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by David M. Stevens On the final day of its legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill to dramatically raise the state’s minimum wage. The bill, which was supported by Governor Martin O’Malley and is expected to be signed into law, calls for a staggered increase in the minimum wage over a period […]
President Barack Obama is once again using executive action related to the pay American workers earn. A White House fact sheet says the actions are aimed at fighting pay discrimination and strengthening enforcement of equal pay laws. In one action, Obama signed a presidential memorandum instructing Secretary of Labor Tom Perez to establish new regulations […]
It took just under a week for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to take in enough H-1B visa petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year 2015, which begins on October 1, 2014. The USCIS announced April 7 that it received sufficient petitions to meet the caps of 65,000 visas for the […]
by Dan Oswald Vince Lombardi once said, “I think coaching is teaching, see? So I don’t think there’s any difference whether you teach on the football field or whether you teach in the classroom. They’re both exactly the same. It’s a question of . . . a good teacher puts across what he wants to […]
By Bonny Mak Waterfall Minimum wage increases may not be quite as controversial in Canada as they appear to be in the United States, but the issue is certainly alive. Four Canadian provinces and one territory have announced increases to their minimum wage rates for 2014:
Thanks in large part to a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, legions of “Marshmallows” and I recently got to enjoy new adventures of Veronica Mars on the big screen. Although Veronica left the small screen back in 2007, that did not stop my favorite private detective from diving right back into action (and danger) in the film version. The premise of the film […]
by Kylie Crawford TenBrook I’m no longer allowed to cuss in my house. It was a tough habit to break ― as the only girl in a family of seven children, I grew up with a lot of profanity. But I realized that I had to change my family’s behavior after a recent trip during […]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has scheduled an April 25 union representation vote for Northwestern University football players. Spokespersons in both the Chicago and Washington, D.C., NLRB offices confirmed that the April 25 date has been set but didn’t have more information such as which players will be eligible to vote and when results […]
It’s tempting for employers to put rules in the company handbook informing employees that they are prohibited from discussing wages and benefits with coworkers. Such policies often warn employees that violators will be subject to discipline up to and including termination. But who’s really in trouble because of that kind of policy? The employee polling […]
by Judith E. Kramer The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a final rule requiring that any entity that enters into a contract with the department make good-faith efforts to include minorities and women in its workforce. The new rule goes into effect April 21. The requirement grows out of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which states […]