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With Labor Day coming up, employers may be thinking about more than just how to celebrate the last holiday of summer. It’s also a time to look at the status of the American workforce, where it’s been and where it’s going. The U.S. Census Bureau notes the first observation of Labor Day took place on […]
Federal contractors soon will have to establish benchmarks for hiring veterans and employing individuals with disabilities as a result of two new rules from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The new regulations are expected to be published in the Federal Register within the next couple of weeks, […]
by Heather L. Devine Recent cases call attention to the risk of using unpaid interns. Employers that aren’t cautious may be found in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Recent decisions In a case many of you may have heard about, a U.S. district court judge concluded on June 11, 2013, that Fox […]
Federal contractors and subcontractors must soon meet a hiring goal for workers with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Aug. 27. New regulations have been finalized that will, among other things, require contractors to ensure that workers with disabilities make up 7 percent of their workforces. In addition to the hiring goal, the rules require that […]
The contingent workforce is the fastest growing segment of the national workforce, with nearly three-quarters of employers using “temps,” according to a survey by CyberShift. Unfortunately, many managers think employment laws don’t apply to contingent workers. That’s dangerous. Defining ‘Contingent Workers’ “Contingent workers” are generally those who are hired through staffing firms or leasing companies […]
Fast-food and other low-wage workers who have staged strikes in a handful of cities around the country in recent months are planning to take their efforts nationwide on August 29. Strikers and their supporters are calling for $15 an hour as well as more protections for workers interested in unionizing. The latest wave of strikes […]
COBRA’s premium payment rules took center stage Aug. 12, when the “Bamboozled” column in the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported that a qualified beneficiary with leukemia had his coverage terminated early because his premium payment was 26 cents short. The story had a happy ending, but employers and their service providers can avoid being the villains […]
Defining Contingent Workers Contingent workers are generally those who are hired through staffing firms or leasing companies and whose jobs are structured to last only a certain length of time. If a company does not clearly define a “contingent worker,” who is an employee, and who is not an employee, managers may start using contingent […]
Consider these recent statistics: According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 729 Hispanic or Latino workers were killed from work-related injuries in 2011. That works out to more than 14 deaths a week, or two Latino workers killed every single day of the year, all year long. Other non-English-speaking workers are a growing […]
Handling qualified domestic relations orders can be difficult in the best of times for retirement plan administrators. However, when a divorced participant or beneficiary seeks to change or maintain pension survivorship rights with a domestic relations order, determining the rightful beneficiary can become even more complex. Two recent federal court decisions indicate that case […]