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The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that it intends to make big changes to child labor provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The DOL has released a proposal that would strengthen existing youth employment regulations to protect against workplace hazards and expand certain youth workplace opportunities that have been judged safe and […]
February 2011 saw the nation’s unemployment rate drop to 8.9 percent, the lowest in almost two years. Employers added 192,000 jobs last month and made significant gains in payroll. Although economists predicted a strong February report, the gains were still above market expectations. The job growth represented the biggest monthly jump since May of 2010. […]
Gov. Davis has signed landmark legislation to reform California’s troubled workers’ compensation system and put a lid on the upward spiral in workers’ comp costs faced by California employers. And now, after having pored over the numbers, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) has recommended that the 12 percent pure premium rate increase scheduled […]
The California Supreme Court has handed down an important new decision, answering a wage and hour question that recently has plagued the state’s appeals courts: Is the required payment of “one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation” for each day that an employer fails to provide mandatory meal or rest […]
A federal judge has ordered The Chinese Daily News, one of the Los Angeles area’s largest Chinese-language newspapers, to pay $5.19 million in a class action lawsuit that charged the paper refused to pay overtime and denied meal and rest breaks. Former employee Lynne Wang alleged that the paper required reporters to write five stories […]
Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that strengthening its nationwide approach to investigating and litigating systemic cases of discrimination is now an agency-wide top priority. According to the EEOC, systemic cases involve a “pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, […]
When Professional Risk Management acquired Applied Risk Management, the companies’ agreement provided for all active Applied employees to automatically be transferred to Professional without a break in health benefits coverage. But workers on medical, disability or other extended leave weren’t transferred until they returned to active duty, and they consequently lost health coverage until they […]
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 & […]
Newly enacted legislation, A.B. 2837, boosts penalties and fines for certain workplace safety violations, revamps Cal/OSHA’s investigation and reporting procedures and requires the agency to provide bilingual services. Here’s a summary of what to expect when the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2003.