Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

January 8, 2009

42 view(s)

Recession, or Return to Normalcy?

This morning I was poring over a press release from a law firm advising employers to use caution and follow labor law mandates in laying people off in hard times. The release began by lamenting a 40-percent rise in business bankruptcies in the 12-month period ending in June 2008, which saw a total of 33,822 firms seek protection, up from 23,889 in 2007. The release listed the Administrative Of...

January 7, 2009

44 view(s)

Construction Industry Draws Most OSHA Fire

construction industry OSHA

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), which has drawn a lot of fire from labor rights groups--as has the whole Department of Labor--for lax workplace regulation under the Republicans, recently posted its 2008 Top Ten List of most commonly cited standards (in other words, standards that resulted in the most citations for violations). Construction came out in the top two spot...

December 31, 2008

64 view(s)

Come Morn and Minimum Wage Rates Will Rise

minimum wage

Some eleven states and two municipalities are raising their minimum wage hourly rates on New Year's Day 2009, topped by the City of Santa Fe with its $9.92 rate (closely followed by San Francisco at $9.79). Heading the states is Washington at $8.55 an hour. For a full list, check out this site. The federal rate goes to $7.25 on July 24, 2009, but most of the January 1 state increases already ...

December 30, 2008

49 view(s)

Meanwhile, Back in the U.S. of A.: Severance Pay Woes

severance pay

Turns out that a survey of severance pay around the world reveals that the U.S. pays the least of all monitored countries. READ THE SURVEY RESULTS

December 30, 2008

53 view(s)

Employees in China Get Unheard-of Job Protections

China Labor Contract Law People's Republic of China

With tens of thousands of us Americans losing our jobs every week, I found it interesting to discover that China just in the past year implemented what's called the Labor Contract Law, which basically gives every employee a nearly unbreakable contract with their employer. Plus, many of these contracts are open-ended, meaning they go on forever. What this dictates is that a company has to go th...

December 29, 2008

48 view(s)

Nice Gig if You Can Get It

unemployment unemployment insurance

Here's something I just learned. I generally don't pay much attention to unemployment insurance law since I don't qualify for it, but some people have been pretty smart at gaming the system. To wit: Under federal unemployment rules that are being changed Jan. 6, 2009, a worker who drew wages from jobs in two or more states could choose ANY STATE from which to claim the benefits. The smart one...

December 21, 2008

44 view(s)

What Is the Cost of Government Regulations?

government mandates governmental regulations labor law mandates

Two George Mason University researchers looking into the cost of government regulations on American business conclude that the total burden amounts to a 1.6 percent excise tax on the "typical manufacturer." Another way of framing the cost is in terms of dollars, which they say amounts to $1,700 per employee. The researchers, W. Mark Crain and Joseph M. Johnson, concentrated their study solely ...

December 19, 2008

33 view(s)

A New Protected Class: The Beauty Challenged

protected classes ugly people

Over at the Ohio Employer's Law Blog, Jon Hyman has an interesting discussion on the proposal to add ugly to the protected classes under labor law and employment laws. To wit, Hyman writes: "Under the current state of the law, it is illegal to discharge, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter ...

December 19, 2008

36 view(s)

Paid Sick Leave: The Next Mandate?

labor law mandates paid sick leave

President-elect Obama campaigned on a pledge to mandate paid sick leave at all places of work. Here's how the president-elect's Web site (Change.Gov) explained this: Half of all private sector workers have no paid sick days and the problem is worse for employees in low-paying jobs, where less than a quarter receive any paid sick days. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will require that employers prov...

December 18, 2008

61 view(s)

What Exactly Is Free Choice?

EFCA Employee Free Choice Act unionization unions

One big labor law change anticipated in the Barack administration is enactment of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), but like the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither holy, Roman nor an empire, does the EFCA really embody freedom and choice? For those on the business side of things--company owners and managers, et al.--the answer is no: The unions will just coerce employees into si...

328 of 329

Options

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

EPA Aligns Hazardous Chemical Requirements with Latest Hazard Communication Standard

At the end of June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule updating the agency’s current hazardous chemical inventory reporting requirements. Specifically, the rule aligns those requirements with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA’s) Hazard...

EEOC Rescinds Permissible Affirmative Action Guidance

On June 30, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) officially rescinded two longstanding documents relating to permissible affirmative action. The documents were part of the EEOC's guidance on affirmative action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

DOJ Challenges EEOC's Stance on Disparate Impact Claims

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a legal opinion that may signal major changes ahead in federal workplace discrimination enforcement. In a June 9, 2026 memorandum, the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) expressed the opinion that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's...

Department of Labor Issues 2026 Civil Penalty Update: No Adjustments This Year

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published its annual update announcement regarding federal civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. In a notice published in the Federal Register on May 27th, 2026, the DOL announced that no penalty increases...

U.S. Department of Labor Issues New Opinion Letters on Overtime Exemptions, Bonuses, and Compensable Time

On May 29th, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released several new opinion letters addressing key wage & hour issues. Specifically, one of the four documents informed readers whether an exempt employee could perform additional work in a secondary role at an hourly rate and still be eligible...

View All Articles