Events like Hurricane Sandy often leave companies and employers scrambling for ways to assist those affected by the storm, including the company’s employees and their families. Below are some of the ways employers are stepping up.

Leave Sharing Programs. In the aftermath storms like Hurricane Sandy, generous employees often want to step up and share their paid leave with employees adversely affected by the storm. Employers can set up leave sharing banks to allow donated paid leave to be used by employees that need time off on account of the storm. IRS Notice 2006-59 provides guidance for setting up these programs to avoid adverse tax consequences.

Below are some of the key requirements needed for a leave sharing program to qualify under IRS Notice 2006-59:

  • The leave must be used by employees who have been adversely affected by a "major disaster," as declared by the President under Section 401 of the Stafford Act, 42 USC Sec. 5170. Hurricane Sandy has received that designation in a number of states.
  • The program may not allow donors to transfer leave to specific recipients.
  • Leave recipients may not convert leave received under the program into cash.
  • Leave under the program must be used for the disaster.
  • Leave deposited in the bank for one disaster may only be used for that disaster.

If these and other requirements under the Notice are satisfied, the IRS will not treat a leave donor as realizing income or receiving wages, compensation, or rail wages with respect to the deposited leave. This also assumes that donated leave received by the recipient will be treated as “wages” for purposes of FICA, FUTA, and income tax withholding, and as “compensation” for purposes of RRTA and “rail wages” for purposes of RURT, unless excluded under a specific Code provision. Leave donors may not claim an expense, charitable contribution, or loss deduction on account of the deposit of the leave or its use by a leave recipient.

State leave laws also need to be consulted when implementing these programs.

Employer Provided Disaster Relief. On November 2, 2012, the IRS also alerted employers that because Hurricane Sandy is designated as a qualified disaster for federal tax purposes, qualified disaster relief payments made to individuals by their employer or any person can be excluded from those individuals’ taxable income. Qualified disaster relief payments include amounts to cover necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses that were not covered by insurance. They also include expenses to repair or rehabilitate personal residences or repair or replace the contents to the extent that they were not covered by insurance. Again, these payments would not be included in the individual recipient’s gross income.

The IRS also announced that the designation of Hurricane Sandy as a qualified disaster means that employer-sponsored private foundations may provide disaster relief to employee-victims in areas affected by the hurricane without affecting their tax-exempt status.

Leave-based donation program. For past events similar to Hurricane Sandy, the IRS announced in Notice 2005-68 that it would not treat cash payments employers make to certain charitable organizations in exchange for employees’ paid-time-off as gross income of employees if payments are made to relief of victims of the disaster, in that case Hurricane Katrina, and are paid before a certain date.

Employees who elected to give up paid leave for this purpose could not deduct the value of paid-time-off donated as charitable contributions. If these rules were followed, the IRS won’t assert that opportunity to make this election is constructive receipt of income. Whether the IRS will make a similar announcement for Hurricane Sandy remains to be seen. Again, state leave laws also need to be consulted when implementing these programs.

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Photo of Joseph J. Lazzarotti Joseph J. Lazzarotti

Joseph J. Lazzarotti is a principal in the Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He founded and currently co-leads the firm’s Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity practice group, edits the firm’s Privacy Blog, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP)…

Joseph J. Lazzarotti is a principal in the Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He founded and currently co-leads the firm’s Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity practice group, edits the firm’s Privacy Blog, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) with the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Trained as an employee benefits lawyer, focused on compliance, Joe also is a member of the firm’s Employee Benefits practice group.

In short, his practice focuses on the matrix of laws governing the privacy, security, and management of data, as well as the impact and regulation of social media. He also counsels companies on compliance, fiduciary, taxation, and administrative matters with respect to employee benefit plans.

Privacy and cybersecurity experience – Joe counsels multinational, national and regional companies in all industries on the broad array of laws, regulations, best practices, and preventive safeguards. The following are examples of areas of focus in his practice:

  • Advising health care providers, business associates, and group health plan sponsors concerning HIPAA/HITECH compliance, including risk assessments, policies and procedures, incident response plan development, vendor assessment and management programs, and training.
  • Coached hundreds of companies through the investigation, remediation, notification, and overall response to data breaches of all kinds – PHI, PII, payment card, etc.
  • Helping organizations address questions about the application, implementation, and overall compliance with European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and, in particular, its implications in the U.S., together with preparing for the California Consumer Privacy Act.
  • Working with organizations to develop and implement video, audio, and data-driven monitoring and surveillance programs. For instance, in the transportation and related industries, Joe has worked with numerous clients on fleet management programs involving the use of telematics, dash-cams, event data recorders (EDR), and related technologies. He also has advised many clients in the use of biometrics including with regard to consent, data security, and retention issues under BIPA and other laws.
  • Assisting clients with growing state data security mandates to safeguard personal information, including steering clients through detailed risk assessments and converting those assessments into practical “best practice” risk management solutions, including written information security programs (WISPs). Related work includes compliance advice concerning FTC Act, Regulation S-P, GLBA, and New York Reg. 500.
  • Advising clients about best practices for electronic communications, including in social media, as well as when communicating under a “bring your own device” (BYOD) or “company owned personally enabled device” (COPE) environment.
  • Conducting various levels of privacy and data security training for executives and employees
  • Supports organizations through mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations with regard to the handling of employee and customer data, and the safeguarding of that data during the transaction.
  • Representing organizations in matters involving inquiries into privacy and data security compliance before federal and state agencies including the HHS Office of Civil Rights, Federal Trade Commission, and various state Attorneys General.

Benefits counseling experience – Joe’s work in the benefits counseling area covers many areas of employee benefits law. Below are some examples of that work:

  • As part of the Firm’s Health Care Reform Team, he advises employers and plan sponsors regarding the establishment, administration and operation of fully insured and self-funded health and welfare plans to comply with ERISA, IRC, ACA/PPACA, HIPAA, COBRA, ADA, GINA, and other related laws.
  • Guiding clients through the selection of plan service providers, along with negotiating service agreements with vendors to address plan compliance and operations, while leveraging data security experience to ensure plan data is safeguarded.
  • Counsels plan sponsors on day-to-day compliance and administrative issues affecting plans.
  • Assists in the design and drafting of benefit plan documents, including severance and fringe benefit plans.
  • Advises plan sponsors concerning employee benefit plan operation, administration and correcting errors in operation.

Joe speaks and writes regularly on current employee benefits and data privacy and cybersecurity topics and his work has been published in leading business and legal journals and media outlets, such as The Washington Post, Inside Counsel, Bloomberg, The National Law Journal, Financial Times, Business Insurance, HR Magazine and NPR, as well as the ABA Journal, The American Lawyer, Law360, Bender’s Labor and Employment Bulletin, the Australian Privacy Law Bulletin and the Privacy, and Data Security Law Journal.

Joe served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Laura Denvir Stith on the Missouri Court of Appeals.