Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

April 2, 2010

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No April Fool's Joke: New Sheriff Cracks Down

Taking the stage in Chicago at what was once Jane Addams' Hull House, where FDR Labor Secretary Frances Perkins got started, Obama Labor Secretary Hilda Solis launched a nationwide public awareness program called "We Can Help" on April 1. "I have a message for those employers who break this nation's labor laws and prey on vulnerable workers: It ends today," she said in her s...

April 1, 2010

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Some Firms Playing April Fool's on Cal/OSHA Poster

Cal/OSHA

For the past few days, a few labor law poster companies (other than Personnel Concepts) have been issuing press releases and other types of communication stating that the Cal/OSHA poster "Safety and Health Protection on the Job" has changed and posting the updated version is mandatory. (Therefore, buy it from us, in other words.) However, the poster in question, the one dated November...

April 1, 2010

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Health Reform Mandates Chain Restaurant Calorie Counts

calorie counts Health Care Reform National Restaurant Association restaurants

The National Restaurant Association saw it as a "devil we know" over a bunch of pending state regulations that were "devils we don't know," so Obamacare--the recent health care reform package--includes a provision for chain restaurants to post calorie counts and nutritional information for their menu items. Now, as with other federal laws and regulations, states generally fe...

March 31, 2010

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New York Clarifies State WARN Act Provisions, Definitions

New York Department of Labor New York WARN Act NYDOL NYWARN

The New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) has issued proposed new regulations, subject to a 45-day public commentary period, to clarify provisions of its statewide Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The New York WARN Act, which was revised at the beginning of 2009, sets different thresholds and notification periods that are more stringent than federal requir...

March 26, 2010

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Denver Restaurants Targeted by DOL for FLSA Compliance

DOL FLSA WHD

The Department of Labor (DOL) is launching a Wage and Hour (WHD) investigation of Denver area restaurants for compliance with overtime pay, working hours, and child labor, according to the local DOL office. Chad Frasier, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Denver, says that the restaurant industry has been targeted because of past performance by similar businesses. "The ind...

March 25, 2010

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DOL Targets New York Health Care Industry for Misclassification Audits

FLSA misclassification overtime

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), operating on information from its Albany field office, has targeted the health care industry in New York state for investigation into the misclassification of workers and subsequent under-payment of overtime wages. Underlying this effort is a finding by the department's Albany district office that, during the past five years, almost two out of every three hea...

March 22, 2010

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PAWA Set to Increase Civil and Criminal Penalties for OSHA Violations

OSHA PAWA

The Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA), which is simultaneously wending its way through both chambers of Congress, would put new fangs into enforcement of the laws and regulations overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Now with health insurance legislation largely behind it, Congress is expected to move on several labor-related fronts, including PAWA, the Emp...

March 19, 2010

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It Lives! The Paycheck Fairness Act Comes Roaring Back

EEOC Equal Pay Act Paycheck Fairness Act

The Paycheck Fairness Act now under consideration by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee was introduced by then-Senator Hillary Clinton in January 2009. The House of Representatives approved its version shortly thereafter, and now, after a long hibernation, it has roared back to life in the Senate more than a year later. For employers, it probably...

March 16, 2010

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DOL to Add Still More Inspectors in 2011

DOL IRS misclassification of employees WHD

Testifying before a House subcommittee, Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis recently detailed plans for fiscal 2011 to use $1.7 billion out of a budget of $116.5 billion, along with 10,957 employees out of 17,800 total, for what she called "worker protection activities." Plans also call for adding another 90 inspectors to the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) after the addition...

March 8, 2010

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ADAAA Cited in Detroit Lawsuit Settlement

ADA ADAAA reasonable accommodations

The City of Detroit recently settled an Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit filed by an employee who unsuccessfully sought a reasonable accommodation because a coworker's perfume made it difficult for her to breathe. Now, one might conclude that a municipality may have more inclination to settle than fight since it's using OPM (other people's money), whereas a private employ...

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