Wal-Mart has announced that is raising the starting pay rates of employees by an average of 6 percent at 1,200 of its stores, aiming to remain competitive with other retailers, the New York Times reports.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to adopt changes to the rules requiring disclosure of executive and director compensation. These changes would affect disclosure in proxy statements, annual reports, and registration statements, as well as the current reporting of compensation arrangements. The rules would require that most of this disclosure be provided in plain English.
Federal prosecutors and regulators have filed criminal and civil securities fraud charges against both the former chief executive and former vice president of human resources at Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., alleging that the two routinely backdated stock option grants to give employees favorably priced options without recording necessary compensation expenses.
A recent survey found that while more employees say their employers pay employees below market rates, more employers are also saying their salaries are competitive with market rates, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Forty-six percent of employers say that they offer higher starting salaries to new college graduates who have internship experience, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Apple Computer, Inc. says that an internal investigation has discovered irregularities related to the issuance of stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001.
Companies are reporting the same median pay increase for 2007 as they did for 2006 for both exempt and nonexempt employees, according to a survey of 441 companies by the Conference Board.
Nurses in four cities have filed class-action lawsuits accusing hospitals of conspiring to keep nurses' wages at artificially low levels, the New York Times reports.
Globalization, outsourcing, movement from manufacturing to a service economy, and sluggish economic growth have all affected employee compensation over the last five years, said Robert Skladany, a principal at Wellesley Consulting, who spoke at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association's 2006 Compensation and Benefits Symposium.
