Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

June 23, 2013
51 view(s)

EEOC Issues Final Rule on Freedom of Information Act

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a Final Rule revising certain provisions of its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations. EEOC's revised FOIA regulations, 29 CFR Part 1610 ("Availability of Records"), incorporate provisions of the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in Our National Government Act of 2007 (OPEN Government Act), and the Electroni...
June 22, 2013
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Wage and Hour Division Partners with Subway Restaurants

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and the franchisor of the world’s largest restaurant chain are collaborating to increase compliance with federal labor laws at SUBWAY locations nationwide. Although these restaurants are independently owned and operated, the franchisor is providing a forum and resources to assist the division in educating franchisees, WHD...
June 19, 2013
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Georgia, North Carolina E-Verify Mandates Take Effect July 1

Both Georgia and North Carolina passed laws in 2011 that phased in use of the E-Verify online employment eligibility verification system run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Beginning July 1, private employers with more than 10 employees in Georgia must use E-Verify to qualify new hires, and on the same day in North Carolina, employers with more than 25 on staff mu...
June 16, 2013
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HHS Releases 2013 Alzheimer's Disease Update

The Department Health and Human Services (HHS) has released what it calls the "National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease: 2013 Update" a follow-up to the initial plan released in May 2012.  The plan, ordered under the 2011 National Alzheimer’s Project Act, includes: finding ways to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease by 2025; enhancing car...
June 15, 2013
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Gordon Ramsay's Personal Kitchen Nightmares Courtesy of the FLSA

Gordon Ramsay, star chef and TV host of "Kitchen Nightmares," "Masterchef" and other shows, has been hit with a class-action lawsuit for alleged wage-and-hour and break-period violations at his Fat Cow restaurant in Los Angeles, RadarOnline reports. The legal action was filed on Thursday, June 13, according to Radar. “During the Class Period, Defendants ...
June 15, 2013
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EEOC Fires New Salvos on Criminal Background Check 'Abuses'

Much like recent activity against violations of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), with one lawsuit settled and another pending, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has opened up a new legal front, lodging two lawsuits against companies accused of discrimination based on criminal background checks. In 2012, the commission issued guidelines regarding the u...
June 14, 2013
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4th Circuit Court of Appeals Concurs with D.C. Court's NLRA Poster Rejection

A remaining case brought against the mandate to post a National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) Employee Rights Poster -- basically, a pro-union notification -- has been decided by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., which rejected the mandate and, in so doing, echoed a ruling in May by the Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. The three-judge Fourth Circuit panel ...
June 14, 2013
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Court Busts 'Black Swan' Filmmakers for Using Interns as Employees

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy – with interns fresh on college breaks coming to your company’s aid, right? Wrong! Often wrong, anyway. The Department of Labor (DOL) has been on the lookout for companies that use interns as unpaid employees – in other words, for companies that disguise work as internship “training.” The new watchfulness of th...
June 12, 2013
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Second GINA Lawsuit Filed by EEOC

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) became law in 2009, but it took a few years for enforcement to catch up, which it did just recently. In the first lawsuit based on GINA, which the company settled for $50,000 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the enforcing agency, the triggering event was the company’s asking for family medical history during a ...
June 10, 2013
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DOL Now Targeting 'Systemic' Wage-and-Hour Violations

The Department of Labor (DOL) is now enjoying a 71-percent success rate in ferreting out wage-and-hour violators by targeting industry- and geography-based culprits rather than waiting for complaints from employees at individual sites. The DOL is calling its new approach "directed investigations," which it instituted in 2012 after observing an "epidemic" of minimum-wag...