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3 Job Description Misses that Might Cost You
How accurate are your employees’ job descriptions? Most places I’ve worked might present a job description during the application process, but by the time the employee is one year in, their responsibilities have morphed [...]
Are Furry Coworkers in Your Future?
Normal working conditions changed considerably in the past few years. I’m not sure we would have envisioned executives in pajamas from the waist down with a cat in their lap and kids running through the [...]
Burnout in Your Church: Recognize the Signs
As someone who has been burned out, I know it’s not a question of if your staff is experiencing burnout, but how many of them are already burnt out. Most people have no clue. [...]
New Law Requires Employers to Pay Certain Benefits to Employees
Michael E. Batts, CPA, is the managing partner of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee, P.A., Certified Public Accountants. Along with partner Michele Wales, CPA, and CPA Kaylyn Varnum, they unpack a complicated new regulation from the [...]
Benevolence Gifts for Staff Pastor
Thursday, December 27, 2018 Hey Fletch … How do churches handle Benevolence Fund needs when a staff member is the candidate? The Board is trying to find out how other churches handle benevolence for [...]
PEO to handle Church HR
Wednesday, December 26, 2018 Hey Fletch … I recently hired a PEO to handle most of our HR services. On the first two payrolls they issued, they collected federal and state unemployment tax. Historically, [...]
Maximum Contributions in Affordable Care Act?
Saturday, December 15, 2018 Hey Fletch … Our church requires any employee who uses our health insurance to pay part of the premium. I heard somewhere that there is a maximum that we can charge. [...]
Volunteer Hours for Emergency Relief
Tuesday, December 11, 2018 Hey Fletch … I’m wondering if our non-exempt staff can put in extra hours during an emergency. Do they have to be paid for this? I found this online as it [...]
Data on Health Benefits for Pastors
Saturday, December 1, 2018 Hey Fletch … I read your column from Monday, October 22, 2018 on “Poll of Church Health Insurance Benefits.” As you have looked into this, were you able to find [...]
Paid Time for Classes
Saturday, November 10, 2018 Hey Fletch … If a church requires its ministry staff to attend a course, such as a discipleship class, after hours, 3 hours a week for 12 weeks, is the church [...]
More Questions on Paying Salaried People for Hours Worked
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 Hey Fletch … Thank you for your earlier response to my question about how our church is paying salaried people for the number of hours worked. My church leaders are insisting [...]
Are Preschool Teachers Exempt Employees?
Monday, November 5 Hey Fletch … Our church has a preschool with part-time teachers. We have been treating them as exempt employees, as they are teachers. They don’t get paid for working after hours, home [...]
Not Reporting All Hours on a Time Card
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 Hey Fletch … I hope your ongoing national workshop tour with Smart Money for Church Salaries is going well. I have a question for my church. We have a part-time [...]
Overtime for an Administrative Assistant on a Retreat
Thursday, October 25, 2018 Hey Fletch … We have a full-time youth pastor and a part-time youth administrative assistant. We have a youth retreat coming up and we are trying to figure out how [...]
Can We Pay Exempt Staff for the Number of Hours Worked?
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 Hey Fletch … For exempt workers, is it required that they receive a regular salary payment, independent of the number of hours they work? If they work under 40 hours, we [...]
Comparing Benefit Costs
Friday, September 21, 2018 Hey Fletch … In prepping for a personnel committee meeting next week, the question arose as to the way we cover health insurance for our employees. We currently pay 100% [...]
Who is Exempt on the Church Staff?
Saturday, September 8, 2018 Hey Fletch … I am confused about exempt and nonexempt employees. My understanding is that an employee paid an hourly rate is not exempt. Are there exceptions? I’m under the impression [...]
5 HR Myths that Can Self Destruct Your Ministry
You heard the calling. You received the commission. You found the location. Your team is now gathered and serving the community, and God is moving in amazing ways! But then, you receive another call. [...]
Health Cost-Sharing Ministries
Tuesday, July 31, 2018 Hey Fletch … I have a question about rising medical costs for employers. There are several Christian-based health cost-sharing ministries, such as MediShare, Christian Healthcare Ministries, and Samaritan Ministries. On [...]
Church Musicians: Employees or Independent Contractors?
Are the musicians your church pays to perform for worship services and other church events employees or independent contractors? Contrary to what some churches may believe, whether a musician paid by a church to [...]
Time Cards for Pastors
Friday, June 29, 2018 Hey Fletch … Are my people working hard enough? Should we use time-cards for pastors? DRF—This is similar to yesterday’s question about administrative assistants. People work incredibly hard when they have [...]
One Size Fits All Retirement Plan
Saturday, March 17, 2018 Hey Fletch … My question is regarding retirement and employer contributions. We've had a one size fits all approach but now our staff has grown in numbers and levels of [...]
HR Policy and Best Practices
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 Hey Doc … Our church isn’t of a size to yet need an HR person on staff. Yet, I need help on HR policy and best practices. Our state has [...]
Defining Church Interns
February 10, 2018 Hey David … Do you have anything on internships. What to expect out of an intern and expectations of me as the Student Pastor? DRF—We don’t have much in the way [...]