UUA Office of Church Staff Finances
Guided by Unitarian Universalist values,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being. |
Compensation and Staffing News |
Editor's Note
Dear Readers,
Especially in the midst of a busy season in our congregations and in our lives, we appreciate you making the time to read Compensation and Staffing News.
UUA staff are taking a 2-week breather from December 20 through January 2. During the winter break, our team will check email for time-sensitive matters. May you have the chance to take a breather from some of your responsibilities, as well.
Faithfully, |
Jan Gartner, Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager |
Year-End Reminders
Law Changes for 2023
The Church Staff Finances team does our best to follow changes to federal payroll laws. Although we can't track the many state-level differences, we can tell you a few things to check for:
- Is your state or locality changing their minimum wage in 2023?
- Has your state adjusted their exempt employee salary threshold? (Those exempted through the ministerial exception are not affected as that has no salary threshold.)
- Is your state introducing, or has it made changes to, a paid family leave program?(Churches are exempt from paid family leave in some states and included in others.)
- Does your state or locality have pay transparency laws (requiring employers to provide salary ranges to job candidates) or salary history bans (outlawing pay history questions)?
Retirement Plan Employer Participation Agreement Changes
Changes to the terms of a congregation's Employer Participation Agreement (EPA) can only be made for the following plan year, which is the calendar year. If you plan to make changes to your EPA for the 2024 plan year, you must submit your signed, amended agreement and a copy of your board minutes approving the change to RetirementPlan@uua.org no later than December 15. Changes for 2024 will not be accepted after that date.
Ministerial Housing Allowance
Do you designate your minister's housing allowance by the calendar year? It must be formally designated by the congregation's leadership before any expenses can be applied to it. Designating a 2024 housing allowance before the end of 2023 ensures that your minister(s) can take full advantage of it in the new calendar year. |
Insurance News
Sign up for Insurance News below to receive occasional emails directly from our Insurance Team. You can indicate whether you are an insurance plans participant or a congregational benefit administrator. |
Is Your Congregation Sharing Staff?
Jan recently sent a survey to leaders of congregations indicating in their annual certification for 2023 that they were sharing staff with another UU congregation.
Not sure if anyone from your congregation replied to the survey? (Even if they did, I'm happy to hear from more than one of you to get different perspectives!) Or have you started sharing staff since completing the certification last winter? Did you share a staff member for a while and then stop? Please take a few minutes to complete the survey at the button below.
By sharing personnel, congregations can expand work opportunities for talented staff, enhance their programs and services, and live our theology of interdependence. Supporting shared staffing arrangements is part of Jan's portfolio. She is eager to learn from you about what has gone well, where the challenges are, and how we might make the sharing of employees easier and more normative in our congregations. |
Digital Security For All: Virtual Training
Increasingly, our congregations are finding themselves the targets of online harassment, phishing, doxxing, and other forms of digital hate – often as a result of the ways we are embodying UU values in the world. Unfortunately, many UU communities do not have the skills and the infrastructure to protect themselves from malicious digital targeting that is constantly evolving.
Side with Love is offering a two-part digital security training for congregational teams through a partnership with Equity Labs. This training is open to all congregational leaders but is especially for those who manage secure information such as congregational websites, social media accounts, databases, and communications. Learn more and register below! |
Holiday Blessings
Our Team wishes you the chance to rest, restore, and enjoy time with friends and family this season.
The winter break for UUA staff begins the afternoon of Wednesday, December 20. We'll reopen on Wednesday morning, January 3. Members of the Church Staff Finances team will check regularly for time-sensitive messages.
Faithfully,
Richard, Mary, Gloria, Jackie, Anna, William, Ashley, Mariyah, Sean, and Jan |
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