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Recession Hard on Black, Hispanic Job Hunters

According to a report released in November by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), African American and Hispanic workers were hit particularly hard during the first year of the current recession. The report notes that while “the overall labor market conditions deteriorated markedly in 2008 following the onset of the recession in December 2007 . […]

News Notes: Workplace Fatalities Decline In California

New California Division of Labor Statistics figures show that workplace fatalities declined last year even as employment numbers rose. In 2003, 456 of the state’s 16,283,000 workers were fatally injured on the job, down from 478 out of 16,215,000 in 2002. The causes of fatalities in 2003 were transportation incidents, accounting for 38 percent of […]

Immigration: H-2B Visa Cap Reached

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach H-2B cap of 33,000 H-2B workers for the first six months of fiscal year 2007 (FY 2007). The H-2B visa program allows U.S. employers to request foreign workers to fill a one-time, peak load, intermittent, or […]

Key Changes of 2010—Are You Up to Speed?

From nursing mothers to ‘in loco’ parents, it’s been quite a year in HR, says attorney Stephen R. Woods. Today, his tips on some of the biggest changes of the year and what to do about them. Woods is a shareholder in the Greenville, South Carolina office of law firm Ogletree Deakins, Nash, Smoak & […]

News Notes: EEOC Suspends Rule On Retiree Medicare Bridge Coverage

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has rescinded a policy under which the agency viewed employer-sponsored health plans that were reduced or eliminated on the basis of age or Medicare eligibility as violating the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The agency acted after receiving input from employer and labor groups suggesting that the rule discouraged […]

Bulletin: Government revises Form I-9

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a new Form I-9, which you can access at www.uscis.gov. Five documents, which employees previously could have submitted for proof of identity and employment eligibility, were removed from List A because they lack sufficient features to help deter counterfeiting, tampering, and fraud. Employers can no longer accept […]

Supreme Court: Medical Residents Must Pay Social Security Taxes

Yesterday, in one of its first rulings of 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that medical residents are considered employees when it comes to social security taxes. In Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. United States, Mayo challenged regulations issued by the Treasury Department that clarify what types of students are not […]