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News Notes: New Ergonomics Rules Close To Adoption

Revised workplace ergonomics rules may be adopted as early as the April 17, 1997 meeting of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. We reported in February that California’s ergonomics rules had to be scrapped and rewritten to be less confusing. The reworded regulations have now been prepared. They aim to clarify these main […]

DOL Uses Demographics to Push Back Against Critics of Obama’s Minimum Wage Proposals

The Obama administration is working to keep its minimum wage hike proposal in the public eye, and simultaneously appears to be pushing back against critics who charge that raising the minimum wage would not help working families. On Feb. 28, the U.S. Department of Labor released a report detailing the demographic characteristics of minimum wage […]

Turn Your Supervisors into Team Leaders

In a recent survey, employees saw their workplaces sadly lacking in organizational teamwork. Here are some ideas from a new BLR audio training program that your supervisors can use to build effective teams.  Regular Daily Advisor readers know that we’ve recently been heavily involved in a project called the National Employee Attitude Survey (NEAS). The […]

Judge’s action sparks more uncertainty on Obama’s immigration orders

A temporary injunction against President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration is adding to the uncertainty surrounding immigration reform and its impact on employers. On Monday, a federal judge in Texas issued a temporary injunction blocking Obama’s orders issued last November that would have eased deportation concerns for millions of undocumented immigrants that have been […]

Change at the White House: What About the Workplace?

It’s going to be quite a week. Today, of course, is the national holiday that celebrates the birth of the legendary civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow, the nation and the world will witness history in the making as the first African-American is sworn in as President of the United States. Looking […]

Wage/Hour: Good News Ahead (for the Attorneys, That Is)

There’s good news (sort of) and bad news for employers in the outlook for 2012, say attorneys from the Employers Counsel Network. They covered new developments in wage/hour compliance during a presentation at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Nashville and Las Vegas.

FLSA Recordkeeping, FMLA Rule Revisions Planned for Later This Year

This morning the Department of Labor (DOL) hosted its final two agency agenda web chat sessions, beginning with an hour-long segment hosted by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink fielded questions and provided insight toward the Division’s current regulatory initiatives. The agenda priorities for the Division in the Spring agenda include […]

"I Wonder When Immigrants Became the Enemy"

Special from Atlanta–SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition Condoleezza Rice’s thought-provoking comment about the immigration situation in the United States came at SHRM’s Annual Conference and Exposition, held recently in Atlanta Georgia. Three Big Developments HR managers need to be aware of the effect of three incidents that are shaping our world today, Rice says. 9/11. […]

Wage and Hour: Ninth Circuit Strips Insurance Adjusters of Big Award

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, has ruled that insurance adjusters for Farmers Insurance Exchange qualified for the administrative exemption from overtime, according to the standards under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In so ruling, the appeals court threw out a $52.5 million judgment awarded by a federal trial court […]