Category: Paychecks & Work
-
Social Security disability recipients can earn up to $1,770 a month in 2027, or $2,950 if blind, before their work counts as substantial and benefits are at risk
Social Security disability beneficiaries can earn up to $1,770 a month in 2027, or $2,950 a month if they are blind, before the agency counts their work as substantial. The two amounts are the 2027 limits for substantial gainful activity, a term Social Security shortens to SGA, according to the agency’s 2027 cost-of-living fact sheet.…
-
Farmers have until December 11 to enroll in USDA’s ARC and PLC safety nets
Farm operators have until Friday, December 11, 2026, to enroll in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s two main commodity safety nets, Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). Missing the date has a concrete cost: no 2026 payments from either program for the farm. The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) lists the 2026…
-
PacificSource will lay off 134 Oregon workers on December 31
PacificSource, the Oregon health insurer, will lay off 134 workers on December 31, 2026. The company filed a federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, known as a WARN notice, with the state and four cities on October 20, and OPB reported it on October 22. The jobs are in Springfield, Bend, Salem and Portland. The…
-
SSI recipients who let Social Security pull their pay data from Equifax each month are protected from the penalty of ineligibility for SSI cash benefits on that data but still must report a new job
Social Security gets monthly pay data from Equifax for some people on Supplemental Security Income, and the arrangement carries a protection. The agency’s 2026 SSI spotlight on the Payroll Information Exchange says people who receive SSI and give authorization are protected from the penalty of ineligibility for SSI cash benefits on the wage and employment…
-
Social Security reviews working beneficiaries’ earnings every year, and a latest year among their highest raises the check retroactive to the following January
Social Security quietly checks the paychecks of people who collect benefits and work. The agency says it reviews the records of all beneficiaries who had wages reported for the previous year, and that a raise can follow. A beneficiary whose latest year of earnings is one of their highest gets a bigger monthly check, with…
-
Social Security and Medicare coverage applies to nannies, caregivers and housekeepers paid $3,100 or more by one household in 2027, and the employer owes the taxes
A household that pays a nanny, caregiver or housekeeper $3,100 or more in 2027 will owe Social Security and Medicare taxes on that worker’s wages. The Social Security Administration set the 2027 household worker threshold at $3,100 in its annual determinations notice, up from $3,000 for 2026. The notice is scheduled to run in the…
-
Trump’s pay plan gives civilian federal workers no raise in January 2027 unless Congress acts, while law enforcement personnel would get 3.8%
Civilian federal employees are headed for a pay freeze in January 2027, and it takes hold automatically if Congress does not set a different figure. In an Aug. 26, 2026 letter to Congress, President Donald Trump wrote that “base pay and locality pay for civilian Federal employees will not change from the 2026 rates.” The…
-
Washington workers will pay more for paid family and medical leave in 2027, with employees covering most of a higher premium starting January 1
Washington’s paid family and medical leave premium goes up on January 1, 2027, and most of the increase lands on workers rather than employers. The state Employment Security Department announced on October 16 that the total premium rate will rise to 1.2% of wages, from 1.13% in 2026. Employees will carry 70.7% of that premium…
-
Washington now pays new unemployment claims up to $1,208 a week, up from $1,152
Washington State has raised the ceiling on weekly unemployment checks to $1,208, up $56 from $1,152, for new claims opened on or after July 5, 2026. The state Employment Security Department says the new rates run through June 2027. The floor also rose, to $383 a week from $366. The date a claim is opened…
-
New Jersey workers pay disability and family leave taxes on up to $177,100 of wages in 2027
New Jersey will collect temporary disability and family leave insurance contributions from workers on the first $177,100 of their wages in 2027, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. This year the limit is $171,100, so the amount of pay that is taxed for these two programs grows by $6,000. For most…