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In 1945, Congress declared the first week in October “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.” In 1962, the word “physically” was removed in acknowledgment of individuals with all types of disabilities. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to “National Disability Employment Awareness Month” (NDEAM). This year, the Office […]
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (also known as “financial reform” or “the Wall Street bill”) made headlines when President Barack Obama signed it into law on July 21. However, many employers probably don’t realize the legislation contains diversity provisions that could affect them if they are contractors, subcontractors, or service providers […]
What is the biggest employment law challenge employers have been facing thus far in 2010? An easy answer might be health care reform since companies have indeed started wrestling with whether to grandfather their benefits plans or strike off in a new direction under new sets of rules and regulations. But for many employment law […]
by David S. Fortney, Fortney & Scott, LLC Well-counseled employers know their company’s compensation systems increasingly are subject to enforcement actions and litigation challenges. The trend of employers facing significant challenges to their compensation systems is both continuing and accelerating. Recent developments include renewed efforts by the White House to enact legislation to increase employers’ […]
Early Tuesday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) resumed its ongoing series of agency Web chats with a brief session hosted by Patricia Shiu, the director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The OFCCP enforces the civil rights of both federal contractor employees as well as applicants for federal contractor jobs. […]
Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis has announced the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulatory agenda for 2010, saying, “Protecting wages and working conditions for workers is key to the mission of our department, and ensuring that workers have a voice on the job is also vital.” The agenda is expected to satisfy many union demands. […]
by James P. Gillece, Jr. As an employer, you may have already experienced the discomfort of having the “Men in Black” — i.e., agents or investigators from a government agency — appear on your doorstep. With increased enforcement efforts by various federal and state agencies, the likelihood that you’ll be visited by regulators isn’t an […]
Like most federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is a large bureaucracy, housing many levels of subagencies and layers of employees with a host of titles that are unintelligible to outsiders. The DOL has recently decided to do a little streamlining by abolishing the umbrella agency that oversees four of its major units. […]
One of the clearest indications of an administration’s priorities is the budget and the amount of funding provided to various programs. Budgets always have winners and losers and reflect the degree to which programs will be implemented. A review of President Barack Obama’s proposed budget and recent agency actions demonstrates that increased enforcement of labor […]
The changes promised by the Obama administration are beginning to take hold at the federal agencies regulating the workplace. Typically, the change in leadership can be a strong predictor of the changes in policies and directions that will be pursued by a new administration. Not surprisingly, the changes that already have occurred suggest that we […]