Category: Paychecks & Work
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Workers who reach full retirement age in 2027 can earn $67,920 before that birthday month without losing any benefits
The year a worker reaches full retirement age comes with the higher of Social Security’s two earnings limits. For 2027 it is $67,920, and the agency’s COLA page says the limit applies to people reaching full retirement age in 2027. Pay up to that amount, earned in the months before the month of the birthday,…
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Social Security’s taxable wage cap rises to $192,300 for 2027, meaning higher earners pay payroll tax on more of their pay starting in January
Starting with the first paychecks of January, Social Security tax will apply to up to $192,300 of a worker’s yearly pay, up from $184,500 this year. Social Security calls that figure the taxable maximum, and it is the line above which wages stop being taxed for the retirement and disability program. Anyone who earns less…
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Early claimers who keep working can earn $25,560 in 2027 before Social Security starts holding back benefits
Social Security raised the earnings limit for people collecting benefits before full retirement age to $25,560 for 2027, up from $24,480 in 2026. Past that line, the agency deducts $1 from benefits for each $2 earned. The change sits inside the October 14 announcement of a 3.6 percent cost-of-living increase, and it matters to anyone…
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Maine’s tipped cash wage rises to $7.85 an hour on January 1
Maine restaurant servers, bartenders and other tipped workers will see their guaranteed cash wage go up on the first day of 2027. The state’s tipped cash wage rises to $7.85 an hour on January 1, from $7.55, alongside an increase in Maine’s general minimum wage from $15.10 to $15.70 an hour. The new rates The…
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San Antonio car dealerships agreed to pay $430,000 in an EEOC settlement
Benson Enterprises, Inc., the operator of automotive dealerships including Ingram Park Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in San Antonio, will pay $430,000 and provide other relief to settle a sex-based harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The money goes to two affected employees. A federal court approved the deal as…
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El Dorado Furniture agreed to pay $1.3 million to a class of job applicants in an EEOC settlement
El Dorado Furniture Corporation agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle an EEOC discrimination charge, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced October 5. The agency said it found reasonable cause to believe the Florida furniture retailer had a companywide practice of favoring Hispanic applicants for all positions, and that Black, white and other non-Hispanic applicants…
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Birchstone Management agreed to pay $55,000 to one rejected job applicant
Birchstone Management, a warehousing and logistics management company based in Dallas, agreed to pay $55,000 to one woman the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says was turned away from a pallet repairer job in Spokane Valley, Washington. The payment is part of a $500,000 settlement announced October 6, 2026, with the other $445,000 going to…
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Tipped workers on pre-2022 federal contracts get a $9.85 cash wage on January 6
Tipped employees working on a narrow slice of federal contracts will see their required cash wage rise to $9.85 an hour on January 6, 2027, up from $9.55. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division published the new rates on October 8 in a Federal Register notice signed by Administrator Andrew B. Rogers. The same…
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New Jersey’s maximum tip credit stays at $9.87 an hour on January 1 while the tipped cash wage rises to $6.61
New Jersey’s maximum tip credit stays at $9.87 an hour when the state’s new wage rates start on January 1, 2027, even as the minimum cash wage for tipped workers rises from $6.05 to $6.61. The state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced the figures on September 29, 2026, in a press release that…
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New York’s tipped food-service workers stay at $11.35 an hour downstate and $10.70 upstate on January 1
New York’s tipped food-service workers will not get a raise in their base pay on January 1. The state Labor Department’s minimum wage page lists the cash wage for tipped food-service workers at $11.35 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and $10.70 an hour in the rest of the state, and…