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A plan to streamline and strengthen enforcement of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), has been signed by U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Attorney General John Ashcroft. The document delegates the Department of Labor’s USERRA responsibilities to the Veterans’ Employment Solicitor, and the Attorney General’s USERRA responsibilities to the […]
By now, you’ve probably seen (or at least heard about) Marina Shifrin’s viral “quit-eo,” in which she announces her plans to depart her job at a Taiwanese video animating company via homemade dance video – filmed at 4:30 am in her soon-to-be-former, cubicle-filled office:
On July 24, 2007, the federal minimum wage will rise to $5.85 per hour, with further increases in the next two years that will take the rate to $7.25 per hour.
Same-sex marriage is not legal in Rhode Island, but employers there must make provision for employees’ same-sex spouses nonetheless. Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) on May 14 signed an executive order announcing that Rhode Island will recognize the validity of same-sex marriages entered into in states where it is legal. The executive order went into effect […]
A recent proposal made by President Bush would grant temporary legal status to those undocumented immigrants who are already working in the United States if an employer vouches for them. Legal status would be granted for a maximum of six years. Workers who do not qualify for green cards by the end of the period […]
Many employers get sued for failing to properly administer compensable time — including the requirement that generally, employers must pay employees for time spent in training programs, meetings or similar activities. So to avoid costly litigation or enforcement challenges, an employer needs to understand — and correctly apply —the Fair Labor Standards Act’s basic criteria […]
In a development that highlights the expensive consequences of misclassifying employees as exempt from overtime, San Francisco-based Pacific Bell has reportedly promised to pay out huge damages-$27.8 million-to settle a class action lawsuit involving claims for unpaid overtime. The case involved 600 current and former sales support managers who were classified as exempt from overtime. […]
The Department of Labor (DOL) has released a report evaluating its Limited English Proficiency and Hispanic Worker Initiative project.The program was launched in 2006 with $4.9 million awarded to organizations in California, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, and Texas so they could test innovative strategies for delivering language and employment services to limited English proficient and […]
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled a labor arbitration provision in a collective bargaining agreement doesn’t bar an employee from filing a lawsuit claiming he or she was discharged in retaliation for filing a complaint with Cal-OSHA. This is true unless the union contract contains a “clear and unmistakable” waiver of the employee’s […]