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An undocumented employee who was injured on the job has had her request for rehabilitation benefits thrown out by the California Court of Appeal. Margalese Ortega-Ruiz injured her back while working at a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant in Santa Monica. After she filed a workers’ comp claim and requested vocational rehabilitation benefits, the restaurant discovered she wasn’t […]
Organizations of all shapes and sizes have been hiring immigrants from hundreds of different countries for various types of work for centuries. And right now, immigrants make up about 17% of the entire U.S. labor force, with most immigrants (both documented and undocumented) finding jobs in domestic-related, service-related, construction-related, and farming or agricultural fields.
February 7 marks the end of the public comment period on the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) proposed rule that would set a goal for federal contractors to have seven percent of their workforce be made up of people with disabilities. With the calendar nearing the comment deadline, it’s time for employers with […]
A recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) settlement serves as a reminder for employers with tipped employees: you cannot require workers to share tips with nontipped staff. Doing so can leave an employer liable not only for the misappropriated tips, but also—because of a provision in the law—for back minimum wage and overtime payments that […]
As I write this, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Las Vegas. I must admit that I’m not a big fan of Las Vegas. It’s nothing against the city, it’s just that I typically spend less than 72 hours in Las Vegas at any one time and never get outside the hotel. So all […]
By Jim Stanley, president, FDRsafety When Labor Secretary Hilda Solis warned business last year that there was ”a new sheriff in town,” she wasn’t kidding — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is packing big new six-guns. The only problem is that it may be shooting itself in the foot. OSHA has been announcing […]
Here’s what your colleagues think about safety and health training: How effective is your safety training? 61% Somewhat effective 29% Very effective 10% Not very effective at all How much of your training sessions involve hands on participation? 50% Less than half of it 18% All of it 18% None of it 14% More than […]
Even state agencies are not immune from the U.S. Department of Labor’s ongoing aggressive enforcement actions, as reflected in a recent lawsuit filed against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ Child Protective Services Division (CPS). The lawsuit is seeking more than $1 million for back overtime pay that DOL claims is owed 800 […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has extended the deadline for contributing entities (or entities reporting on their behalf) to submit annual enrollment counts on which they will base their contribution amounts under health care reform’s transitional reinsurance program. The deadline is now 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 5, 2014. Reporting on that date also […]
Democrats have reportedly agreed to drop the card-check provision of the controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The card-check provision would have made it much easier for employees to form labor unions by allowing a majority of employees to unionize by signing card-check petitions. Under this provision, employers would no longer have been able to […]